A Sermon Preached by: the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Winnette

Seen By Jesus

John 1:43-51, Psalm 139

January 18, 2009

Do you enjoy people-watching at the mall, at a football game, at church? I do; I love the opportunity to watch and imagine the life of others.   If there is a group I wonder what they are saying. If someone is alone, I wonder what she is thinking. What is he reading? Why is she here? Who are they and by the grace of God who can they become? I sat on a rock cliff above the sands of Manly beach, an amazing beach north of Sydney, Australia. It was almost empty; some cold-brave surfers were out in the water, but the sands were bare. A two or three year old boy toddled onto the beach. I watched him. He faced the water, and threw his hands in a dance. I imagined he giggled. He reached down, picked up something from the sand and threw it to the water. Then he sat down, and stood up, and sat down. 

What was going through his obviously delighted mind? Was he trying to decide how to best to enjoy the beautiful moment? Who was he? Where were his parents? As I watched I began to ponder how long it would take for me to get down the cliff to him if he went towards the water.   Blessedly, a mother with an infant in her arms came down the beach encumbered with the bags of motherhood and dragging a stroller through the sands.  The little boy stayed where he was seemingly oblivious to her slow approach. He sat as she unpacked the blanket, toys, food, and sundry. The young child of God stayed still watching the water coming to the land. 

We can learn a great deal about others through watching them.   If we watch long enough we might see that spark of God within them; we might see how they fit into God’s vision for the world; we might even grow to love them.   If we watch long enough, we can be gifted with some of the sight of Jesus. A sight that empowers us to see through our prejudices, and the practicalities that limit other’s potential. We see God’s truth and promise within them. I had sat long enough and before I left the beach I prayed for the young boy, his mother and infant sibling – that they would live into God’s highest blessings and purposes. 

The Evangelist John does not give us much narrative in chapter one. He does not share much of the rhetoric of Jesus and John the Baptist, nor the apologetics that won over Peter from being a disciple of John to becoming a disciple of Jesus. We have to watch the story and imagine the rest of it. Jesus simply said, “Come and see.” And Peter followed.  

The next day, Jesus finds Philip. He finds him, like he found the Apostle Paul on the road to Emmaus, he finds him like he finds us at home and at work and here in worship. He finds him like he found Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama. Jesus finds us and then calls us to follow him into a life within God’s purposes. Jesus finds Philip and simply says, “Follow me.”    That is all we get of the story.  And Philip follows Jesus by joining in the search for disciples, by becoming a witness to who he had met. He becomes a witness to God’s ultimate vision. Philip searches for Jesus and finds someone he knew.  He finds Nathanael and he tells him that they had found the One. The One Moses, the law and the prophets had foretold, Jesus from Nazareth.   

Oh boy! Watch out! I’m edging towards evangelism. Yep, the “E” word; there is a great nugget of evangelical truth here; it is easier to invite a friend to Jesus than a stranger. Ingest that a moment.   To be an evangelist does not mean becoming a door-to-door, cold-calling pain, you can simply offer warm invitations to friends. 

Philip shared with Nathanael his fresh faith in Jesus, that Jesus was the Messiah. Now the story gets a bit more realistic, Nathanael does not assume Philip’s faith saying “Sure, I will follow Jesus.” He does not blindly adopt his friend’s conviction.    For those of us who struggle with evangelism here is another helpful nugget. Evangelism is not the shoving of our faith upon a friend or stranger.  We cannot make someone else believe.   Nor can they simply take our faith and make it their own. They must experience Jesus themselves. So as evangelists we witness our faith in our words and actions pointing to Jesus and God’s love. We invite our friends to seek truth from the same source from which we have been blessed. It is like inviting a friend to drink from the spring where you have found good water.   Invite her to drink. Show him where you found the water. Point to where you have found Christ’s living water.   Join them for the journey – for heaven knows we can all use some more living water. So, guide, cajole, assist, promote, and encourage your friends to look for and be found by Jesus. Be fearless! Don’t be afraid of a rebuff or challenge; if they are annoyed, so what. They will get over it. Why would anyone hold a grudge because you shared some of your life’s good news with them?   Why be offended by your invitation? 

Nathanael challenges Philip’s faith. Obviously, Nathanael knows his scriptures and he knows that nothing in the prophecies mention a Messiah coming out of Nazareth. He also knows the rumors of Nazareth as a sinful city. Prejudiced by his knowledge of scripture and the reputation of Nazarenes as bad people, Nathanael rebukes Philip’s faith. He sarcastically questions it, “Can anything good ever come out of Nazareth?” The story does not tell us whether the rebuke hurt Philip’s feelings or not.   Philip simply uses Jesus’ words and says, “Come and see.” “Come and see for yourself.” And they went. 

