7th March 2010 - "Come and see"

Usha Hull - St Peter's, Tewin
John 1 35-end

There is one event that is hugely important in all our journeys of faith and that is the time we first learnt about the Lord. I wonder who was the first person who ever told you about Jesus? Many of us have stories to tell of how we first came to the faith.

For myself I can still remember a Sunday school teacher who first planted in my heart and mind the tiny seed of faith that has stayed with me all my life. I was just a tiny little girl when it happened. At the time I was based with my parents up north, in Durham. I cannot remember her name, this unknown lady, or what she looked like or indeed anything about her at all. All I can remember is her insistence that Jesus was Lord, and her attempt to take me to the Lord.

Today’s reading from John is full of people talking about the Lord and taking others to Jesus. John the Baptist points Jesus out to two of his disciples, who then begin to follow Jesus. When Jesus asks them what they want, they reply they would like to know more about where he lives. And Jesus’ reply is, ‘Come and see.’ Again, Andrew runs off to find his brother Peter and invites him to ‘Come and see’ the Lord. Then there’s Nathanial. Philip invites Nathanial to meet the Lord, the true Messiah. But Nathanial,on hearing that Jesus comes from Nazareth, skeptically asks ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ And Philip replies, ‘Come and see.’

And you’ll find, in the Bible, that whenever a person hears the invitation of the Lord, ‘Come and see’ and they respond positively, their lives are changed forever for the better. Now Nathanial is a case in point. In our reading when Jesus talks about seeing Nathanial under the fig tree, he is not talking about a physical sighting. He seems to be referring to a spiritual knowledge of Nathanial.

To understand this we need to dwell briefly on some background details. The fig was an important fruit in Biblical times. And the ideal of peace and prosperity was summed up as the vision of everyone being able to sit down under his own vine and fig tree. In the ancient Jewish world, the fig tree was also a place recommended for studying the scriptures. In true rabbinic tradition, it was a quiet shady place where one studied the Torah in the heat of the day.

So when Jesus talks about seeing Nathanial under the fig tree, it seems he is referring to Nathanial’s inner life. And it would seem that Jesus, being Lord, has the ability to see beyond the three dimensional world we live in, to the other dimension, the dimension of the heart and soul. For example, before the encounter with Nathanial, Jesus had an encounter with Peter. In it, Jesus saw who Peter was, and more importantly who Peter would become. In today’s reading Jesus looks at Peter intently and says, ‘You are Simon, John’s son, but you shall be called Peter, the rock.’ And by giving Peter a new name, Jesus sets Peter on the path not only to a change of name but a change of life, a change of heart, a change of life style.

In so many instances recorded in the Bible, people met Jesus and their lives were changed forever. And I can only imagine what Nathanial must have felt when he met Jesus and realised that here was one who could see into his heart and still accept and love him for who he was, even speak positively of him. As human beings, don’t we love those who accept us for the people we really are? Don’t we love those who can see all the good and all the bad, and everything in between about us and still love us and encourage us? Don’t we love those who can call us into fellowship, seeing beyond the facade we present to the world?

Nathanial, meeting one who could see him as he was, also sees Jesus as he truly is. The recognition between them is mutual, the conversion on Nathanial’s part is instant. ‘Sir,’ he replies, ‘you are the Son of God, the true king of Israel.’

And Jesus replies with words to the effect that say, ‘Nathanial, do you believe just because I can see you for who you truly are? If you believe in me, you will see more than this.’ In this verse, and in the verse that follows, when Jesus goes on to talk about the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, he is revealing two vital truths about himself, about his divinity and humanity.

The first truth concerns the divinity of the historical Christ. In being able to see into our hearts Jesus is certainly not using any kind of mythological magic. Neither is he some form of celestial psychologist. But because of his great holiness, because of his union with God the Father in the Holy Spirit, he knows about human nature. He is able to penetrate the deepest recesses of the human heart. The gospel of John, chapter 2, verse 25, goes on to say that Jesus himself knew what was in everyone.

Psalm 139 put the knowledge that God has of us into the most poetic language, ‘O Lord, you have searched me and known me... For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb... my frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret.’

There is a truth here that is deeply personal for each and everyone of us. Our God is a deeply personal and loving God. He knows and loves us better than we know and love ourselves. He loves us with our ideals and disappointments, our sacrifices and our joys, our successes and our failures. He most certainly doesn’t condone our selfishness, our pettiness, our jealousies, the evils of our lives, but he does see all and loves us anyway. And for us, who see all these faults in others and because of them harden our hearts, this is one of the most difficult truths about God to believe, that he can actually see the darkness within us and love us still. After all, we find that so hard to do for others, don’t we?

In his book ‘A Bread that is Broken,’ the Jesuit author Peter van Breemen writes this: ‘One of the deepest needs of the human heart is the need to be appreciated. Every human being wants to be valued. Every human being craves to be accepted, accepted for what he is. When I am not accepted, then something in me is broken. Acceptance means that the people with whom I live give me a feeling of self respect, a feeling that I am worthwhile. They are happy that I am who I am.’

And the theologian Paul Tillich writes this: ‘Sometimes a wave of light breaks into our darkness and it is as though a voice were saying, “You are accepted. Accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which we do not know. After such and experience we may not be better than before and we may not believe more than before, but everything is transformed.”’ And that’s what happened to Nathanial. He was accepted, loved and encouraged for who he was.

Our God accepts us as we are but do we accept Him? Do we spend time and prayer getting to know him? Do we look for him in our lives? Do we spend time, as it were, under our own fig tree? Because of our love for God do we accept and encourage others for who they are? Do we hold human life as sacred?

Because in today’s reading, the second great truth that Jesus reveals about himself is that by calling himself the Son of Man he is saying that it is his humanity, not his divinity, that is our direct link with God.

The historical Christ was a real man. Like us he had thoughts and feelings, likes and dislikes. He ate, he drank, he knew hunger, thirst and weariness. He was tempted as we are tempted. And yet, as St Paul points out in Colossians, ‘in him the whole fullness of the deity dwells bodily’. Such a man was indeed God’s chosen one. By linking divinity and humanity he is our link with the Father. Through him our humanity is accepted in the eyes of God and human life is sacred.

The historical Jesus is important, yes, but much more important is the spirit which goes forth from him, which is born in every age and time. This divine Jesus is born in us every day, in our own very human hearts through quietness, through prayer and reflection. Through our own time spent underneath the fig tree, as it were. And each of us here should have a fig tree, a place where in quietness we can pray and meditate, where God sees us, accepts us, calls us to come and see.

Nathanial was changed forever because someone said to him, ‘Come and see.’ Come and see a man who by his very existence makes our humanity sacred. Come and see a man in whom heaven and earth meet. Come and see someone who is like us but in whom dwells the light and life of eternity.

Long ago, when I was a child, a Sunday school teacher also said to me, ‘Come and see.’ From it was to grow my own faith and a life long quest to discover who was this Jesus of whom she spoke so lovingly. And I have never ceased to wonder since how from such tiny beginnings can come such unexpected outcomes; how from the little things we do and say can come the much larger things in life; and at how we never know how a random act of kindness or love can have such far reaching consequences. For it is by these means that kingdom of God grows and the work of a God of love is accomplished.

Let us accept the Lord’s invitation to ‘Come and see.’ May we who are accepted, loved and encouraged, love, accept and encourage others, too.

Amen.