Introduction: Jesus was hardly dry after his baptism in theJordan River when people started following him. The exact number—at least theones the Bible writers tell us about--was five. They had some things common. They were all men and they were all young, a little less or a little more than 30—about the same age as Jesus. Today we’d call them blue collar workers. They were fromall Galilee and most of them from the town of Bethsaida, way up north fromJerusalem. Jerusalem Jews considered them bumpkins—maybe like we think aboutUPers. But these guys took their religion seriously. When they heard that aprophet named John was preaching and baptizing in the Judean desert, they tookoff from their jobs and went to hear him. It was a long walk—70 miles, at least three days--but what John was preaching intrigued them. He was preaching thatMessiah had come and there wasn’t a serious Jew in all of Judea who wasn’t waiting for Messiah. Well, they found John and then they found Jesus. John madeit a no-brainer: Look, he said, the Lamb of God. And that’s whenthose five men started following Jesus.
It doesn’t happen exactly like that anymore but it happenskind of like that. A mom and dad brings a newborn to baptism and that newborn,without actually knowing it, starts to follow Jesus. A few years later mom anddad are reading Bible stories to that three-year old, and now the child begins toknow whom he’s following. The relationship that started with a date getsserious, and the young woman tells her boyfriend about Jesus. Little by little,the boyfriend starts to follow his girlfriend’s Lord. The guy fell intoalcoholism, he abused his wife and kids and then he lost his job. One night ona hard bed in a beat-up homeless shelter he remembered the Savior he onceadored and he followed again. She was a friend of a friend and listened to herfriend’s friend talk about Jesus. She listened again and again and pretty soon shefollowed Jesus. No John the Baptist, no Jordan River, no face-to-face encounters,but Jesus is still calling people to follow him. Do you ever think about this?Do you know when and where and how Jesus called you to follow?
Every day in many ways Jesus calls people all over the worldto follow him. He does the same to us. He’s called us before, obviously, but hecalls us again, even today. We don’t think about it too much, so there’s probablya good reason to think about it--even today. So we’re going to watch Jesus inaction in today’s Gospel as two young men follow his call. We’ll see how Jesuscalled them and then we’ll see that:
Jesus Calls Us toFollow Him
1. In Bible times itusually happened like this. A new teacher would come on the scene and he would attractattention; people would follow him. There was no church building or Bibleclass. They would hang out with the teacher and go where he went. That’s how ithappened with Jesus. John and Andrew, two of those first five, saw Jesus andstarted to walk with him. And they kept walking with him. Andrew ran into hisbrother Simon Peter, and Peter joined the group. And that’s where today’sGospel starts.
Jesus decided it was time to head for home, time to leavethe Baptist at the Jordan and head for Galilee. So the long walk began. Alongthe way Philip, one of the Bethsaida buddies, hooked up with his friends. Jesusnoticed him and simply said, Follow me. And Philip did. Then Philipinvited his friend Nathanael. But’s let’s save Nathanael for later and talkabout Philip.
Philip was obviously an Old Testament believer and he knewhis Bible. When he found Nathanael, he told him, We have found the one Moseswrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote. The oneMoses wrote about—the one Philip was thinking of—was the one Moses said wouldbe a new prophet the people needed to hear. The one the prophets wrote about wasthe one who would be a sacrifice for sin and king for God’s people. We don’tknow how long Philip walked with Jesus, but it doesn’t seem to have taken longbefore he was convinced that this ONE was no one other than Jesus ofNazareth, the son of Joseph. Philip wasn’t a finished product, not by anymeans. For example, he didn’t have a clue that Jesus would be able to feed the5,000. When Jesus asked about him about buying bread, he flunked the test. Onthe night before Good Friday Jesus wanted his disciples to see his connectionwith his Father in heaven, but Philip failed again. He was absolutely sure onthis day, but not so sure on the days ahead. Of course, Jesus knew it.
Nathanael wasn’t sure at all. He was another Old Testamentbeliever. If he was sitting under shady fig tree, he was probably doing what alot of Old Testament believers did: when they rested from the sun they rememberedpassages from the Scriptures. Very common back then. But when he heard thewritings of the Old Testament connected to someone from Nazareth, he wasn’tsure what to think: Nazareth? Can anything good come from there? Buthe came along with Philip and Jesus saw him coming. He said, Here truly isan Israelite in whom there is no deceit. So Jesus knew the Old Testamentfaith was in his heart.
