Sermon for August 23

Sermon for August 23

The reading

John 1

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip 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.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And 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.”

The message

For the first time in a few years, I changed the readings this morning. The bible verses we just heard are the texts for the celebration of St. Bartholomew, usually observed tomorrow on August 24^th. I figured we could all use a break from the bread of life readings that we have shared and tried to figure out for the past 4 weeks.  Growing up, whenever we went out for dinner at a restaurant, my mom would always tell my brother and I to not fill up on bread. She knew if we ate too much bread, we would not have room to enjoy our actual meal. In some ways, I think of that this morning.  Along with the challenges of understanding Jesus’ statement “I am the bread of life” and his command that to have eternal life, one must eat his flesh and drink his blood”, we also heard that God is present in the world and that we are joined to Christ for our salvation. 

This morning, our changed texts invite us to explore what that means, what life looks like when we recognize that Jesus is the bread of life, the way to salvation.  Today is set aside to honor St Bartholomew, Bartholomew was one of Jesus first disciples.  Some of you might wonder why he is not actually mentioned in the readings today, since it’s his day and all. In fact, the name Bartholomew does not appear in John’s Gospel at all.  It does appear in the other books that talk about Jesus life and the early church, he is part of Acts, Mark, Matthew and Luke.  It seems like in John, Bartholomew is called Nathaniel, the man that Jesus sees under the fig tree and who declares “Rabbi, you are the son of God”.  No one is quite sure why this is the case but it seems like they are the same person. If this is true, the easiest explanation is simply that his name was Nathaniel Bartholomew.  After Jesus death, resurrection and ascension, no one is sure where Nathaniel went.  There are stories that he traveled to spread the good news of God’s love in Asia minor, Mesopotamia, Persia or India.  It is clearly documented that his ministry ends in Armenia where he shares the Gospel for several years before he is killed. He is said to have converted Polymius, the king of Armenia, to Christianity. After this, Astyages, Polymius' brother, ordered Bartholomew's execution. 

Bartholomew’s faith story starts the day after Jesus called Peter and his first disciples. The next round of calling apostles starts with Phillips joyful statement to his friend Nathaniel “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus  son of Joseph from Nazareth” and his loving invitation “Come and see”.  After this and a brief, sort of strange discussion with Jesus, Nathaniel starts a lifetime of faithful and loyal service. 

Although today is set aside for Nathaniel, these lessons and events can be applied to many of God’s saints throughout history and in our lives today. The invitation “come and see” and Jesus promise “you will see greater things than these, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man” are reminders that our faith is experienced. We are invited to jump in.  When I look at Jesus invitations to follow and first calls to faith, I think of my first few weeks at my internship at Gloria Dei in Connecticut.  I just got my drivers license a few days before I moved there and needed to get a car.  The church was about 20 minutes outside of Hartford in a part of the state where you needed a car to live and function. One of the members at the church helped me find a truck (which I named Mr. Truckie), get everything registered and ready to drive.  Since I was a new driver, had almost no idea where I was going (something that stayed with me throughout my time there) and this was the first time in my life I owned a vehicle, I was not exactly comfortable or confident. The day after I picked up the truck, I decided it was time to get on the highway and drive to Hartford. There was a young member of the church receiving care at Hartford’s childrens hospital.  I drove slower and faster then I should, got a little lost and it took about 15 minutes to figure out how to park but I made it there and back, safe and sound.  I was relieved to get my first highway drive out of the way.      

Jesus first followers all jump into their faith.  They hear Jesus invitation to follow and they go, they hear Jesus call “come and see” and they keep their eyes open.  In some cases it seems border line irresponsible, they leave work, home and even people who depend on them.  They move around, travel through familiar and strange places, perform miracles like healing the sick and casting out evil spirits that separate people from God, tell people remarkable and hard to believe things like “God is with us” and “this Jesus who died is alive”.  None of Jesus first followers knew what to expect.  No one thought they would convert the rich and powerful or the poor and ignored. They would win debates with great scholars and religious leaders, they would end up working alongside Saul the great and seriously feared persecutor, None of them were qualified to do these things. None of them were particularly trained in these things either, they are sent out with faith, with trust in God, with a desire to tell the others and the rest happens. Jesus invitation is a call to action, a call for us to show others what we believe through how we live, to go, to speak, to see, to do. 

Its easy enough to say, go and do that, but I would like to talk about what that actually looks like and where I have seen it here: This summer, we had the youth gathering in Detroit, where 30,000 or so young Lutherans gathered to learn, help, serve and be reminded we are part of something bigger and we had the pulpit exchange where Pr Irving and I and our communities tried something brand new. Over the past few years here we have opened our church to many different and diverse communities who now share our space with us….  The more important things that happen here, the ways we truly follow the example of the saints,  are the things we do not all know about, the times when you leave this building and go someplace to help others, pray for people in our community, call or check in on people, invite someone to join us at church, assist someone in trouble because you see them as a child of God, share your time and resources with someone in need because its what our faith tells you to do.  We come to this place to be fed, strengthened and reminded of God’s love, After that, we are asked to jump into the world, to go out and do something.