St. John 1:43-51
Divine Service
Epiphany 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“Follow Me.”  These words of Jesus echo down the paths of time to us here.  “Follow Me.”  Jesus spoke these words many times during his ministry – this lesson is the first that we have recorded.  “Follow Me.”  Go where I lead, do what I do, trust me to do the things that are right for you.  “Follow Me.”  A command – a request – a plea; we use this phrase in all of these ways.  “Follow Me.” 

In our lesson, the simple order spoken to Philip: “Follow Me.”  We have no idea what the relationship between Jesus and Philip was prior to this command.  Jesus and Philip could have been anything from absolute strangers to best friends from childhood – the Bible does not tell us.  But we do know that Jesus spoke a simple command to Philip, and Philip did as he was asked: “Follow Me.”  Jesus here recruits one of the first of the disciples destined to be in His inner circle – one of those we designate as an Apostle.  The day before our lesson – the day referred to in the first verse of our lesson, since this lesson begins with “the next day” – Jesus had called Andrew and Simon Peter to be His disciples, and now he calls Philip.

The lesson says “finding Philip.”  Philip was not searching for Jesus, if anything just the opposite was true.  This is the point that the Lutheran Church has been making since its founding.  Man does not seek out Jesus.  Man is so content in his sin that that would be the last thing that man would do.  We must wait for Jesus to seek us, just as he sought out Philip.  Any kind of decision that we might make must come after we have been found, not a decision to be found. 

All of us have been found by Jesus.  We were found by Him when the pastor poured that little bit of water on our heads, and said “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.”  We never seek Jesus, but He seeks us – each and every one of us.  And, yes, He also seeks those whom we would consider lost.  He sent His Apostles, and after them the pastor throughout the centuries, to give His Word to the lost.  For that Word is effective, and just as it worked with Nathanael it continues to work today.

Philip and Nathanael have a bit of an argument about whether or not Nathanael should spend the time going to see someone from Nazareth.  We have no idea whether or not Nazareth had a bad reputation.  It may have been as simple as Nathanael having had a bad experience in Nazareth.  It could be that Nazareth and Bethsaida were rivals – we simply don’t know.   Nathanael could have been enough of a Biblical scholar to know that the promised Messiah was not supposed to come from Nazareth – Nazareth, as a town, is never mentioned in the Old Testament.  Yet, Philip is calling Jesus the one promised by Moses and written of by the prophets!  Philip has been found by the Messiah, and commanded by Him to “Follow Me.”!

Philip ends his argument with Nathanael by issuing the opposite command as the command Jesus had issued him: “Come and see,” as opposed to “Follow Me.”  Rather than this being a trust situation, Nathanael is asked to verify the information that Philip has given him.  This is the same call that each of us makes to bring someone to faith – “come and see.”  We bring them to the Word, and we allow the Word to accomplish what God has willed.  We ask them to “come and see” – to come and sit in our sanctuary on Sunday.  To see what good things God has done for us.  To see how God comes to us Each Sunday in His Word and His Sacraments.  Simply, “Come and See.”

Jesus convinces Nathanael very quickly.  He convinces Him by exhibiting some of His divinity.  He tells Nathanael that He saw him sitting under a fig tree before Philip called him.  None of us have ever been shown that kind of power.  Yet, we too believe.  We too can confess with Nathanael: “you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”  Nathanael had it so very right: the Son of God and the King of Israel.

With Christmas less than a month ago, thoughts of Jesus as the Babe are still very fresh in our memories.  We know Him as the Son of Mary, conceived by the Holy Ghost – and still yet a Baby.  Our lesson is about 30 years later.  Biographies can do that – they jump right over the ordinary parts of someone’s life.  This is where human imagination wants to jump in and fill in the gaps.  We have the recent DaVinci Code that tells us of the married life of Jesus and the elaborate conspiracy to keep his children hidden from the world.  Some ancient, rejected, texts include many stories of Jesus as a young boy; the most famous is the story of Jesus pushing a playmate off of a roof, and then healing the injuries sustained.  But we recognize these as just stories, made up for our amusement.

Yes, Jesus is truly the Son of God.  But, what can we say about this King of Israel statement?  Isn’t Israel a country in the Middle East?  Didn’t the Prime Minister just have a stroke?  How can someone be King of a place that doesn’t have a king?  This is a misconception that many people make.  They equate the Israel of the New Testament with the state of Israel that was established in 1948.  These are two very different things with the same name! 

Ancient Israel ceased to exist almost 2,000 years ago.  There are several ways to date the end: 1. The Roman Empire taking over in 63 BC and the establishment of the Herod’s as kings.  – Or – 2. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD – or – 3. The birth of Christ.  With any of these, ancient Israel is gone.  But Jesus is still king over Israel.  Nathanael had it right!  For the Israel that Jesus rules over – that He is King over – is the Church.  For we know that “it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.”  And this promise of God is to all those who believe and are baptized.

“Follow Me.”  Jesus knew – knows – that Nathanael will follow Him.  And Jesus makes a promise to Nathanael.  ‘“You shall see greater things than that.”  He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”’  Nathanael was privy to those things of the inside group.  He saw the miraculous things that Jesus did.  But here at the beginning, he did not accept without hearing the Word.  The word of Philip was not enough for him.  He heard the voice of God – through Jesus – and he believed.  He heard the command “Follow Me,” and he obeyed.

We, too, hear the voice of God.  It does not thunder from the sky as it did at the baptism of Jesus.  It does not come directly from the Son of God standing in front of us and holding a conversation with us.  But we do have the Word of God.  God has had His Word to man preserved in our Bibles.  Both the Old Testament which points forward to Christ and through which Jesus “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27b)  And we have the New Testament Gospels that document the life of Christ.  These give us better documentation of Jesus time on earth than any documentation of anyone else in antiquity.

And we know, through this very same Word of God, that the entire reason for Jesus to be born was for us.  He was born, was tempted and lived as a human man.  He died as a man.  But He is also God.  And He rose from the dead, proving His victory over death.  This victory He shares with those who believe in Him.  Those who believe and are baptized may die – this is the price we pay for our sinful nature.  But for us, death is not permanent.  God has promised eternal life to those who believe. 

“Follow Me.”  Follow through faith.  Follow through the Word of God.  Follow into life eternal.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

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