Follow the Leader

As a child, one of the games I played was “Follow the Leader.”  All children coveted the role of Leader so that they had the chance to make everyone else follow them into the trickiest places in the school ground or wherever they were playing.

This is a good analogy for the Christian life.  Last week we heard Jesus say to his disciples “Follow me!”  This morning we read of Jesus saying to his disciples that anyone who wanted to “follow him” should forget themselves and take up his cross.  This following involves getting behind Jesus and going where he goes.

There is an interesting word play, or perhaps just a coincidence, in the original words used in these texts and the text when Jesus says “Get behind me Satan” which we just read. 

To Satan Jesus says “Depart behind me”. 

To the disciples Jesus says “Come behind me” and

To the crowd and his disciples Jesus says “Follow behind me”.

In this story we read today it is clear that Peter has not yet understood who Jesus really is, nor has he understood what it means to follow after Jesus.

The Son of the Father

Mark uses this story to remind his readers again who it is that Jesus maintains the most intimate relationship.  Jesus here describes himself as the Son of Man, and makes it clear that God is his Father.

Now you will remember from last week, when we read of Jesus’ Baptism, the voice from heaven referred to Jesus as “my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

In his book, Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen says that the words God gave to Jesus at his baptism are the same words God gives to everyone.  “The words, ‘You are my Beloved’ revealed the most intimate truth about all human beings.”

God’s voice comes to everyone and declares that we are all God’s Beloved children.  That’s a beautiful insight and something we must all remember during Lent – since we have already been declared God’s Beloved and are his children, then our approach to Lenten Practices should not be made with a mind to making ourselves good enough for God.  Rather they become our heart-driven response to the God who calls us his beloved.

Keeping our Eyes on Jesus

In Mark’s gospel, there are a number of statements about discipleship and it is appropriate that we hear this one so early in Lent.

Discipleship is fundamentally about following Jesus – come behind me, or follow behind me.  The obvious consequence of this is that we will always have Jesus in view in front of us.

And in this passage he says two things about this discipleship.

Firstly, he says that we need to put our selfishness aside and fix our minds on following him – “taking up the cross” is a metaphor for discipleship.  The game of “Follow the Leader” gives us a sense that this following of Jesus might lead us into unexpected or even difficult places.  It might even mean we have to risk everything.  But if we keep our eyes on Jesus he will not let us down.

The second thing he says is that this world of his Kingdom will be rather upside down to the world we all live in. 

“If you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it.”

This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of Christian discipleship.  All our instincts are to do everything we can to save ourselves and the things we love and care about.  But the life Jesus offers us can only be found when we abandon all those things.

I suppose this gives something of a hint about why people go without during Lent – as a tangible reminder that they should be willing to give up even their life for the sake of the Kingdom.  But you can see how easily this can become something that is undertaken out of fear rather than love.

Nothing is more un-Christian than having to prove we are worthy of being loved.

Instead, believe God’s voice that says, “You are my beloved.”  The journey of Lent leads us to the truth that we are already loved.  Lent isn’t primarily about giving stuff up.  Only give stuff up during Lent if it helps lead you to the truth that you are loved just as you are.  The worst thing we can do during Lent is to be tempted to earn God’s favour through self-denial.  

The Christian journey isn’t about trying to be good enough to earn God’s favour.  The Christian journey, including the Lenten journey, is about relaxing into the truth that God only relates to us like a parent who unconditionally loves her child.  As James Alison says, the Christian journey is about relaxing “into the realization that being good or bad is not what it’s about.  It’s about being loved.”

Be Transformed by the Spirit

Preached by Oliver Yangi, Formation Student on placement at Holy Cross on the First Sunday of Lent, 2015

Today's Gospel reading from Mark tells us about the Baptism of our Lord, how he was taken into the wilderness and tempted, the selection of his first disciples and the performance of his first miracle

The Baptism of Jesus Christ

Jesus was baptised when he was thirty years of age. This was the age at which the Levites entered upon their work; the age, too, at which it was lawful for scribes to teach. Generally speaking, thirty among the Jews was looked upon as the time of life when manhood had reached its full development.  This was the beginning of his ministry.

We believe that Jesus did not need baptism because He was without sin, but the story in Matthew explains that he was baptised because it was the Father's will for him at that time.

