You may wish to look away now if you plan to listen to this sermon tomorrow.
You might like to keep our Gospel reading open
in front of you if you’ve got a Bible handy or another device nearby.
John 1v43.
We have an embarrassment of riches for our
sermon today.
Jeremy is preaching on our Gospel reading
later today at 11am under the heading “Real Faith: putting your trust in Jesus
as God made man”.
And the diocese has provided a sermon on this
passage too from the Bishop of Horsham, which you can find on their website.
I myself preached on this passage three years
ago and you can find that sermon on the Warbleton church website.
We saw then that Jesus calls you to follow
him.
I belong to a preaching group with some other
local ministers.
We meet once a quarter.
Two people preach.
And we all give some feedback.
One of the preachers this week happened to
take our gospel passage.
And I thought his headings were so good I’m
going to steal them.
He called his sermon “Come and see”, the words
of our song earlier, which if you look back in your Bibles you can find in John
chapter 1v39, before our reading, and again in v46.
(1) Come and see: Philip invites
Nathaniel to meet Jesus (v39, vv43-47)
Earlier in the chapter, in v39, we find that
that Andrew the fisherman, one of John the Baptist’s disciples and another man
had approached Jesus and asked him, “Rabbi (which means teacher) where are you
staying?”
And Jesus said to him, “Come and see”!
Jesus invites these ordinary men, these first
disciples, and us to come and see.
Andrew then went and found his brother Simon
and brought him to Jesus.
Our passage today, which we just read, is similar:
Jesus calls Philip to follow him and then Philip
found Nathaniel and said to him, “Come and see.”
So in a way, my borrowing another vicar’s
sermon is quite appropriate to our passage today.
One of the themes of our Bible reading is disciples
telling other disciples about Jesus.
In v45, Philip says to Nathaniel about Jesus: “We
have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the law.”
That word “we have found” is the word from
which we get the word “Eureka!” – I’ve got it! I’ve found it!
Philip has made a life changing personal
discovery:
We’ve found the Messiah, the Christ!
The one the Bible had long promised!
Here he is at last!
Eureka!
Jesus of Nazareth is the rescuer-king we’ve
been waiting for.
And Philip naturally wants to share that
knowledge.
Here’s a discovery too good to keep to himself.
Philip has met the one who fulfils all the hopes
of God’s people so he longs for others to meet him too.
And that’s the way with all true followers of
Jesus.
Followers of Jesus want to bring others to follow
Jesus too.
Disciples of Jesus will be disciple makers!
We have the best news in the world and we want
to share it.
Sometimes we find it a bit frightening or awkward
to speak to others about Jesus, but to Philip in the first excitement of
meeting Jesus, it seemed to come quite naturally.
Some of us are like that if we see a great film
or TV show.
Or read a great book.
Or have a great meal.
How much more so with Jesus!
He really is wonderful and life changing so
let’s share him!
No one should regret investigating Jesus, so
why not encourage others to do so?
Come and see!
Give Jesus a try!
What is there to lose?
There’s real power in “I have found, come and
see”, isn’t there?
This is the kind of personal recommendation which
brands love.
They want their customers to be evangelists
for their products and tell their family and friends.
And so it is with Jesus and his followers!
It’s not just “I’ve heard about this great restaurant”
but I’ve eaten there, come with me!
That’s very different, isn’t it?
Certainly we need to tell people about Jesus.
We need to try to answer their questions and
address their objections, but at the end of the day we want to say, “won’t you
come and meet Jesus for yourself with us in the Scriptures”.
Shopping during Lockdown 1
Mrs Lloyd would set me weekly challenges of
obscure products!
Of course such exotic things as flour and pasta
and loo roll were sometimes in short supply.
And I would scour the shelves every week for
dark brown muscovado sugar.
Sometimes I would be lucky enough to find something
to ask.
They might say, “It’s half way down aisle 4,
past the milk, opposite the butter. Good luck!”
But it was much better if they said: “Come and
see! Follow me! I’ll show you!”
And so it is with our family and friends.
Maybe we could say to them “Come and see!”
Not just, it would be great if you checked out
Jesus sometime but “come and see – come with me – I’ll show you.”
It might mean looking at the Bible or a
Christian book together.
Or in better times, picking them up and
bringing them to church or to a group or course.
Online church.
It’s no where near as good as the real thing.
But for most people it is very easy and
convenient.
You can come anonymously and join in in your
PJs from your sofa with a coffee.
The whole thing might take less than an hour
and you don’t even have to venture out.
Anyone is always welcome at our midweek Zoom
meeting but in a month and a bit we’re going to start a short course called: “3,
2, 1: the story of God, the World and You.”
You can google it to get an idea.
It’s 3 Wednesday evenings beginning on Wed 24th
Feb.
Why not plan to come yourself?
And maybe there’s someone to whom could you
say, “come and check it out!”
