"Jesus Finds Us and Invites Us to Follow Him"
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. [Amen.]
"All praise for him whose candor
Through all his doubt You saw
When Philip at the fig tree
Disclosed You in the law.
Discern, beneath our surface,
O Lord, what we can be,
That by Your truth made guileless,
Your glory we may see."
(Lutheran Service Book. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St.
Louis, MO. 518:23)
Gospel Reading................................................. St. John
1:43-51 (esp. 43)
43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to
him, "Follow me."
Prologue: Perhaps like me, some of you remember the popular bumper sticker
back in the 1970's that announced, "I found Jesus!" The response of one of
my favorite seminary professors was, "I didn't know He was lost!" Pastor
Marks so accurately told us in his sermon last weekend about the occasion
when Jesus came to His cousin John the Baptist to be baptized by him,
"Matthew tells us that John initially objected when He saw Jesus standing
there in the water. 'I should be baptized by you, and yet you come to me.'
John was right. John's objection is at the heart of all false religion
[that] teaches us that we are supposed to come to God . ." (Reverend Matthew
T. Marks in his sermon based on Mark 1:4-1. January 8, 2012. Immanuel
Lutheran Church, Perryville, MO.)
So it was that not only did Jesus challenge and correct cousin
John's erroneous theology, but in today's Gospel Reading Jesus demonstrated
with Philip the absolute truth that .
"Jesus Finds Us and Invites Us to Follow Him."
We have solid evidence of that important truth already in the Old
Testament, where we read that after Adam and Eve sinned Yahweh Elohyim came
into the garden seeking them who "hid themselves from the presence of the
Lord God among the trees of the garden." (Gen 3:8 ESV) Also, Isaiah
recorded God's plain declaration, "I have called you by name, you are mine."
(Isa 43:1 ESV) Hundreds of years later, Jesus clearly told His disciples
and us by extension, "You did not choose me, but I chose you . . . I chose
you out of the world . ." (John 15:16 & 19 ESV)
The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther emphasized that Bible truth when
he stated in his explanation to The Third Article of The Apostles' Creed, "I
believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ,
my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel,
enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith."
(Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation. Copyright © 1986, 2008
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 17 & 147.) That's
necessary because "By nature [we are] spiritually blind, dead, and [enemies]
of God . ." (Ibid. Page 150.) God revealed that truth through Saint Paul,
who wrote, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor 2:14 ESV) and "For by grace
you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph
2:8-9 ESV)
Thanks be to God that "The Holy Spirit . has invited and drawn
[us] by the Gospel to partake of the spiritual blessings that are [ours] in
Christ." and "gave [us] the saving knowledge of Jesus, [our] Savior, so that
[we] trust, rejoice, and find comfort in Him." (Luther's Small Catechism
with Explanation. Pages 150f.) We state the Epiphany emphasis about this
Jesus when we confess our faith with the Nicene Creed, namely, that He is
"God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being
of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made . ."
(Lutheran Service Book. Pages 158, 174, 191, & 206.) He is the One who
"was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried." (Ibid. Pages 159,
175, 192, & 207.) to gain forgiveness of sins and spiritual healing for us
"with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death."
"The third day He rose again from the dead." (Ibid.) in victorious triumph
over sin, Satan, and death itself thereby paving the way for us to live with
Him forever in heaven's glorious mansions.
As His dear children whom He found and claimed as His own in the
Blessed Sacrament of Holy Baptism, we are counted among His Saints about
whom it's true that .
I. The Found Ones Find Others and Tell Them About Jesus. (44-46)
44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip
found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law
and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
46Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip
said to him, "Come and see."
An evangelistic mission emphasis oozes throughout the record of
our Lord's birth and His Epiphany (remember that the word means reveal,
manifest, make known). Upon visiting the newborn King, the shepherds "made
known the saying that had been told them concerning this child." (Luke 2:17
ESV) When the wise men "departed to their own country by another way" (Matt
2:12 ESV) after visiting Jesus and giving Him their gifts it's certainly
reasonable to believe that they told their fellow countrymen about Him. A
well-known and much-loved Christmas hymn repeats the refrain that instructs
us to "Go tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and ev'rywhere; Go tell it
on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born." (Lutheran Service Book. Hymn
388:Refrain.)
Even as Philip did in today's Gospel Reading, so also we heard
King David announce in today's Introit, "I have not hidden your deliverance
within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I
will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told." (Ps
40:10 & 5 ESV) Jesus Himself at his ascension back to His heavenly throne
told His disciples and through them us as well, "Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you." (Matt 28:19-20 NIV)
While spoken and written words are the most important way to carry
out His marching orders, we also do so by personal example of Godly living,
like when we obey Saint Paul's words in today's Epistle Reading, "Flee from
sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body,
but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not
know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have
from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So
glorify God in your body." (1 Cor 6:18-20 ESV)
So it is that we found ones find others and tell them about Jesus
because .
II. The Found Ones Recognize the Son of Man As the Son of God and King
of Israel. (47-51)
47Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an
Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48Nathanael said to him,
"How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when
you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi,
you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50Jesus answered him,
"Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You
will see greater things than these." 51And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I
say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and
descending on the Son of Man."
Arguably the most essential doctrine of the Christian faith is
that "Jesus Christ is 'true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and
also true man, born of the Virgin Mary.'" The result of that very important
confession is that "[We] believe that Jesus Christ is [our] Lord and [our]
Redeemer, whom [we] love and serve with [our] whole life." (Luther's Small
Catechism with Explanation. Pages 121 & 127.)