From afar, Jesus, a people-watcher, sees them coming. And Jesus watches Nathanael, Jesus watches with God’s eyes, and sees him, truly sees him. Jesus, the Son of the God of Psalm 139, taps the vision of the God who searches for us and knows us, who knows when we sit and rise on beaches, under fig trees, at breakfast and communion tables.   Jesus truly sees us for who we are and who we can best become. Remember how Jesus astonished the Samaritan woman at the well, telling her that she had many husbands and calling her to drink living water. In the same way he tells Nathanael who Nathanael really is: “You are truly an Israelite with no deceit!” Wary, Nathanael maintains his distance and asks, “how do you know me?” Jesus tells him that he had seen him under the fig tree. That’s it. Jesus tells him that he had watched him, pondered him, truly seen him. Like Jesus saw wee little Zacheaus in the tree, Jesus had seen Nathanael under it.   And he liked what he saw. That is evangelism -- watching people, seeing God’s purposes within others and telling them, that God likes them, likes what is seen within them. 

That is all it took, Nathanael drinks of the water of the Spirit and he experiences God and he believes in Jesus.    Bemused, Jesus responds to Nathanael that if he believes simply because Jesus told him he had watched him, then he should hold on for he had seen nothing yet.    Jesus promises, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” 

The “you’s” in his promise are plural: “Very truly, I tell you-all, you-all will see heaven opened up and the angels, the messages of God coming to and going from Jesus.” Jesus tells Nathanael, Jesus tells us that when we sip from his living water, our vision will grow. We will be able to see Jacob’s holy communication ladder too. We will see how Jesus binds together humanity and God. We will grow to perceive how God sends messages to us. How God pours out Holy vision into the aims of all our lives. 

“Come and see,” Jesus invites. “Come and see.” Come and see through the prejudices and definitions and stereotypes of the world, see how God values and has a purpose for every human regardless of where they come from (Nazareth or Baltimore), regardless of their pedigree or race, or education, or class. Remember how Jesus saw – he saw an adulteress about to be stoned as a sister needing forgiveness and freedom. He saw a despised tax collector in a tree as a fellow child of Abraham. He saw Nathanael strict and disbelieving as a deceit-less child of Israel.    Friend, Jesus sees you too, all that you can be.

As we watch for him in each other we will come to see God’s Promised Vision and Land. Martin Luther King Jr. saw it. He heard Jesus’ call to follow and be a prophet for justice. He shared his vision in that last speech in Memphis, I See the Promised Land, given the day before he was assassinated. He preached,

“Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”[1]

What courage. We are invited to follow the same Savior of humanity, Jesus. We are invited to “come and see.” We are invited to say, “come and see” to our brothers and sisters leading them to the same water that gave Rev. King the courage to be an evangelist for God’s justice. And boy have “we the people” sipped that water, whether some meant to or not.   God’s aims are being worked in Americans. We have grown from a nation that argued over the holy merits of slavery to one where a black man is elected President. Good news indeed. 

There is a popular text message floating around today that says: “Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama was running so our children can fly!”[2]   On Tuesday with the world we will see Jacob’s ladder messages of justice. We will glimpse again God’s Promised Land. Pray that our new President hear the messages of God’s justice and see the vision of God’s Promised Land.   Pray that President Obama grow in the courage of the best disciples of Christ to strive for God’s shalom.   

So I close with an invitation to you and me. Go out into the world like expectant, excited Philip searching for friends to invite to meet justice-making Jesus. We are not inviting them to join our church; we are invited them to live the courageous ways of Jesus. They can join our church and for that I will be glad, but that is not the point. We are evangelists, those angels sent by God to witness to the waters of Christ. And we invite each other to see God’s vision, to transform our lives into Christ’s life, to transform the fears of the world into faith, to strive for peace in Gaza, and Darfur, and DC and all the world. Hear the call to live dangerously Christian lives. 

Listen with me to a disciples’ call to transformation from one of the Rev. King’s teachers, Pastor Howard Thurman.

Give me the courage to live! Really live– not merely exist. Live dangerously, scorning risk!   Live honestly, daring the truth– particularly the truth of myself! Live resiliently– ever changing, ever growing, ever adapting. Enduring the pain of change as though ’twere the travail of birth. Give me the courage to live, give me the strength to be free and endure the burden of freedom and the loneliness of those without chains; let me not be trapped by success, nor by failure, not pleasure, nor grief, nor malice, nor praise, nor remorse!

Give me the courage to go on! Facing all that waits on the trail– going eagerly, joyously on, and paying my way as I go, without anger or fear or regret taking what life gives, spending myself to the full, head high, spirit winged, like a god– on… on… till the shadows draw close. Then even when darkness shuts down, and I go out alone as I came, naked and blind as I came – even then, gracious God, hear my prayer: Give me the courage to live!      Amen.