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SURVEYING THE SITE—John 1:43-51
Since this text begins, “The next day …”, it is important to remember what happened the day before. John the Baptist looked out over the crowd and said, “There goes the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This sets a few things in motion. John, who has more than several followers himself, loses a couple who begin to trail after Jesus. One of these disciples is Andrew. Jesus sees the two stalking him and asks them, “What are you looking for?” The two disciples say, “We just want to know where you are staying?”
To this, Jesus says, “Come and see.” When the disciples come and see, they stay because of the lateness of the day. The NRSV says that it is four o’clock, but the Greek says that it is the 10th hour. Could it be that the 10th hour is used because in Roman numerals 10 is X and X looks suspiciously like the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christ?
We are told that the disciples stay because of the hour. Except, of course, Andrew doesn’t stay. He goes and finds his brother, telling him, “We have found the Messiah.” He brings him to see Jesus who renames Simon as Cephas (Peter). I see everyone having a Walton-style good night and Simon/Cephas/Peter getting wished good night more than anyone else because of his new names, unless, of course, he replies as each as well.
All of this is to prepare us for “being found” in the “process of finding”. Jesus is finding disciples, and naming them, establishing an intimate relationship with them. Jesus is finding us, and naming us, establishing an intimate relationship with us. At the same time, the disciples and we are finding a relationship intimacy with Jesus and finding names for him that define that relationship—Lamb of God, rabbi/teacher, Messiah, the one of whom the prophets wrote, Son of Joseph, Son of God, King of Israel, Son of Man. Each of these titles/names will define the disciples’ and our relationship with God’s Word revealed to us in the person of Jesus.
READING THE BLUEPRINT
The next day, Jesus has a decision to make. It is like he has come to a fork in the road, and he chooses to go to Galilee. Here he finds Philip and says, “Follow me.” It must be that Philip follows because he goes to find Nathaniel. In a moment of selective memory, Philip says, “We have ‘found’ the one of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
Philip retorts, “Can there be anything good in Nazareth?” As Jesus told the disciples yesterday, “Come and see,” so now Philip tells Nathaniel, “Come and see.”
When Jesus sees Philip and Nathaniel coming, he says about Nathaniel, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” This reminds us that Jacob, the first to be called Israel, and thus the first Israelite, was filled with deceit—there was that birthright thing, and the blessing thing, and the spotted sheep thing, even the false modesty thing with Esau later. Nathaniel is not like him.
Nathaniel wonders how Jesus knows him. Jesus tells Nathaniel that he “Saw him under the fig tree before Philip went to find him.” In response, Nathaniel claims his place as one of the children of God when he names Jesus as more than rabbi. Nathaniel outs Jesus to be the Son of God, the king of Israel.
Jesus asks Nathaniel whether he believes because of the fig tree vision. Jesus then tells him that he will see greater things than that—Nathaniel will see the heavens opened and the angels of heaven “up-rising” and “down-rising” upon the son of Man.
ROUGHING IN THE HOUSE
If you think that this is a good time to break out in song, singing, “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, soldiers of the cross”, you might be right. As we have seen Jacob dreaming at Bethel, seeing angels on the ladder that leads to heaven, so now John claims the cross as being the source-place of salvation with the power of resurrection and the ascension into heaven. The “down-rising” is already clear—the Word has been made flesh and tents among us. The “up-rising” is, narratively, yet to come.
In the meantime, as Jesus continues to find us and call us to follow, we are invited to “Come and see” the terribly wonderful fulfillment of Jacob’s dream, claiming our relationship with Christ as gardener, rabbi, risen from the dead, my Lord and my God. Jesus begins his ministry by saying “Follow me.” In time, we will hear that his last words in the book of John are also “Follow me”.
PUTTING UP THE WALLS
The story is told of a balloonist who got caught in a fog bank. He tried going up, and he tried going down, but he couldn’t get out of the fog. Not knowing where he was or where he was going, he trusted to the wind currents and focused on keeping aloft. After several hours, the fog began to break up. Finally, he was able to get below the fog. He saw beautiful farmland below. In the field directly in front of him, he saw a farmer plowing. From the basket of his balloon, he cried out, “Friend, where am I?” The farmer looked up and shouted back, “You’re in a balloon, fool!’”
Throughout this passage in John, we hear that people are being found. This implies that they were lost. It is with pride that Andrew and Philip say, “We have found the Messiah.” Really? Like Columbus discovering America, the land was always there, and the people who lived there knew exactly where they were. We need to acknowledge that Columbus and his crews were lost. In contrast, we need to acknowledge that Jesus is not lost. It is the world that is in trouble; we are lost.
When the disciples want to know where Jesus is staying, Jesus says, “Come and see.” When he finds Philip, he calls him to follow. When Nathaniel wonders whether any good can come from Nazareth, Philip says, “Come and see.” The thing to be seen is already apparent. The surprising thing that happens is not the invitation to “Come and see”, or the command to follow, the surprising thing is that Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathaniel, and at least one more do follow.
Note that the invitation to “Come and see” can only be made after knowledge of the relationship with Jesus is established. We can only claim that “we” have “found” the Messiah after we have been found. In our wanderings in the wilderness, Christ finds and directs us to the place where he is staying. We can only find the place where Christ is staying if we follow where Christ is leading. Christ is leading to the place of the tenth hour, where X may mark the spot, to the cross where God’s mercy rises from the violence of our world. When we find the place that is not lost, we are able, with joy and enthusiasm, to invite others to “Come and see.”
Out from the distracting fog of uncertainty, where we trust to the wind/breath of the Spirit, we find ourselves seeing the baptismal font and the Lord’s table before us. We might cry out, “Where are we?” only to be told, “You are in the body of Christ, where even fools are welcomed.”
HANGING THE TRIM
The Siren calls of our world are many and various. They distract and draw us away from following the way Christ would have us go. Yet, when we come to those crossroads of life and sometimes choose poorly, we can know with certainty that there is one who walks alongside us who will find us and remind us to follow. So, we go, from the crossroads of choice in our lives, to the cross that finds us and leads the way to where we need to go. Come and see the place…
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