Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – February 6, 2024

6 Feb 2024

Text: John 1:35-51

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. John’s description of Jesus calling His first disciples is compelling reading.  And these men immediately leave behind their former lives to follow Jesus as if they had been compelled.  John the Baptist begins by calling Jesus “the Lamb of God.”  His own disciples hear this, and matriculate from John’s rabbiship to our Lord’s. 

St. Andrew was one such disciple of John, who became one of the first – if not the first – disciple of Jesus.  And in short order, Andrew is confessing Jesus as the Messiah, and evangelizing – telling his brother Simon (who would later be called ‘Peter’), “We have found the Messiah.” 

The account of Philip and Nathaniel joining what will become the apostolic band is also interesting.  Philip follows Jesus after Jesus invited him with two simple words: “Follow Me.”  Philip goes to Nathaniel and tells him “We have found Him” – “Him” being the Messiah.  Nathaniel replies with a bit of sarcasm that has the sound of some kind of common saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  It sounds a little like how Michiganders and Ohioans tease each other, or Texans and Oklahomans.  But the irony is that not only is “good” coming from Nazareth, God Himself is.  And Philip replies to him the same way that Jesus replied to Andrew: “Come and see.” 

And when he does “come and see” Jesus, Nathaniel’s skepticism is immediately turned into faith.  Our Lord says to Nathaniel: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”  Jesus is replying to Nathaniel’s sarcasm with a bit of His own.  Maybe this too is an old saying.  It is greatly ironic, however, because He is saying, “Look here!  An honest son of Jacob!”  Israelites are descendants of Jacob, whose very name means: “The Deceiver.”  The humor dripping between the lines is both palpable and quite humorous – in a dry sort of way. 

Something about coming and seeing Jesus, and in hearing this quip, struck Nathaniel.  Jesus has revealed something to Nathaniel that He could not have possibly known by natural means.  “How do you know me?” asks a bewildered Nathaniel.  “Before Philip called you,” replies Jesus, “when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”  Clearly, this was something supernatural, something that revealed our Lord’s divine nature.  For Nathaniel replies in a way that flesh and blood has not revealed (as Jesus would later describe Simon Peter’s confession of Him as the Christ).  Nathaniel says: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!”  Our Lord replies, as we would say in modern, colloquial English: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Jesus says: “You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  This too is a significant biblical reference to Jacob.  For this is the vision that Jacob saw, prefiguring the cross.  Nathaniel is to be an apostolic fulfillment of Israel, as the twelve tribes are extended to the twelve apostles: Deceiving Jacob would wrestle with God in the flesh, and the chosen people of Israel will be extended to all nations: people who experience God in the flesh in the person of Jesus, the Son of God and King of Israel.

For this is the church, and the church starts with the calling of the Twelve.  The apostolic preaching and the church itself continue to this day, dear friends.  We are still inviting people to “Come and see.”  And our Lord Jesus Christ is still inviting and saying: “Follow Me.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.