Learnt to be led by the spirit

In this story we read that "Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove” which in the bible is a sign of peace and Joy.  And the work of this Spirit in his life is very important.

What an exciting moment when we were getting baptism no matter whether you are baptised as a baby or adult.  Baptism is one of the great five celebrations in our Christian life.  All baptised Christians, through their baptismal vows and the gift of the Holy Spirit, are called to participate in the community's ministry.  Led by the Spirit, as Jesus was, we will see Christ open doors and windows that lead us beyond still waters into new territories and vision.

Do you want to see changes in your life?  And do you want to become a more effective instrument of the Gospel?  Examine Jesus’ humility and ask the Holy Spirit to forge this same attitude in your heart.  As you do, heaven will open for you as well.  The Lord is ever ready to renew us in his Spirit and to anoint us for mission.  We are called to be “light” and “salt” to those around us.  The Lord wants his love and truth to shine through us so that others may see the goodness and truth of God’s message of salvation.  Ask the Lord to fill you with his Holy Spirit so that you may radiate the joy of the Gospel to those around you.

Learn to do battle

Do you ever feel compelled or driven to do something for God?  Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to spend forty days and nights in prayer and fasting in a lonely place.  Why was he compelled to seek solitude for such a lengthy period?  Was it simply a test to prepare him for his ministry?  Or did Satan want to lure him into a trap?  The scriptural word here means test in the sense of proving and purifying someone to see if there are ready for the task at hand.  We test pilots to see that they are fit to fly.  Likewise God tests his servants to see if they are fit to be used by him.  God tested Abraham to prove his faith. 

Jesus was no exception to this testing. Jesus was tempted like us and he overcame not by his own human strength but by the grace and strength which his Father gave to him.  He had to renounce his will for the will of his Father. 

He succeeded because he wanted to please his Father and he trusted that his Father would give him the strength to overcome the obstacles that stood in the way.  The Lord gives us his Holy Spirit to be our strength and guide in temptation and testing. God the Father is ready to give us all that we need to live in his way of love and righteousness.  Do you rely on the Lord for your strength and help?

Learn to call others

When Jesus preached the Gospel message he called others to follow as his disciples and he gave them a mission – "to catch people for the kingdom of God".  What kind of disciples did he choose? Smelly fishermen! In the choice of the first apostles we see a characteristic feature of Jesus' work: 

He chose very ordinary people.  They were non-professionals, had no wealth or position. They were common people who did ordinary things, had no special education, and no social advantages. Jesus wanted ordinary people who could take an assignment and do it extraordinarily well. He chose these individuals, not for what they were, but for what they would be capable of becoming under his direction and power. When the Lord calls us to serve, we must not think that we have nothing to offer. The Lord takes what ordinary people, like us, can offer and uses it for greatness in his kingdom. Do you believe that God wants to work through and in you for his glory?

Jesus speaks the same message to us today: we will "catch people" for the kingdom of God if we allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine through us.  God wants others to see the light of Christ in us in the way we live, speak, and witness the joy of the Gospel. We are to be the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

Do you witness to those around you the joy of the Gospel and do you pray for your neighbours, co-workers, and relatives that they may come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and grow in the knowledge of his love?  Discipleship is about inviting people and work together as team for the Kingdom of God.

Learnt to confront Evil

Traditionally Lent is a time where we bend our will towards living a more Christ-like life: through fasting, study, and acts of charity. That means giving up things that diminish our life, taking up things that spiritually enrich our life, and giving away, in order to defy our tendency towards selfish living.

May his Spirit and light shine in us. 

Curiouser and Curiouser

One of the greatest gifts a teacher can give a student is the gift of curiosity.  I am sure we could not number the amazing discoveries and scientific breakthroughs that were achieved because of a basic sense of curiosity.

And curiosity is about asking questions that you do not know the answer to.

When you think about it, the early Christians must have had far more questions than answers when they thought about who this Jesus person really was; when they looked at what he did; when they thought about what he said.

One of the things that I am increasingly convinced of, although I might have thought differently years ago, is that we should not be any different from those early Christians in our day and age, some two thousand years after Jesus sojourn among us.  When we read the Gospel stories we need to cultivate a healthy curiosity that leads us into new insights about Jesus.

