Sermon - Midweek Lent 3 - Phillip and Nathanael

So far in our series we’ve covered Peter and Andrew, and then James and John.  Each of these apostles has given us, by their life, their failures and their faith, their questions and interactions with Jesus – much to ponder.  We see ourselves in them, or at least aspects of ourselves.  It’s surely no accident that Jesus chose these 12 different men from various walks of life, with various personalities and qualities, as his witnesses, messengers, and the foundation of the early church. 

Today we come to another natural coupling of apostles:  Phillip and Nathanael (Nathanael who is also called Bartholomew).  While the synoptic Gospels pair a “Bar-Tholmai” or “Son of Tholmai” with Phillip, it is in John’s Gospel that we get, perhaps the “rest of the story”, and his first name, Nathanael, is used.  An apparent friend of Phillip, as the story goes.  But we’ll come back to him in a moment. 

If I had to characterize Phillip, briefly, I might call him, “the bringer.”  For on a couple of notable occasions, he was the one who brought other people to see Jesus.  He brought Nathanael along, saying, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 

Phillip also brought the Gentiles who famously said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” John 12:20-21.   That little phrase, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” is often engraved on a plaque and affixed to the inside of the pulpit, so that the Christian preacher is reminded of his true purpose in preaching.  We are not here to preach ourselves, but Christ crucified.  We are not hear to bloviate or opine, but to bring people to Jesus.  That you might see Jesus.   

So Phillip stands as a reminder and example for us that when Jesus calls people to faith, he often uses a “bringer”.  Someone like Phillip, to show you, point you to Christ.   

Christian parents are bringers, as they literally bring their children to Jesus at the font of Baptism, and as they teach them the word and the faith.  Teachers and pastors and good Christian friends can be “bringers”, too.  And those who study these things tell us that most new people come to a church not because they randomly looked you up on the internet, but because someone brought them along – a friend, a family member. 

And then Phillip also figures prominently in John’s telling of the feeding of the 5000:   

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 

He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 

Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 

It is interesting that Jesus asks Phillip, tests Phillip of all the 12.  Where shall we buy bread for all these people?  Phillip, had he passed the test, might have said, “I’ll just bring them to you, Jesus, like I always do.  Only you can truly provide the bread that we all need.” 

Oh, and then one more appearance of Philip – he asks Jesus at the Last Supper, “Show us the Father” John 14:8-21.  Here we might see that Phillip the “bringer” needs to be “brought” by Jesus to the Father.  Don’t we all?  But if you know Jesus, you know the Father, as John’s Gospel brings out so clearly.  

May Phillip inspire us to be grateful for those whom God has placed in our life who have brought us to Jesus.   

So may Phillip remind us to take those opportunities, when we have them, to invite others to “come and see”.  Come to my church.  Come with me.  And bring them along. 

If Phillip the “Bringer” or the ambassador, then Nathanael is perhaps the skeptic.  As a cynical member of Generation X, I can identify with this guy.  Or perhaps we could go with the moniker Jesus gives Nathanael - the “True Israelite” 

Most of what we can say about Nathanael (Bartholomew) comes from this reading, his calling, in John 1.  Jesus praises him as a “true Israelite in whom there is nothing false”.  Not that he was without sin, but perhaps that he was a) a true believer b) a “straight shooter”.  He said what he thought, good or bad, right or wrong. 

Like Peter, Thomas, and really all of the apostles, he both falters and shines. His famous rhetorical question of skepticism, “can anything good come from Nazareth?” is quickly answered by Jesus.  With just a flash of apparent divine knowledge, Jesus convinces Nathanael enough that he is, in fact, the Christ. 

Nathanael comes around quickly, from skepticism to faith.  And he speaks that faith in a three-fold confession of Christ, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”  

He calls him Rabbi – his teacher.  He calls him the Son of God, no small insight there.  And he calls him the King of Israel.  As with many of our confessions of faith, we often say the words before we appreciate their full weight and meaning.  And Nathanael, with the other apostles, would spend the next several years learning just what he means by his confession, just who this Rabbai, this Son of God, this King of Israel really is. 

Jesus accepts Nathanael’s confession, and then goes on to describe himself as Jacob’s Ladder, the very stairway to heaven.  For a “true Israelite” who knew well his Old Testament, the message wouldn’t be lost on Nathanael.   

This true Israelite who know well the first man named “Israel”, and the story of his vision.  Jacob’s vision of that stairway was a comfort to him as he was about to go on the journey of his life.  It was a reminder of God’s abiding presence with him, and his access to heaven itself by faith.   

Jesus interprets, and clarifies.  He, Jesus, is the ladder of Jacob, the stairway to heaven, the connection between man and God, the one who opens heaven to us, brings us to the Father, transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.   

So Phillip the bringer meets Jesus who brings us to the Father.  And Nathanael the true Israelite in whom there is nothing false meets the true Israel, the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

May it also be so for us.  Brought to Jesus, true to Jesus.  Believing in and confessing Jesus, who brings us to the Father, not by our works, not even by a ladder or stairway, but by himself and his cross.  Heaven and earth are brought together in him.  Holy God and sinful man are brought together by his reconciling blood.  And disciples are made.  And Christians are sent and privileged to confess his truth and bring others to “come and see”.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen. 

