Jan 15 - Come and See

Mark 1:14-20
14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 16As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.


John 1:43-51
43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

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Call and response. It’s a fairly common musical form. The leader sings a verse and the congregation responds, often with a repetitive line or refrain. The last hymn we’ll sing today, the African-American spiritual, “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” has a kind of call and response. Most of us will sing the main melody, and the tenors get this great echo in harmony. Call and response.

New baptized and tested, Jesus begins his ministry by calling people to become his disciples and follow him. In Mark and John, we hear different ways they respond to Jesus’ call.

Last week, I said throughout Mark’s gospel there is a sense of urgency. We’re barely a third of the way through the first chapter and John the Baptist has been arrested. Jesus now moves center stage and begins his public ministry. His preaching message is simple, “The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” As Nancy & I have noted before, repent means turn or return, in Greek, literally change your mind. Assess your situation and make a course correction.
And the first named persons Jesus calls are fishermen. Brothers Simon and Andrew are just throwing their nets into the sea in the midst of fishing. Brothers James and John are cleaning up after a night of fishing. Jesus calls them and immediately they leave their old life and their family behind and follow him.

There are so many questions we want answered in this short story. What else did Jesus say? Why did they respond immediately? Why would they leave behind a sure occupation and life for an uncertain future? Sorry, but Mark won’t give us any answers.

Perhaps these fishermen were in a business going bust. At one time the Sea of Galilee teemed with all kinds of good-eating fish. The two sets of brothers weren’t well-off by any standards, but they were doing fine. Fine, that is, until Rome’s insatiable appetite for seafood led to overfishing. Most days now their nets contained few fish of any decent size to sell. The four were stubborn and kept trying to make a go it, but, basically, they struggled to make ends meet. Then Jesus shows up: “Follow me!” Maybe a second or two was all the assessing they needed to change the course of their lives.
The pace in John’s gospel is a little slower, but here are two interesting and different responses to Jesus’ call.

Philip – a pretty unremarkable person, maybe even a little slow. He makes four brief appearances in John’s gospel and all but one of the times seems incapable of doing or figuring out anything. He has no idea what to do about feeding 5,000 people. He has no answer for a group of Gentiles looking for Jesus and has to find his brother for help. He doesn’t seem to have understood any of Jesus’ teachings. Useless…except Jesus sought him out and said, “Follow me!” And immediately Philip followed Jesus. The encounter so affected Philip, he felt compelled to share his experience with a friend and invite him. “Come and see, Nathanael, come and see.”

Then there’s Nathanael. He was an honest, hard-working man. He was also street-smart. Question everything; take nothing at face-value. No one was going to pull a fast one on him. So when his friend Philip came by with some crazy story about finding the one promised in Scripture who was born to Joseph of Nazareth, Nathanael was naturally skeptical. No one important comes out of that small village. No, important people are from important places. You’re wasting your time Philip – try looking for someone from Jerusalem, then let me know. But how do you turn down a good friend, a persistent friend. “Come and see for yourself.”

What could it hurt? Nathanael went along with Philip to see why he was so excited. He didn’t expect much – after all, nothing fazed Nathanael. Until this day… There he was! “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you,” Jesus said. His words surprised the unflappable Nathanael. How could he have known? He wasn’t there. Jesus had done something remarkable, and Nathanael was convinced to leave his old life behind and follow. And who was he? Nathanael hazarded a few guesses: rabbi, Son of God, King of Israel. Nice try Nathanael, but you have no idea. Come and see.

Three different stories, three different experiences that cause them to follow Jesus. And lest this story give the wrong impression, let’s not forget that women also followed Jesus. There were Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, and the Samaritan woman at the well, and the woman who anointed Jesus, and Mary Magdalene who was there at the cross even though all of the men had run away, just to name a few.

How about you? What’s your story? What or who are you looking for? What brought you here to this church? Why do you drag yourself out of bed every Sunday morning to come here when you could be sleeping late? Some of you may be asking yourself that question right now.

Perhaps we came because we heard about this church, its sense of community, and the work it is doing. Now we come faithfully to church, week after week. We hear God’s promise read in Scripture, and proclaimed from the pulpit. We sing songs of praise and we turn to God in prayer. We are called to prepare for the day when Jesus Christ will return. But every so often we catch glimpses of Jesus Christ. Sometimes he appears as we enjoy a meal together, or as we sing a hymn in worship, or when we perform acts of mercy to those in need within this congregation, and in the world around us.

Perhaps we came at a time when life was not going well and we didn’t know where to turn for help. Or perhaps we realized that our job wasn’t giving us the sense of fulfillment and purpose in life we expected. Sometimes that sense of being unsettled, or having one’s life be beyond our control is the means for Christ to reach out and call to us. One of the reasons the early church grew was that people on the outside looking in saw a community that worked hard to break down barriers and treat each other as brothers and sisters. The church believed it was continuing Christ’s ministry of reaching out to the poor and weak. Old, young, male, female, free person or slave, all were now brothers and sisters. One was quoted, “Look how they love each other.” Here we meet others who are also on this journey finding meaning in the God who created us, who came to be with us, who promises to be with us always in life and in death.

Perhaps you started coming here because a friend or relative invited you here. And when you came, you met others who shared similar experiences. Perhaps you look forward to seeing friends you don’t get to see during the week. Or maybe like Nathanael, you aren’t so sure about all this church stuff. I love Nathaniel in this story. He’s probably the most real person. Simon, Andrew, James, John, and Philip drop everything and immediately follow Jesus without hesitation. Not Nathaniel. He needs some proof, but that means he has to get up and see for himself. Perhaps you too are waiting to see for yourself.

Maybe your experience doesn’t match any of these stories. That’s OK. Jesus comes to us, sometimes directly, sometimes through others, sometimes in church, sometimes out in the world. It doesn’t matter. Jesus Christ is God who came to be with us, the Word of God made flesh and blood, who when and where we least expect reveals to us the God of love.

Last summer, ten of our youth did volunteer work in New Orleans. The mission trip had a profound effect on them. How do I know? All of the group who are still in high school are going this summer, along with another four youth – thirteen all together. The four new folks are coming because some of our youth said to their friends, “Come and see.” I’m convinced they encountered the living Christ in the people they met, listen to, and helped. It was something they could describe to others, but it was more important their friends experience it for themselves. “Come and see.”

Jesus reminds Nathanael, and he reminds us: You will see greater signs. Keep watching, but remember the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ meets us when we least expect or invites us through the least likely people. Come and see. Come and see.