In a sense, Mark takes his readers on the same journey that those first disciples of Jesus experienced.  The disciples had many questions before they had answers.  Mark does the same.  He does not present readers with a Nicene Creed or a Westminster Confession and ask us to agree with the content.  He stirs up our curiosity.

With evangelical fervour, Mark wants his readers – even us – to become fascinated with this Jesus of Nazareth.  The questions that Mark will not let rest are:  

“What is going on here? 

“Who is this Jesus?  

“From where does he get such power?”

The first disciples journeyed with a man called Jesus, listened to his teaching, wondered at his loving deeds, became acutely aware of something exceptional at work, and had to formulate their own faith in response.  Mark wants us to take the same journey, and find the surprises that they had found. 

Mark is saying “Find out for yourself!”

There are three little scenarios in the selection from Mark’s Gospel that we read today.  In these and the few stories that precede these, Mark is trying to arouse our curiosity about this man Jesus.

Mark is a royal herald.  He is the announcer of good news for the people.  Yet he does not do this by presenting his readers with a doctrinal summary of the nature of Jesus. 

Mark tells it in story and leaves us with the questions:

     Who is this Jesus? 

     What do you make of him? 

     Does this person fit your normal categories? 

     How do you explain his charisma? 

     What is the source of his wide-ranging power?”

Those who first believed in Jesus did so because of what they heard with their own ears and saw with their own eyes.  Their faith did not arrive neatly packaged in a creed, but possessed them bit by bit as they journeyed with him through stories like these.  Maybe in our evangelism we should remember that.

Research on how people come to faith today shows that it is not primarily through up-front preachers.  Instead, people most often come into faith through friendship with a person of faith who one way or another “witnesses” to their faith.  By witnessing I don’t mean seizing every moment to put in a high-pressure religious word, but by living the faith and quietly and lovingly speaking about it at the appropriate moment.  This is often much more about how to live than it is about what to believe.

Those who take the plunge and join this journey will find for themselves who this Jesus really is.  His charisma will work in their lives.  The ‘demons’ will be sent packing, the ‘fevers’ of secular life will lose their power, a new sense of purpose will drive them and a new compassion for humanity will grow.  Then, later on the journey, our common creeds and doctrines may then become joyful affirmations; not as the cause of faith but as an expression of such faith.

The story of Jesus as told by Mark is both simple and profound.  Likewise the story of Jesus as lived by us and told by us is should be simple yet profound.  If we are faithful, and not embarrassed about its simplicity, but live it humbly and joyfully, then those around us are more likely to be brought to that profound wonder and light that follows the question: Who is this Jesus?

So never be embarrassed by the simplicity which lies at the core of our faith and never try to avoid the profound complexity of it by pretending that you have all the answers to every question.  Be frank and be true, and then the evangelical questions will be raised by the way you simply and lovingly follow your Lord.

In the Presence of God

When I was in Tasmania last year, my son and his wife arranged a ceremony in which they presented their newborn Son to God, through the arms of another couple of Salvation Army officers.

It was a lovely ceremony in which Davey was handed over to David and Sarah, soon to be officers in the Salvation Army.  David and Sarah held Davey, said a prayer of blessing over him and then gave him back to his parents.  Not all that different from what we do – but without water.  They even had God Parents.

Our Gospel text today is generally referred to as The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.  We read it recently – on the Sunday after Christmas to mark the naming and circumcision of Jesus a week after his birth.  This is an event that marks the act of purification women can take 40 days after the birth of a child.  We don’t much like those ideas these days, but it is interesting that in the Bible the number 40 comes up again and again, and generally relates to a period of formation.  We will start another one soon – Lent or the 40 days before Easter.

There are many layers of meaning in this story from which we can take our thoughts – the challenge always is what shall we consider today?

Let’s start with a question:  How do we respond to being in the presence of God?

When we think of the word “Presentation” which we use as part of the title for this story, we think of a number of situations where what you see is less important than what lies behind it.  When I went to the doctor, presenting with unbearable pain in my right leg that does not respond to the normal physiotherapy or medicines, he looked deeper into things and found a tumour in my spine – in the middle of my back.  I had no pain in my back.

