Sermon

The Reverend Dr. Wayne Menking,

Director of the Lutheran Program

October 1, 2002
Christ Chapel

Texts:
Genesis 28:10-17
John 1: 43-51

Can anything good come from Nazareth? It's a normal sort of question for the unsuspecting and doubtful sort. Nazareth being what it is, it is not exactly the kind of place to produce Messiah types, at least not the Messiah types that folks like Nathaniel were expecting. We can almost hear the sarcastic laugh that must have accompanied this question. A laugh that would have carried with it the clear and unmistakable message - Are you out of your mind Phillip? You have found the Messiah, yet it's someone from Nazareth? You are going to follow someone from Nazareth?

Phillip's response is in and of itself interesting. There is no defensiveness here. Only a simple comment that suggests - Let what you see speak for itself, and then you decide! Nathaniel follows - perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps to prove that his friend really has lost it. And what he discovers is that all of his assumptions and presuppositions about what can come out of Nazareth are thrown out. Something good has come out of Nazareth...and it is more than good...it is indeed the Son of God. Because of Jesus' encounter with him - an encounter that the text suggests was quite penetrating and intimate - Nathaniel's eyes are opened and he sees Jesus for who he is - the long awaited Messiah, the King of Israel.

Yet even with these new eyes of faith, Jesus reminds him that even in this intense encounter that he has had, he hasn't seen anything yet. In a reference back to Jacob's dream, Jesus makes it clear - the reality of God's presence in the world is now fulfilled in me. From the most unsuspecting and unexpected place, God's revelation comes. And that's where the tables are turned…this revelation does not in anyway depend on Nazareth or anything about it. The revelation that comes from Nazareth is all God's doing. Can anything good from Nazareth - indeed yes…but not because of Nazareth.

We might take Nathaniel's question and ask it of Jacob. Can anything good come from Jacob? We are talking about a lying, shrewd, sly, cunning, clever, manipulative, deceitful, cheat - much of it inspired and supported by a doting mother. Amazing the kinds of families God picks to make covenants with. Can anything good possibly come from Jacob or from his family for that matter? And like Nazareth, the answer is yes - but not because of Jacob or anything about his family. God is the actor here and Jacob is being acted upon. It is God who decides to make this visitation and revelation, and it is God who renews the covenant - in spite of Jacob and his dealings. What is at stake here is the promise made to Abraham, who himself was not without his moments of distrust and misdeed? But there is more: that promise made to Abraham does not exist for its own sake. Underneath there is a purpose that is being accomplished, and it is the very purpose that we see in the Incarnation of Jesus…God is making God's self known…God is revealing God's purposes for the world…and the good news is that this on going revelation takes place in spite of those through whom it is made known!!! Think about it: God's presence will be made known - in spite of ourselves.

And so we take the question one step further. Can anything good come from this church? I suspect you have asked yourself that question several times - whether it be of a local congregation with which you have been affiliated or of the larger church. Of many local congregations, we sit and observe what appears to be nothing but an attitude of survival. Or we sit and watch parishioners fight with each other over the most insignificant issues. And like Nathaniel we ask - Can any good come from this? Or we watch congregations caught up in their success, seeking to be the most attractive worship center on the block…and we wonder, Can any good come from this? More despairing is to look out and see a church that is anything but representative of Jesus command to love one another. Leadership at times seems no different than Jacob - caught up in its own schemes to get ahead and advance its own power. We see clergy caught up in the throes of sexual misconduct and outright criminal behavior, and we wonder, Can anything good come from this?

But like Jacob and Nazareth, we know that what we see on the surface is not all there is to us. For underneath all of our insignificance and misdirected deeds, there remains a God who is faithful to God's own purposes, a God whose mysterious work of creating and renewing life is often hidden underneath the scandalous behavior of those through whom God has chosen to work. Indeed, in the most un-godlike places and people, God somehow chooses to be present and make God's self known. Absolutely amazing.

Can anything good come from Nazareth? Can anything good come from Jacob? Can anything good come from this church? Indeed can anything good come from us? Yes indeed. And the best news of all is that God's dwelling with us does not at all depend on me or anything about me, nor does it depend on you or anything about you.

Now I don't know about Episcopalians, but I know that for you Lutheran students, you will have the proclivity to beat yourself up. You will take yourself very seriously. I confess to you that is one of my sins. You will be tempted to shoulder much and think that the Kingdom depends on you. You will be confronted with the truth of yourself over and over again, and you will wonder - Can anything good come from me? It is precisely in these moments, that you will need to remember Jacob and Nazareth. In the most insignificant of places, and in the most un god-like places - God will somehow be made known….and God's presence will be felt…in spite of you! All because God chooses to be God…and chooses to remain present and faithful to the purposes that God has set forth, even the redemption of life itself.