Gospel text for Sunday 17 January 2021

John 1:43-51        Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Reflection       Long before becoming a priest while in training to be a spiritual director one of the faculty members, an Episcopal priest whom I shall call Sharon, told the story of her childhood religious experience. Her earliest memories were walking with her grandmother every morning to Roman Catholic mass, fastening a white lace doilie onto her curly black hair, holding her breath to keep the scent of incense inside,  knowing she loved Jesus and he loved her right back. I listened politely while rolling the eyes of my heart. 

Recounting my early religious experience went like this. I was four years young, sitting on the floor in the Presbyterian Church nursery, watching a lady assemble felt figures on a board. Glued to her every word, when the lady placed Jesus on the pointy tips of waves somewhere between a beach and a boat my pudgy hand popped up as my exclamation popped out, “He cannot walk on water. I know because my family goes to the beach.” Silence told me I did something wrong, a fact affirmed when the Sunday school teacher informed  my parents of my misdemeanor who punished me for being disrespectful. The following Sunday I was placed with older children and never spoke again. One thing I knew for sure, nothing good could come out of those stories about Jesus. 

Which brings us to the story of Jesus’ visit to Galilee. Philip’s immediate receptivity not only to follow Jesus but also to enlist Nathaneal to do likewise makes me think of Sharon’s unsuspicious acceptance of Jesus and her enthusiasm to bring me along. On the other hand, Nathaneal’s skeptical reaction to Philip’s invitation to follow Jesus, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” sounds more like my inclination to hesitate, question and resist following. It is the next exchange between Jesus and Nathaneal that turns me around. 

Immediately after Nathaneal lays down his hesitating hand,“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Jesus sees Nathaneal. What Jesus ‘sees’ is more than Nathaneal’s skepticism. When Jesus says,  “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” he affirms Nathaneal’s hesitation, questioning and reluctance to follow and thereby creates an opportunity for Nathaneal to engage. Without judgment Jesus ‘sees’ Nathaneal exactly where he is, which in this teaching tale is represented by the fig tree.

There must have been a fig tree in God’s garden because Adam and Eve made the first fashion faux pas using its leaves. (Gen 3.7) The prophets Hosea (9.10) and Jeremiah (24) liken the people of God to figs on a fig tree. Micah, one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Testament, calls for a world at peace lead by a new king in the line of David. Describing this new world Micah uses the imagery of men sitting under their fig trees without fear. (Micah 4.4) 

So what is the writer of John’s gospel doing when he has Nathanael ask Jesus, “Where did you get to know me?” and Jesus answers, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you?” I believe he is offering us a new page for our playbooks. Jesus shows us a non-defensive,  non-combative way to invite people who are skeptical or judgmental about our beliefs or our affiliations to engage with us. 

Imagine if like Jesus, instead of leaping to defend ourselves or our position when someone questions or  criticizes our social, political or religious perspective, what if we responded as does Jesus? “I see you, an Israelite, a Republican, Democrat, pacifist, activist, fundamentalist, progressive, centrist, I see you under your fig tree.  I affirm you wanting to be seen and counted. I see you as you are, seeking security, safety and esteem. ” Might ‘those people’ whom we have cast into the camp of other be willing to “come and see,” to engage with us and ‘see’ us too? 

We, the people, are not enemies. We are as figs on a sole fig tree in the garden of God. Figs in every stage of ripe and readiness, figs reaching through the rare tree’s roots for our livelihood, figs turning toward the sun for our affirmation. 

God inhabits every cell and every space of our being and loves us, anyway. This is the sure source of our safety, security and esteem even when we hesitate, question and resist. Come and see. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 19 January 2014

John 1:29-42        John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, `After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel." And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Behold, here is the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter). 

Reflection          In his novel, Stranger in a Strange Land, the writer Robert Heinlein coined the term “grok” which in common parlance means to intuitively grasp or understand, to be in rapport with the object of perception. But in his science fiction tale Heinlein’s usage of the word “grok” meant something more. Grok was the word used by Heinlein’s martians to describe the transcending experience of the ‘gorker’ and the ‘groked.’ The martians explain, as water becomes part of the drinker so does the drinker become part of the water. The sum of the two is greater than the individual parts and their realities are integral. “Behold...” There is something more.

John the Baptizer admits that even though he had been baptizing in anticipation of the one, the Messiah, who would come after him, “he did not know” who Jesus really was until he saw Jesus’ post baptism experience as an affirmation of his own conversation with God in which God told him, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” John “saw” something more, he groked the deeper meaning and recognized Jesus as “the Son of God.” Following his insight John’s preconceived notions of what a proper Messiah or Annointed One would look like fell away. Once the impediments to his vision were removed it was time for John to pass on his wisdom (and his followers) and so he instructs the two disciples, “Behold, here is the Lamb of God.” Pay attention. Things are not as they seem, the Messiah does not look like a regally clad king. There is more than meets the eye here. 

The two disciples must have groked something more as well because when they “heard” Jesus they followed him. We will never know what Jesus said to attract their attention, but Jesus’ subsequent invitation to “come and see” resounds throughout the generations.

What does it mean to come and see? I believe “coming” means showing up, allowing ourselves to be present to the people or situation in which we are standing. “Seeing” is more than visual perception of persons or objects. It is penetrating to the meaning of or recognizing the identity of that which we perceive. In a sense, true seeing is not unlike Heinlein’s martians’ usage of the word “grok.” When we really “see” someone we experience rapport with them, an affinity that bespeaks our fundamental bond. When we grok someone we recognize there is something more than meets the eye and we experience a taste of the interconnected web of being.

From one person to another, the identity of Jesus, the revelation of God with us, is passed on until the interconnected web of humanity is fully illumined, which is to say, until every human being groks their union and unity in something more. Returning to the martians’ understanding of reality, the sum of the two is greater than the individual parts and their realities are integral. “Behold...” There is something more.

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