So, when this little baby boy was “presented” in the temple some of the other key people in the story saw more than just a baby boy.

Simeon, the old man who spent a great deal of time in the Temple courts immediately recognised more than just a baby.  As his first response he gave thanks to God.  He recognised he was in the presence of the Promised One and he thanked God for it.  Simeon had been living in expectation of meeting this One on the strength of God’s promise to him.

Then he blessed Joseph and Mary and gave Mary a word of knowledge about the future that lay ahead of her son.  In some ways there was a sense of foreboding in this.  The suffering and trouble he announced was not really good news, was it?

Then there was that other old person, Anna, the prophetess.  She also recognised that this was more than just your everyday little boy.  She recognised that he was the Promised One, and like Simeon, she praised God, but she did more.  She told everyone who would listen to her about this child.

Now these events were not without an effect on Joseph and Mary.  They were amazed by what both Simeon and Anna had said and I am sure that it deepened their natural sense of love for their first-born child.

So, let’s go back to my opening question:  How do we respond to being in the presence of God?

You have come here today to be in the presence of God.  Well, I have to tell you, God is here.

Did you come expecting to hear something from God about something that is a particular worry for you?

Did you come hoping that you would catch a glimpse of God?

Did you come with a sense of thanksgiving for what you have already experienced of God?

Did you come here as an expression of love and joy in what you have already experienced of God?

God's Grace is Offered to all.

Last week, Oliver reminded that it is God who comes to us – who offers his grace and power for transformation to all.

The readings today in some senses restate this, but I would like to explore just one aspect of it with you this morning – and I am going to use the story of Jonah to unpack this.

Those of us who had the benefit of Sunday School when we were children will surely know the story of Jonah.  If we didn’t we probably have difficulty finding which few pages of the Bible it is told on.

So let me do a little story-telling to set the scene.

The Lord appeared to Jonah and gave him a mission – “Go to Nineveh and tell the people there to turn their lives around towards God.”

It is obvious to anyone that Jonah was not pleased with this.  Either he thought the Ninevites were a lost cause (a bit like the Samaritans of later times) or he knew exactly how much trouble this mission would get him in.

So, what does he do?  Nineveh is a city in Mesopotamia and is probably in the eastern most areas of the known world.  Jonah, however, goes to the coastal city of Joppa and catches a boat to Spain, to the western most limits of the known world.

He was running away from it, not doing it.

While he is at sea, God deals with him in an extraordinary way.  He is swallowed up by a big sea-creature and spent three days and three nights thinking about things.  In Australian language we would say he was “having a good hard look at himself.”

The treatment worked.  Jonah decided he would do as God asked and the sea creature released him. 

So God restates the mission, as we read today, and Jonah sets out to tell the people they have 40 days to repent.

Much to Jonah’s surprise, the people do repent.  Even the King issues a national edict to repent.  And God relented from the threatened punishment.

This made Jonah mad – I really like his explanation to God about this.  “I told you this would happen,” he said.  “This was why I was running away to Spain.  I knew you are a loving and merciful God, always patent, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish.”

This is really a rather amazing thing to say.

The last part of the story is a little bit of an object less from God for Jonah, saying that Jonah should care as much about the 120,000 lives that would have been lost in Nineveh if he had not done as God asked him to do.

So, what do you make of this story?

Is it a lesson to us all that we have to do what God tells us to do – or else!!!?  I don’t think so.

You remember when we embarked on this season of Epiphany I reminded you that this season was about celebrating that the grace and revelation of God in Jesus was for all humanity, not just the Jews? 

At times, we Christians can get the idea that this is the great new dimension that Christianity brought to eh Family of God.  Certainly, if you read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter 3 in particular, you get the idea that this offering of God’s grace to the Gentiles was the final revelation of what had been a great mystery.

Yet here, in this ancient story of Jonah, there is a very obvious hint to the Israelites, that God’s grace and mercy is for all people – not just the Jews. 

The Wise men saw and recognised God’s grace and mercy in the child Jesus, whom they had searched for.  The people of Nineveh, when they heard the call of Jonah to repent or be destroyed, recognised the gracious offer of God to save them if they repented – turned their lives around.  So this is an Old Testament Epiphany Story.