In today's Gospel Reading "Nathanael was amazed that Jesus knew
him and even more amazed when Jesus told him He had seen him under the fig
tree. His amazement led to an astonishing confession-'Rabbi, you are the
Son of God! You are the King of Israel!'" What's perhaps even more amazing
is that Jesus "saw great possibilities in Nathanael, who would afterward see
greater things. Like Jacob, he and the others would see an opened heaven,
with ascending and descending angels; unlike Jacob's vision, however, this
vision would be centered on the Son of Man." And, just in case there's any
lingering confusion in anyone's mind, "[Christ's] mission must not be
interpreted in a political sense. Its major purpose was to deal with man's
contact with God, and for this there was only one divinely appointed
connecting link-the Son of Man." (Donald Guthrie in Jesus the Messiah: An
Illustrated Life of Christ. Copyright © 1972 by The Zondervan Corporation,
Grand Rapids, MI. Pages 50f.)
Now, we probably realize that the designations "Son of God" and
"Son of Man" are significant references to Jesus. But just to help us catch
a greater glimpse of just how very significant they are, let me share a few
statistics that I discovered. "Son of God" appears 42 times in the New
Testament, 25 of them in the Gospel accounts alone (the most being in Saint
Matthew [eight times] and Saint John [nine times]). "Son of Man" appears 86
times in the New Testament, 82 of them in the Gospel accounts alone (the
most being in Saint Matthew [30 times] and Saint Luke [25 times]). The two
designations appear closely together only five times, three of them in Saint
John. Finally, Jesus Himself referred to Himself as the "Son of God" only
four times in the New Testament, all of them recorded by Saint John!
However, He directly referred to Himself as the "Son of Man" a whopping 77
times in the New Testament (the most being recorded by Saint Matthew [30
times] and Saint Luke [24 times]), and the term is used by others to refer
to Him an additional three times (two of them recorded by Saint Mark and one
by Saint Luke).
"So what?" is probably on many of our minds. Well, the so what is
simply that "Yes, he was 'the Son of God.' Yes, he was 'the King of Israel.'
And as such he was [and still is] the only way to get to heaven." As we
noted earlier, "In his dream Jacob had seen the angels of God ascending and
descending on a stairway that reached from earth to heaven." (Reminds
especially us Baby Boomers of that classic folk rock/hard rock song by Led
Zeppelin in 1971, "Stairway to Heaven," doesn't it? By the way, that song
is "often considered one of the greatest rock songs of all-time." In
addition, it "was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United
States in the 1970s, despite never having been officially released as a
single there." [From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]) Okay, enough of my
nostalgic reminiscing! "'I,' Jesus was saying [in another of His 'I Am'
self-identifying statements], 'am the stairway that links heaven and earth.'"
Further, "While Jesus accepted the titles 'Messiah' and 'Son of
God' used by Nathanael, he called himself here 'the Son of Man,' a term he
used" (as we already heard) "8 more times in John's gospel and a total of 55
times in all the gospels. Alongside the opening words of John's gospel,
this title confronts us with the wonderful mystery of the God-man: 'The Word
was God.' Nathanael saw him, correctly, as 'the Son of God.' We must not
forget, however, that he is also 'the Son of Man.'"
Finally, "As the Son of Man, Jesus was in essence a human being
like us. He had the same emotional makeup, the same frailties, the same
physical needs. However, he was also as human beings were meant to be from
creation, namely, without sin. As the Son of Man he could live the perfect
life the rest of us fail to live and die the death we deserve to die [. all
for us]. As the Son of Man he came to win the forgiveness of sins for all
people, not just for Israel." (Gary P. Baumler in People's Bible
Commentary: John. Copyright © 1997 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis,
MO. Pages 36f.)
In conclusion, this narrative account that Saint John recorded
emphatically reminds us "that Jesus is the true King of the spiritual
Israel, of His Church. In Jesus all the prophecies of the Old Testament
were fully realized; there could not be the slightest doubt as to His
Messiahship. In Him God's reign in the hearts of the believers is realized;
He rules over them that are His in grace and truth forever." (Paul E.
Kretzmann in Popular Commentary of the Bible: The New Testament Volume I.
Copyright © Unknown Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 413.)
He alone is the one, the Prince of Peace, in whom is answered the
deep longing that we expressed in Today's Collect, "Almighty and everlasting
God, who governs all things in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the
prayers of Your people and grant us Your peace through all our days."
He alone is the One, who revealed Himself to Samuel in today's Old
Testament reading, whom Eli coached to answer, "Speak, for your servant
hears." (1 Sam 3:10 ESV) Today He continues to reveal Himself to us in God's
Holy Word, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and Holy Communion, seeking for us
to likewise respond, "Speak, for your servant hears."
He alone is the One, to whom the Bible's shortest chapter that we
heard in today's Gradual refers, "Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him,
all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the
faithfulness of the Lord endures forever." (Ps 117:1-2a ESV)
So, let's rejoice and give thanks that .
"Jesus Finds Us and Invites Us to Follow Him."
After all, "there is now direct communication between God and man,
Jesus Himself being the Mediator. Something more beautiful than the ladder
of Jacob, Gen. 28, has now united earth and heaven-the full atonement
through the blood of the Savior." (Paul E. Kretzmann. Page 413.) Because
of that .
I. The Found Ones Find Others and Tell Them About Jesus. (44-46)
In fact, now "There is constant communication between Christ and
His heavenly Father, in prayer, in miracles, and in other proofs of divine
intimacy. And every bit of this work will be of benefit to all [mankind],
to be accepted by those that place their faith in their Savior." (Ibid.)
And those that do so are among .
II. The Found Ones [Who] Recognize the Son of Man As the Son of God and
King of Israel. (47-51)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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