Sermon Transcript: January 15, 2012 - The Second Sunday after the Epiphany - The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: I Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; I Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
From this morning’s gospel, “Philip said to (Nathaniel), ‘Come and see.’” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You got to hand it to Philip in today’s reading from John’s gospel. Rather than debate the merits of Nazarethor his discernment
that Jesus is the Christ, Philip chooses to invite Nathaniel to “come and see:” to observe and decide for himself. “Come and see:” sure sounds like a great ad campaign for a church, doesn’t it?
So much of life comes down to perception. Often times, our preconceived ideas of what we think should or should not be tempers how we perceive the world. Church history is filled with missed opportunities for mission and growth because God’s people objected to this, that, or the other movement of the Holy Spirit deciding that whatever was happening could not possibly be of God and refusing to even come and see for themselves. And yet, this morning’s scripture lessons tell us that our life in Christ, our life as God’s people, is never static: God is always at work in the world continuously renewing, creating, and doing new things. In so many ways, God is forever inviting all of humankind to, “Come and see.”
I think that one of the difficulties we encounter as Christians is our misperception that being born again or having a conversion experience is an ending. We might think that like Samuel, all we have to say is, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” and everything will be just fine; that we will never have to make difficult choices. Or, like the Church at Corinth, all we need to do is “get saved” because we prefer to believe that’s all God requires. But the Christian faith has more to say about beginnings than endings. What began at Calvary with the forgiveness of our sins was only the beginning of God’s new work in us and it will not end until Christ returns. As our reading from John’s gospel tells us, we have much more to see and learn about Christ and our life in Christ.
Readings: I Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; I Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
From this morning’s gospel, “Philip said to (Nathaniel), ‘Come and see.’” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You got to hand it to Philip in today’s reading from John’s gospel. Rather than debate the merits of Nazarethor his discernment
that Jesus is the Christ, Philip chooses to invite Nathaniel to “come and see:” to observe and decide for himself. “Come and see:” sure sounds like a great ad campaign for a church, doesn’t it?
So much of life comes down to perception. Often times, our preconceived ideas of what we think should or should not be tempers how we perceive the world. Church history is filled with missed opportunities for mission and growth because God’s people objected to this, that, or the other movement of the Holy Spirit deciding that whatever was happening could not possibly be of God and refusing to even come and see for themselves. And yet, this morning’s scripture lessons tell us that our life in Christ, our life as God’s people, is never static: God is always at work in the world continuously renewing, creating, and doing new things. In so many ways, God is forever inviting all of humankind to, “Come and see.”
I think that one of the difficulties we encounter as Christians is our misperception that being born again or having a conversion experience is an ending. We might think that like Samuel, all we have to say is, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” and everything will be just fine; that we will never have to make difficult choices. Or, like the Church at Corinth, all we need to do is “get saved” because we prefer to believe that’s all God requires. But the Christian faith has more to say about beginnings than endings. What began at Calvary with the forgiveness of our sins was only the beginning of God’s new work in us and it will not end until Christ returns. As our reading from John’s gospel tells us, we have much more to see and learn about Christ and our life in Christ.
I like to think that the Church at Corinth hung banners throughout the City inviting people to “Come and See” what God is doing at the Corinthian Church. But we learn from St. Paul’s letters that he was deeply concerned about what a visitor might find at a Sunday morning worship service in Corinth. The Corinthian Church stood as a marvelous example of faith and witness to Christ. They were zealous evangelicals who were absolutely convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was, indeed, the Christ and Son of God. Everyone could give testimony as to the moment they found Christ: the moment they were “saved.” But, for all their wonderful stories of conversion and their profession of faith, Christ had no impact on how these Christians lived their daily lives. They could tell you what they were saved “from,” but could not articulate or even grasp that, perhaps, they had been saved “to” something; that they had an important role to fulfill in God’s on-going and eternal new work in the world; that each of them was called to live in a new way and demonstrate God’s values.
That is why Paul, in his letters to the Church at Corinth, keeps driving homethe message that the Christian life is an on-going journey of faith; a journey of continuous conversion; a life of being reshaped, reformed and recreated into the very image of Christ. In today’s excerpt from his letter, Paul says that all things may be lawful, but they are not necessarily beneficial. How we live directly affects our bodies and ultimately, the body of Christ into whom we have been baptized and through whom we have been adopted as God’s sons and daughters. So, Paul says, to sin against your own body – to abuse anything – is to sin not only against yourself, but even more detrimental, it is to sin against the Church: the body of Christ. Certainly, the scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church and even our own denomination among others, remind us that how we conduct ourselves – how we choose to live every moment of every day – is more than a reflection of our personal values: it is a reflection on our Church and on our Lord. So, Paul says, remember you are not your own: we are very precious to God. We are called to glorify God in all things: our bodies, our speech, and our actions and discern God’s voice at all times; to come and see what God is doing.
Still, our perceptions often temper how we hear God’s voice and those perceptions can get in the way of God’s work and mission in this world. Our Old Testament lesson this morning tells the sweet story of how Samuel was called to ministry. We love this story, especially when Samuel says, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” It would be great if the story ended there. But, it doesn’t. Sometimes God calls us to say what is difficult to hear. Samuel has to confront Eli, his beloved mentor and protector, and tell him that his days are done. Eli and his family are about to die and be forgotten. The setting of this story is equally difficult to hear. Israel is in the midst of dreadful social upheaval brought about by the gradual rejection of God’s values. To make matters worse, they are about to be invaded and, even worse than that, their religious leadership – the people they looked to for guidance and direction – were totally corrupt and self-serving. No wonder our text begins “The word of the Lord was rare in those days (and) visions were not widespread.” Samuel responds fully to God’s call and brings bad news to Eli. And yet, this is where our perceptions of how and what God should do can blind us to the true message. If we focus so much on the judgment against Eli and his household, we might lose sight of the fact that this story is about good news: God is already doing a new thing in the midst of a terrible situation. God is raising up Samuel to be a new prophet and priest to lead God’s people. We cannot focus so much on judgment or mourn that which is passing away or has passed away that we miss the signs of God’s resolve to do something new in our midst. God is forever doing new things and inviting us to, “come and see.”
Nathaniel asked Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”Certainly, his perception would answer, “No.” Historically, Nazareth was not a place to vacation or to even think of it as a place where God might do something new. A friend was on a bus tour through Israelseveral years ago, when their driver decided to bypass Nazareth and Bethlehem telling this group of tourists,“You don’t want to go there: it’s a dump!” Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip responds, “Come and see.” And Nathaniel does come. He meets Jesus face to face and has an Epiphany moment realizing that Jesus is “the Son of God, the King of Israel.” Jesus refers to Nathaniel as a “true Israelite.” A true Israelite is one who sees God, who recognizes God at work, who can discern that God is forever doing new things. And Jesus follows up Nathaniel’s confession of faith by reminding him of Jacob. When Jesus says, “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” he is recalling the experience of Jacob at Beth-el. We know that story as “Jacob’s ladder” as described in Genesis 28. I wish we had more time to parse out these stories. Suffice to say, Jacob had run away and believed he was out of God’s sight when he had a vision of the angelic traffic between heaven and earth. And John’s gospel is all about the Word becoming flesh: the heavenly becoming earthly and dwelling among us. This movement between heaven and earth seen by Jacob is now found in Jesus Christ. Jacob called the place of his vision “Beth-el” which means the House of God or the dwelling place of God. Jesus is telling Nathaniel, “I am the place where God dwells: I am the new Beth-el; the place where the heavenly and earthly have come together.” And Nathaniel can see that God is doing something new. He is able to set aside his misperceptions and preconceived ideas of what God should or should not do. Nathaniel realized that something good has, indeed, come out of Nazareth and his realization was made possible (or began) simply when, and because, a friend urged him to “come and see” for himself. I wonder what would happen here if each of us did the same.
I might ask on this Second Sunday in this season of the Epiphany, “Can anything good come out of Holy Cross?” Over these past three years I have heard your stories about this parish: its days of glory, as well as its very dark history. We might ask if anything good can come out of this place and certainly, our neighbors might ask the same. If we look at things as a judgment or a passing way, then our answer must be, “No.” But if, like we heard in our reading from Samuel, from St. Paul, and our Gospel, we open our eyes to see the new work that God is constantly doing in this parish and allow our hearts, souls, bodies, and minds be continuously transformed and shaped into Christ, then, regardless of our preconceived ideas and notions of what God should or shouldn’t do, like Philip, and echoing the invitation of the gospel: the good news of God in Christ, we can, and will, say with bold confidence, “Come and see.” Thanks be to God! Amen.
That is why Paul, in his letters to the Church at Corinth, keeps driving homethe message that the Christian life is an on-going journey of faith; a journey of continuous conversion; a life of being reshaped, reformed and recreated into the very image of Christ. In today’s excerpt from his letter, Paul says that all things may be lawful, but they are not necessarily beneficial. How we live directly affects our bodies and ultimately, the body of Christ into whom we have been baptized and through whom we have been adopted as God’s sons and daughters. So, Paul says, to sin against your own body – to abuse anything – is to sin not only against yourself, but even more detrimental, it is to sin against the Church: the body of Christ. Certainly, the scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church and even our own denomination among others, remind us that how we conduct ourselves – how we choose to live every moment of every day – is more than a reflection of our personal values: it is a reflection on our Church and on our Lord. So, Paul says, remember you are not your own: we are very precious to God. We are called to glorify God in all things: our bodies, our speech, and our actions and discern God’s voice at all times; to come and see what God is doing.
Still, our perceptions often temper how we hear God’s voice and those perceptions can get in the way of God’s work and mission in this world. Our Old Testament lesson this morning tells the sweet story of how Samuel was called to ministry. We love this story, especially when Samuel says, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” It would be great if the story ended there. But, it doesn’t. Sometimes God calls us to say what is difficult to hear. Samuel has to confront Eli, his beloved mentor and protector, and tell him that his days are done. Eli and his family are about to die and be forgotten. The setting of this story is equally difficult to hear. Israel is in the midst of dreadful social upheaval brought about by the gradual rejection of God’s values. To make matters worse, they are about to be invaded and, even worse than that, their religious leadership – the people they looked to for guidance and direction – were totally corrupt and self-serving. No wonder our text begins “The word of the Lord was rare in those days (and) visions were not widespread.” Samuel responds fully to God’s call and brings bad news to Eli. And yet, this is where our perceptions of how and what God should do can blind us to the true message. If we focus so much on the judgment against Eli and his household, we might lose sight of the fact that this story is about good news: God is already doing a new thing in the midst of a terrible situation. God is raising up Samuel to be a new prophet and priest to lead God’s people. We cannot focus so much on judgment or mourn that which is passing away or has passed away that we miss the signs of God’s resolve to do something new in our midst. God is forever doing new things and inviting us to, “come and see.”
Nathaniel asked Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”Certainly, his perception would answer, “No.” Historically, Nazareth was not a place to vacation or to even think of it as a place where God might do something new. A friend was on a bus tour through Israelseveral years ago, when their driver decided to bypass Nazareth and Bethlehem telling this group of tourists,“You don’t want to go there: it’s a dump!” Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip responds, “Come and see.” And Nathaniel does come. He meets Jesus face to face and has an Epiphany moment realizing that Jesus is “the Son of God, the King of Israel.” Jesus refers to Nathaniel as a “true Israelite.” A true Israelite is one who sees God, who recognizes God at work, who can discern that God is forever doing new things. And Jesus follows up Nathaniel’s confession of faith by reminding him of Jacob. When Jesus says, “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” he is recalling the experience of Jacob at Beth-el. We know that story as “Jacob’s ladder” as described in Genesis 28. I wish we had more time to parse out these stories. Suffice to say, Jacob had run away and believed he was out of God’s sight when he had a vision of the angelic traffic between heaven and earth. And John’s gospel is all about the Word becoming flesh: the heavenly becoming earthly and dwelling among us. This movement between heaven and earth seen by Jacob is now found in Jesus Christ. Jacob called the place of his vision “Beth-el” which means the House of God or the dwelling place of God. Jesus is telling Nathaniel, “I am the place where God dwells: I am the new Beth-el; the place where the heavenly and earthly have come together.” And Nathaniel can see that God is doing something new. He is able to set aside his misperceptions and preconceived ideas of what God should or should not do. Nathaniel realized that something good has, indeed, come out of Nazareth and his realization was made possible (or began) simply when, and because, a friend urged him to “come and see” for himself. I wonder what would happen here if each of us did the same.
I might ask on this Second Sunday in this season of the Epiphany, “Can anything good come out of Holy Cross?” Over these past three years I have heard your stories about this parish: its days of glory, as well as its very dark history. We might ask if anything good can come out of this place and certainly, our neighbors might ask the same. If we look at things as a judgment or a passing way, then our answer must be, “No.” But if, like we heard in our reading from Samuel, from St. Paul, and our Gospel, we open our eyes to see the new work that God is constantly doing in this parish and allow our hearts, souls, bodies, and minds be continuously transformed and shaped into Christ, then, regardless of our preconceived ideas and notions of what God should or shouldn’t do, like Philip, and echoing the invitation of the gospel: the good news of God in Christ, we can, and will, say with bold confidence, “Come and see.” Thanks be to God! Amen.
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