This story is a reminder to us that there is no-one who can be regarded as unworthy of God’s grace and mercy.  Being part of this church is not about how good you are or can be.  Being part of this church is simply about recognising how unworthy each one of us is – we do not deserve this.  It is enough to make the self-righteous Jonah’s of this world really mad.  And it is this unworthiness that is the great leveller in the church.  We are all in the same boat.  That is what we mean when we speak of the Church being INCLUSIVE. 

Everyone is welcome in this Kingdom, because it is by God’s grace that we are saved, through faith.

Come and See Jesus

This sermon was preached by Oliver Yangi - a Theological Student on placement in the parish.

Praise be to God and he is excellent all the time .

It is great that we are in the house of the Lord.

Today, we are looking at this passage from John 1:43-51 and begin to think about what it means to follow Jesus.

I suppose, in a sense, every sermon is about what it means to follow Jesus but there are four aspects I want to draw on this morning out of the dialogue and interactions in this story that John records for us.

And the story is set for us as Jesus decides to head for Galilee and that’s when the encounter with Philip begins.

The first point we notice is actually very easy to miss. Right at the start of the story, John says: “Jesus found Philip”. If you go to any book shop and look in the spirituality section, you will find autobiographies of people who have devoted themselves to the spiritual life through the years. And very often, they write about how they spent many years seeking out a spiritual leader to follow. They may have tried out the ideas of gurus, or philosophers, they may have sat at the feet of great preachers and wise teachers trying to decide who to follow.

But that is not the same for us as Christians: that is not even an option because, as John says, “Jesus found Philip”. Philip didn’t find Christ. Christ found Philip. The truth at the heart of the Christian story is not that you and I have found Christ but Christ has found us.

We did not decide for God but he knocks at the door of our hearts and is you to open  it for him or not.

Although God calls for us, it is your own decision to follow him or not.

And the narrative that runs throughout the Bible is of a God who constantly seeks out his people. And that’s the case right from the beginning of Scripture. Let us never think that we chose God: he has chosen us! As Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world…” eg, Abraham, Moses and many others.

And this is important because the knowledge that God has sought us out rather than vice versa is crucial in keeping us humble before God. Even our own faith is not our own decision!

And once Jesus finds Philip, he issues a single command: “Follow me”. We put  Jesus as number one in our lives: that is what is demanded of us as Christians.  Philip is compelled to follow Jesus – and leaves all else behind: his work, his family, his possessions, his ambitions. It all has to go when we follow Christ. We get a new experience.

I once heard a great youth worker teaching us about discipleship and he said this: If a young person says, “Can I be a Christian and still have a boyfriend?” the answer is No. “Can I be a Christian and still enjoy a drink?” the answer is No. “Can I be a Christian and still go clubbing?” the answer is No.  Not because there is anything inherently wrong with boyfriends or alcohol or clubbing: there isn’t anything wrong with these. But there is something inherently wrong with a question that’s phrased: “Can I be a Christian and still dot dot dot?” A question that is phrased like that suggests that the enquirer wants to follow Jesus but still keep something back, some part of their life, for themselves, and that is the problem…

Jesus, when he calls us to follow him does not give us any Get-Out clauses: as someone once said “He is Lord of all, or not at all”. Following Jesus is a radical commitment that demands every aspect of our being. Of course we get it wrong from time to time and fall short of the ideal but the intention of radical discipleship should always be before us.

Second, we notice what Philip did when he set out to follow Jesus. Did he go on an Alpha Course? No. Did he join a church? No. Did he get baptised? No. The first thing he did, according to John, was find his brother Nathanael and tell him about Jesus! The first rule of being a disciple of Jesus is very simple: tell other people about Jesus!( which is the 1st mark of the five  Diocese mission plan: to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.

And what is so lovely, I think, is that Philip didn’t have any great learning and yet he was really effective in being an evangelist for Jesus. I’ve just said how God finds us, not the other way round. But look what Philip says to Nathanael: “We have found him about whom Moses in the law wrote…” Well, Philip’s theology isn’t very good: Jesus found him, he didn’t find Jesus! But, nevertheless, he is effective in bringing Nathanael to Jesus.

