{"id":3469,"date":"2018-01-16T10:37:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T17:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2018-01-16T10:37:11","modified_gmt":"2018-01-16T17:37:11","slug":"epiphany-2-good-comes-nazareth-john-143-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=3469","title":{"rendered":"Epiphany 2 – “Good Comes from Nazareth” (John 1:43-51)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollow me.\u201d It\u2019s a very simple command. It means to come with me, to do what I do. It\u2019s straightforward and means what it says. In other words, a simple task. That\u2019s the command that Jesus gives to Philip: \u201cFollow me.\u201d<\/em><\/span> And Philip does just that \u2013 he follows Jesus. Good for Philip, you might say. He listened to Jesus and did just what He said to do. And for a brief moment, you might be right.<\/p>\n

As Philip follows Jesus, doing what Jesus has commanded, going where Jesus says to go, he finds another, Nathanael. Right now, Nathanael doesn\u2019t seem to be doing anything, and so Philip tells Nathanael, \u201cWe have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.\u201d<\/em><\/span> Unlike Jesus\u2019 command to Philip, Philip doesn\u2019t tell Nathanael to follow him; rather, he states the obvious \u2013 Jesus is here.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s great news, isn\u2019t it? Jesus is here! Obviously Philip is happy about that news and so should Nathanael. Instead, Nathanael responds by saying, \u201cCan anything good come out of Nazareth?\u201d<\/em><\/span> Talk about putting a damper on everything. Instead of celebrating the fact that Jesus is here, Nathanael becomes \u201cDebbie Downer,\u201d insinuating that nothing good can come from Nazareth, not even \u201cJesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Biblically, there may be an answer to Nathanael\u2019s question. Nazareth is never mentioned in the Old Testament. Outside the New Testament, the first mention of the town of Nazareth seems to be in the second century AD. Nathanael\u2019s response may be a piece of flippant sarcasm in view of the insignificance of Nazareth. No messianic prophecy was associated with Nazareth. Hence, Nathanael expresses skepticism that one from Nazareth could be the Messiah, for nowhere in the Law or in the Prophets is Nazareth the origin of the Coming One.<\/p>\n

Despite what Nathanael may think about Nazareth or this so-called Jesus, Philip doesn\u2019t bite. He doesn\u2019t give in and say, \u201cYeah, you\u2019re right Nathanael. What was I thinking!\u201d He doesn\u2019t argue against Nathanael and tell him all the ways that he\u2019s wrong. Instead, he simply tells Nathanael, \u201cCome and see.\u201d<\/em> <\/span>Once again, it\u2019s pretty simple for Philip. He doesn\u2019t ask questions, he doesn\u2019t doubt. He just does what Jesus says, and in turn, encourages Nathanael to do the same.<\/p>\n

You and I are exactly like Nathanael. We want to come up with every reason not to believe that Jesus is who He says He is. We want to come up with any other explanation of salvation than the fact that Jesus died on a cross to forgive the sins of mankind in order to redeem creation. It\u2019s all so bloody, so disgusting, so revolting. That\u2019s not what we want to hear, and so we seek to find a way to sanitize all of it, to make Jesus\u2019 death more appealing and less bloody. But that\u2019s where our problem lies. We cannot make Jesus\u2019 death any more appealing that what is already not. There is no way to sanitize Jesus. If you want Jesus, then you need Jesus for who He is \u2013 the blood pouring out of the side Jesus, the blood rushing over you to forgive your sins Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by His blood Jesus.<\/p>\n

With fire and Holy Spirit power, the Messiah comes, but instead of being a terrible judge, awesome to behold, He\u2019s a lamb. The Messiah, with gentleness, heals and teaches. In lowliness, the Messiah calls disciples and raises the dead to life. Gentiles will follow Him, sinners will adore Him, little children call Him \u201cSon of David.\u201d The Messiah of God loves the lame, the mute, the seeing, and the blind. In humility, this Messiah touches lepers and washes feet. To be the Lamb of God means to be lowly and gentle and humble to the point of death, even death on a cross.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we are like Philip. We need that Lamb. In this world where death lords over us, we sinners long for that gentle Lamb, who is our Good Shepherd. That\u2019s why Philip immediately leaves all and follows Jesus wherever He may go. Philip doesn\u2019t follow Jesus blindly, but with eyes wide open. Philip doesn\u2019t follow in the hopes that Jesus is the One; rather, Philip follows because he knows that Jesus IS the One. Philip follows Jesus because Jesus is salvation promised and salvation fulfilled.<\/p>\n

This Jesus whom you and I come seeking week after week is the prophetic proclamation of God. With the incarnation of God and the revealing Epiphany light, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, invades the world, and the kingdom of the enemy has no chance. The silence of the prophets is broken with Jesus\u2019 infant cries and John\u2019s recognizing Him as the Lamb to be slain. Christ will come to save those who trust in Him, just as Moses and the prophets said. He will save them by dying for them. He will save you by dying for you. He HAS saved you because He has DIED and RISEN for you!<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that we are sinners, God calls us unto Him. He calls us to be forgiven. He calls us to receive. He calls us to be His beloved children. Just as God called Samuel, just as Jesus called Philip and Nathanael, so are we called. We are called in our Baptism to be made forgiven children of God. We are called to serve our neighbor, to spread the Gospel to those who have not heard.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, we want, no, we need to be able to make the same confession that Nathanael did: \u201cRabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!\u201d<\/em><\/span> Such a bold confession for someone who didn\u2019t think anything good could come from Nazareth. But that\u2019s where Nathanael would be wrong, and that\u2019s where we would be wrong as well. Good things do come out of Nazareth, for that is where your Savior is found. It is because of Jesus of Nazareth that you will hear, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.\u201d<\/em><\/span> For all who confess that Jesus is Lord will indeed see heaven open and will see the Son of Man. You will see the Key to your salvation, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

God has drawn you to Himself and found you as well \u2013 here at the font and in His holy Christian Church. And here, when Jesus sees you approaching \u2013 every time He sees you approaching \u2013 He says, here is a true child of God, in whom there is nothing false. That is, He declares you righteous and welcomes you into His presence. In Jesus\u2019 name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier. \u201cFollow me.\u201d It\u2019s a very simple command. It means to come with me, to do what I do. It\u2019s straightforward and means what it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16840,9016],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epiphany","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3471,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469\/revisions\/3471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}