The truth is that Jesus always knows the people he calls tofollow. He knew Philip before he called him and he knew Nathanael, too. Hecalled them despite their doubts and their confusion. He called them even thoughhe knew they would sometimes fail. He called them because he knew they werelooking for truth; they hadn’t found the truth, not the whole truth, but theyhadn’t rejected it, either. Jesus wouldn’t cast pearls before pigs, but thesemen weren’t pigs.
Jesus knows us, too. The good Lord knows we have our doubts,plenty of them. Sometimes we doubt Jesus loves us when we sin, sometimes wedoubt he cares about us when we’re sick, sometimes we doubt he provides for uswhen we’re feeling the pinch, sometimes we doubt he’s there when we’re lonely.We get confused, too—plenty. We get confused when we’re tempted to sin, when wethink about difficult choices, when we’re uncertain about our goals in life,when we hesitate to make the sacrifices Christians sometimes have to make. Wearen’t pigs who reject the pearls about Jesus—and we better beware that wedon’t become pigs like that. But we have found truth and we want to be sureit’s true. Some days we’re as sure as Philip, and other says we’re as unsure asNathanael. Jesus knows our hopes and fears, he knows our sins and failings, andhe still calls us to follow him. And he does exactly same with millions ofothers.
2. On this particular day, Nathaniel was unsure, but Jesuschanged all that real fast. When Jesus called him an Israelite with no guile,Nathaniel was shocked. How do you know me, he asked. Jesus answered,I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.Well, that was enough for Philip: Teacher, you are the Son of God; you arethe King of Israel! Sometimes it happens that way. It happened that way forSt. Paul on the way to Damascus. One minute a Christ-hater, the next minute aChrist believer. The Roman centurion watched Jesus die on Calvary and said, Trulythis was the Son of God. One minute a Christ-killer, the next minute aChrist-confessor. It happens that way sometimes. Sometimes following Jesushappens fast.
But it’s not always that way. Jesus said to Nathaniel, Youbelieve because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greaterthings than that. And then Jesus took Philip back to a Bible story he knewby heart. You know it, too. Jacob was Isaac’s son and Abraham’sgrandson—remember Jacob?—Jacob was running away from his brother Esau and helanded in the middle of nowhere with nothing to his name. At the end of a longday Joseph laid down and rested his head on a stone—that was his pillow. Hehad a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its topreaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.There above it stood the Lord and he spoke to Jacob: I will notleave you until I have done what I have promised you. With that OldTestament story embedded in Nathanael’s mind, Jesus a New Testamentapplication. He said to Nathanael, Very truly I tell you, you will seeheaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.Did Nathaniel catch on? Maybe, maybe not. But we catch on. When Jesus wasbaptized in the Jordan River, the heavens opened again and the Lord spokeagain, this time to Jesus: You are my Son whom I love; with you I am wellpleased. With Jesus, Nathanael would see the greatest the world has everseen.
So this is the Son of Man Nathanael would follow—John and Andrewand Peter and Philip, too. And all of them would see these greater things. Theywould see a man who showed them his man-ness: he slept and ate and laughed andcried just as they did. But he also showed them his God-ness: he preached withpower and healed the sick and raised the dead. They saw his compassion forpeople: he forgave sins, he removed guilt, he dried tears, They saw all of thisagain and again. they saw him die and they all fled except for one who stayed.And then they saw him alive and they all followed except for one who betrayed.And then they saw him ascend into heaven and they kept following him and so didmillions more.
This is what you and I have seen. Nothing very spectacular. Wornout Bibles and Bible class notes. The inside of a church with readings andpsalms and hymns and sermons. Water from a font, simple water, straight fromthe tap. Strange tasting bread and little sips of wine. But in the Word andwater and bread and wine we have seen these greater things that Jesus promised.We have seen the heavens open, we have heard the voice of God, we have come toknow the Son of Man. In that sight and sound and sense, Jesus has invited us tofollow him. Come to me, he says, and I will give you rest. Cometo me and I will forgive your sins. Come to me and I will be your strength. Cometo me and I will take your hand, come to me and I show you the way to heaven. WheneverJesus speaks to us in Word and Sacrament, he is always calling us to followhim. Hear his voice; listen to his call.Follow him, stick with him, stay with him and you will see the greatest tingsof all! Amen.