So often, we think we can’t tell other people about Jesus because we don’t know enough or we don’t know our Bibles well enough…but none of that matters. We don’t need to be theologians to be effective. We just need to tell people about our christian experience and be passionate for Jesus, and he will do the rest!

Thirdly, to be a follower of Jesus means keeping on going despite the knocks. Nathanael’s response to Philip is not particularly encouraging, is it? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip had come running over to Nathanael, passionate about sharing this good news about Jesus, only to be met with a really cynical response.

Sometimes, when we tell people about Jesus, we are met with cynical responses or rudeness or apathy and it can be really discouraging and it can knock our self-confidence. But when it happened to Philip, he didn’t get into some theological debate about the merits of Nazareth as a geographical region or its place within the salvation history of Israel or anything like that…He just said to Nathanael, “Come and see!” And, when it comes to evangelism, that’s all we need to keep saying: “Come and see!”  We don’t need to get involved in heavy theological debates. “Don’t take my word for it. Come and see!” and let God do the rest.

Now, there is a real challenge to us here in Holy Cross as a church because today, I want to ask this  rhetorical question for us to answer: if people do “Come and see”, what will they find? Will people receive a warm welcome here? Will they get a sense of God changing lives? Will they have an experience of worship that gives them access to God? Will they go away with a sense of excitement that something is happening here? Is Jesus at the centre of Holy cross? If they come and see, will they meet with God? All good questions for us to ponder as our Diocese Mission Action Plan unfolds.

To me, I think we have something special here in holy cross. It is not by chance that we have such a vibrant ministry with young families. Therefore we need to go ahead to invite people to come and see. Second, to help make their experience fulfilling. Those who are befrienders, welcomers, morning tea providers, children’s craft helpers, readers, intercessors, liturgical assistants and group leaders are all enhancing and enriching our experience of worship, teaching and fellowship, helping make them inspirational and meaningful. Something worth inviting people to come and see.

Remember :-

Being a disciple means being found by God.

Being a disciple means telling others about him.

Being a disciple means not losing confidence when the message is not always welcomed.

Fourthly and finally: Being a disciple means receiving peace and blessing from God.

Jesus’ response to Nathanael is very interesting indeed. Let’s look at this part of the passage: “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, “Where did you come to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’” Now, there’s two things to be said here:

First, is to do with the word ‘see’. Philip had said to Nathanael, “Come and see!” And the word he used for ‘see’ had to do with use of the eyes: we look and we see something. But twice the word ‘see’ is used with regard to Jesus in this passage: “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him…” and “I saw you under the fig tree…” And on both those occasions, there is a different word for ‘to see’ used than the one Philip used.

On both occasions, the word used has nothing to do with physical sight through the eyes but speaks of perception instead.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him that is to say, he saw into Nathanael’s heart as he approached and recognised him for who he truly was. It is only Jesus who can see our heart and know who we are.

And secondly, we read Jesus’ words that, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you” which suggests that Jesus knew of Nathanael before this encounter - not in a physical sense of having seen him before - but in a more spiritual sense of having had his hand on Nathanael’s life before that encounter from all eternity.

Yes, Jesus Christ had found Nathanael, just as he had found Philip even though both Philip and Nathanael thought they had found Jesus. And there is a real sense of peace that we can derive from the knowledge that God has had his hand on us even from before we became aware of him.

But secondly, it is interesting that Jesus says: “I saw you under the fig tree”. That is a phrase that is used three other times in the Bible: 1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4; Zechariah 3:10. For example from 1 Kings – “During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel…lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig-tree”. And each time that phrase is used, sitting under the fig-tree is a symbol of living in the peace and blessing, which an obedient relationship which God provides.

And so, in this passage from John, Jesus perceives in Nathanael the obedience of a well lived Jewish life. He says, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” meaning that Nathanael has known the peace and blessing of God on his life. But, in a relationship with Jesus, there is even more for Nathanael to receive: far more than obedience to the Jewish law could ever give him. Jesus says to him: “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” I think Jesus is commending him for having been an obedient Jew but he is calling Nathanael into a deeper place of peace and blessing through a relationship with him.

And, as Christians, we know that peace and blessing can only derive from our relationship with Jesus. The more we allow Jesus to be the centre of our lives, the more we know peace in our hearts.