“Come with me, as it were!”
“Come and see.”
Or in lockdown we could send someone a book.
Or recommend an online resource.
So, “I have found, come and see” is a great
invitation.
But Nathaniel takes some convincing.
Philip says Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfilment
of the Scriptures (v45).
But look at Nathaniel’s response in v46:
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
Nazareth is an obscure, small town up north.
I’m not brave enough to suggest a contemporary
British equivalent, but maybe you can think of one.
Nazareth is never mentioned in the Old
Testament.
And Nathaniel is initially dismissive.
This Jesus doesn’t sound at all promising.
Many people today think that.
Nathaniel is a sceptic.
He’s the kind of person who thinks he already knows.
He’s prejudiced, we might say.
Maybe many people think they know Jesus and
the Christian faith.
Maybe they went to church once or twice as a
kid.
Or there was some school RE and assemblies.
Or they saw something on the telly a while
back.
Come and see is a good invitation for them.
And good on Nathaniel:
He’s willing to check out Jesus – to investigate
it for himself.
That kind of enquiry is what we’re asking for.
Even if it’s a bit grudgingly and without
great optimism, will you take another look at Jesus?
Have you seriously investigated Jesus for
yourself as an adult?
Or have you dismissed him, if your honest,
with a bit of hearsay and prejudice?
Come and see!
And if you have come and seen and found, will
you invite others to come with you?
(2) Come and see the one who see you:
Jesus knows the sceptic Nathaniel and wants to know him (vv47-49)
The good news is that Jesus welcomes sceptics!
V47: When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he
said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”
Or, in whom there is no guile, as some older
versions have it.
Perhaps there’s a contrast here with Israel,
A. K. A., Jacob, whose name could mean “deceiver”.
Unlike the Patriarch Israel, Jesus is a true Israelite:
Nathaniel is honest and straightforward and speaks
his mind.
He’s persuaded to take an honest look at
Jesus.
Nathaniel asks Jesus how he knows him when
they’ve never met (v48) and Jesus says that he saw Nathaniel sitting under the
fig tree.
The fig tree can be a symbol for Israel, the
people of God in the Old Testament, so Nathaniel is a kind of ideal Israelite
here.
For all his scepticism, plain speaking and initial
reluctance, he does what the nation of Israel should do.
Nathaniel is like a fruitful version of the
Israel fig tree and so, v49, he recognises Jesus as a Rabbi, a teacher, and so
much more than that: the Son of God and the rightful King of Israel.
Jesus seems to have a supernatural knowledge
here.
He sees and knows Nathaniel and he calls him.
And likewise he sees and knows and calls us.
Jesus is almighty God to whom all hearts are
open and from whom no secrets are hid, as the Collect for Purity in the Book of
Common Prayer puts it.
Nathaniel could have said the words of our
Psalm to the Lord Jesus:
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
And so on.
All our dirty linen is visible to Jesus.
We can’t keep our skeletons hidden in the cupboard
away from his view.
And yet he calls us anyway.
He knows and understands us through and
through.
He knows us better than we know ourselves.
And he would be our Teacher.
He wants us as his apprentices, to call others
to follow him.
There’s a place for you and me on Jesus’ team.
Come and see the Jesus who sees us and knows
us and calls us to follow him.
(3) Come and see even greater things:
Jesus invites us to know him as the True Israel and the way to heaven (vv50-51)
We’re not quite done with the Israel imagery
because Jesus’ promises Nathaniel that he’ll see greater things than this
supernatural knowledge.
He says to him (v51): “I tell you the truth,
you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on
the Son of Man.”
The Son of Man is the figure from Daniel
chapter 7 verse 14 in the Old Testament and it was Jesus favourite title for himself:
A human being who is given all authority and
power and an everlasting kingdom.
And the reference to the angels of God ascending
and descending on him reminds us of what he call Jacob or Israel’s ladder from
Genesis 28.
Jacob calls that place Bethel, the House of
God, because he wrestled with God there.
Nathaniel was a true Israelite but Jesus is
the true Israel, the New and better Jacob.
It is in Jesus that heaven and earth meet.
He is the way to heaven.
It’s not as if we have to climb our way up to
heaven, but Jesus is heaven, God come down.
He is the Way to heaven, the way to God.
We meet God not in a place but in a person: in
Jesus, the True Israel.
That’s important for us when we can’t meet in
our church buildings.
We don’t meet God in a temple or a church but
in Jesus, as we encounter him in the pages of Scripture.
Jesus is the place, the person, the new and
better house of God, the temple, in whom we meet God and can be put right with
God.
He is the one and only way to God and to
heaven.
What could be greater than that?
Jesus knows us.
But in Jesus we can know God.
So come and see Jesus!
Come and see the one who see you.
Come and see and you will see even
greater thigs than this.
And then invite others too to come and see.
Amen.
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