Sermon - Midweek Lent 2 - James and John

Tonight we continue our examination of the 12 Apostles of Jesus.  Last week we saw a pair of brothers, Peter and Andrew.  Peter, the chief of the Apostles, but by no means an angel himself.  His ups and downs mirror our own, he shows us the sin of even the greatest among us, but also the grace of God in the Christ who restored him.  And Andrew, the first of the apostles, a follower of John the Baptist who brought his better-known brother to Jesus.  He reminds us that not everyone is a leader, and that the supporting role has honor in the kingdom of God, too.  And both of them, by their life and death, remind us that all Christians bear our crosses, and follow Jesus with his cross. 

Now, tonight, on to another set of brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee.  They were fishermen, too, like Peter and Andrew.  And like those others, left behind their nets to become fishers of men.   

James and John, along with Peter, were the inner circle of the inner circle.  They were blessed to have front row seats at the Transfiguration.  They alone, went with Jesus into the house when he raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead.  And these three Jesus took with him, to be a little closer, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on Holy Thursday evening. 

They were the sons of Zebedee, mentioned by name, and yet their mother also came to the fore in a certain event in which she asked Jesus a favor for her sons – no small thing – to sit on his right and left hand when he entered his kingdom.  She wanted earthly honor for her sons.  Maybe they even put her up to it. 

And so we see that James and John do not always act so honorably.  In another event, which we heard tonight, they wanted Jesus’ permission to call down fire on a Samaritan village that refused to welcome Jesus.  Maybe they had in mind Sodom and Gomorrah.  Maybe they were a little too impressed with the authority Jesus gave them to heal the sick and cast out demons.  Now they wanted to be agents of his wrath, and well, if it’s Samaritans on the receiving end, all the better. 

But Luke tells us Jesus rebuked them.  Rather than dishing out the judgment, they found themselves on the receiving end of Jesus’ disapproval.  We should not be so quick to judge, so quick to punish, and we must remember that “Vengeance is mine saith the Lord.” 

In fact, many scholars speculate that it was this incident which prompted Jesus to give them a nickname. “Boanerges” he called them, “Sons of Thunder.”  Sounds kind of cool, like an action movie.  But probably a gentle reminder to keep their bold, zealous, and sometimes impetuous nature in check. 

James is sometimes called Saint James the Greater to contrast with James the son of Alphaeus (whom we will see later in this series) 

James was the first apostle to be martyred – put to death by the sword (by Herod Agrippa).  While there is ancient tradition from the writings of the early Christians about how all 12 apostles died, James is the only one whose martyrdom is told in Scripture:  Acts 12:1-2.  Acts mentions this almost as a passing reference as part of the account of Peter’s arrest and escape from prison. 

And then in contrast, John, probably the youngest of the 12, was also the last to die and the only one not to die by martyrdom. 

Among the 12, besides Peter, we are perhaps most familiar with John. He is, of course, one of the four Evangelists, author of the Gospel of John.  And that book, of the four Gospels, offers a distinctly different perspective than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 

In his Gospel, John refers to himself, not by name, but as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”  He is therefore known as the "Beloved Disciple," the "Apostle of Love".  And love is a theme throughout his epistles, too.  We read in 1 John 4 that “God is love.” 

And he also was blessed to receive the vision that he wrote down, which we know as the book of Revelation.  He was in prison on the island of Patmos when it happened, showing that even though he wasn’t martyred, he did suffer persecution from enemies of the Gospel.  What comfort Christians have received from this great vision – in which we see the throne room of God in heaven, the victory of God’s people through all manner of plagues, persecution, and against all evil foes.  Revelation shows us beautiful pictures of the future glory of God’s people, cleansed of sin and robed in white, with paradise restored, and God himself wiping all tears from our eyes. 

And we should also mention that John was the only one of the 12 to stay with Jesus to the end, standing at the foot of the cross.  There he was entrusted with the care of Jesus' mother, Mary:  woman, behold your son, son, behold your mother.  May we also stay ever close to Jesus and his cross.  

So what do we learn from all this?  What do James and John, the Sons of Thunder, teach us by their life, their witness, and even their death? 

For one thing, we can see in their lives the contrast between ambition and service.  They sought high places in Jesus' kingdom (Mark 10:35-45), but Jesus taught them that true greatness comes through service, a lesson they eventually embraced – James unto death and John unto persecution.  When they had asked for their thrones at his right and left hand, the keynote of that passage, the nugget of truth Jesus speaks is this, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

True enough.  If even Jesus himself, who had (by rights) the highest throne, comes to serve, comes to lay down his life as a ransom for many, comes to wash feet and receive the little ones.  Thanks be to God.  May we not only receive his service, but also emulate it, as James and John would learn to do. 

Likewise, we can see in James and John a movement, a maturation, a manner of growth in faith.  You might say they go from Thunder to Love: Their fiery spirit matured into deep, tempered love, with John's writings emphasizing this theme. 

For Jesus has done the same for us, or to us.  While we, by our sins, along with James and John, deserve the rebuke of our Lord.  While we, along with James and John, along with the Samaritan village and all sinners, deserve the judgment of God, even the fire and brimstone of heaven.  Yet Christ has forgiven us.  Christ has died for us.  Christ has loved us.   

He bore the wrath of God in our place.  He became a son of thunder in a different sense, as God’s own righteous wrath was poured on him.   

You are the beloved disciple, in Jesus Christ.  May you be faithful unto death, and receive with James and John, and all believers, the crown of life. 

Thanks be to God for James and John, for their faith, for their life, for their witness.  In Jesus’ Name.