So this is seemingly a very simple passage; a lovely story about the calling of Philip and Nathanael. But it is full to the brim with deep teaching on the nature of discipleship…

We did not choose God – he chose us from all eternity.

We are called by him primarily to tell others about the good news of Jesus.

We are not to be discouraged by the response we may get from others but trust that an encounter with God will be life-changing for them too.

We are called into a life of peace and blessing with God: Jesus sees us, he knows everything about us and perceives our deepest needs and, if we follow him, as he says to Nathanael “[we] will see heaven opened…”

Jesus Christ is, indeed, a Saviour to be followed and it is a lifetime’s work for us to live out these two simple instructions: “Follow me!” “Come and see!”

Today, we follow.  Today, we come – and we will see.

May God almighty fill us with his spirit and give us courage to do and reach out his word in Holy Cross and the community around!  Amen.

God Approaches Us

The many different traditions of Christianity reflect diverse understandings of how we might apprehend God in our journey of faith.  The selections of Scripture in the Revised Common Lectionary for the Second Sunday after Epiphany give us glimpses of four different ways God approaches us.

SILENCE

The story in 1 Samuel 3 of God calling the young lad Samuel show us an example of God approaching us in silence.  Our modern world cannot cope with silence.  We fill silence with all sorts of noise.  I smile at people walking along the beach with ear pods in their ears - obviously listening to something, but ignoring the joyous noise of the seaside surrounding them.  But there are times when we  need to relax into silence.  Samuel had no problem with silence.  It was part of his world.  It was in his night-times of silence that God spoke to him, not in the busy routines of temple life in the daytime.

Silence is one of the ways in which God can approach us, address us, soothe us, stir us, call us, and renovate us.  In the silence the Word can speak.  Because silence does not come readily in our noisy, frenetic world, it takes self-discipline to create space and silence in our lives.  If we are not inclined towards self-discipline, then let us not complain about the apparent absence of God.  Silence cannot be found without some effort on our part. - Bruce Prewer.

EVERYWHERE

The Psalms often give voice to the presence of God in creation.  Psalm 139 is perhaps a supreme example.  In this Psalm we are reminded that there is nowhere on earth that will remove us from the presence of God.  God is found not just in sacred places but everywhere.  It celebrates the intimacy of God's  involvement in our own creation and God's knowledge of our innermost thoughts.

Psalm 139 does not argue the case.  It celebrates it.  It is like a grand creed of delight in God’s willingness to seek us out everywhere.  Whether we recognise it or not, God will always be with us.  Nowhere is too far, no place is too humble, no situation too dark, no circumstance too secular.  God approaches us everywhere. - Bruce Prewer.

WITHIN US

One of the consequences of the incarnation is explored by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians in the 6th chapter. He describes our bodies as "a temple of the Holy Spirit."  This metaphor suggests that as gods dwell in temples, here we see that our God dwells within us.  

In this Christianity diverges from those religions and religious practices that encourage us to dissociate ourselves from our bodies in order to experience God fully.

God does not scorn our human flesh and blood.  God approaches us through our bodily lives, chooses to reside there.  Treat bodies charitably, with respect and love.  If we want to find where God approaches, take a look within that personal temple where light and darkness wrestle for supremacy, and where light refuses to give up. - Bruce Prewer.

IN CHRIST JESUS

The Apostle John opens his Gospel with rich metaphorical language that seeks to express the unique way that God has approached humanity in the person of Jesus.  He tells some stories after this prologue in his first chapter which declare in no uncertain terms that in this man, God has come among us.  The gathering disciples encourage their friends to "come and see!"  Jesus' encounter with Nathanael is perhaps most striking for the explicit language given in the voice of Nathanael, declaring Jesus to be the presence of God among them.

For Christians, God’s incomparable approach is through Jesus.  Nothing equals this.  Nothing is more certain, or more reliable.  The words and deeds, and the unique person of Jesus, have been for many generations a veritable highway for the coming of God into human experience. - Bruce Prewer.

God does approach us in this world and in this life.  The most important work of our Journey of Faith is perhaps cultivating eyes and ears, hearts and minds that we open and receptive this recognizing these approaches of God and responding to them.  

These thoughts were distilled from a sermon by Bruce Prewer for this Sunday, the second after Epiphany in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary.