John 1:43-51
Introduction to the story:
Today, we will listen to a ‘calling’ story. In the Gospel of John, chapter one, Jesus met two disciples of John the Baptist: an unnamed disciple and Andrew. These two were with their teacher at that time, John the Baptist, when he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” Jesus turns and sees the unnamed disciple and Andrew following him. Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?” Andrew then goes out and calls Peter. On that day, the unnamed disciple, Andrew and Peter remain with Jesus. The next day, Jesus travels to Galilee with them. This calling story continues in today’s Gospel:
Message: Follow Me…
The Philip of today’s story, perhaps a fisherman in the town, was the fourth person who became Jesus’ disciple. In the earlier story, the unnamed disciple and Andrew were the first to find Jesus. In today’s story, Jesus found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Then Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, “We have found the Messiah. He is Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth. Come and see!” Nathaniel responded, “Hah. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Ding! (I ring a bell, signifying, ‘wrong’ or ‘Nah!’ or ‘the disciple got him wrong.’)
When Nathaniel came to Jesus, Jesus said, “I saw you under the fig tree.” We don’t know what happened, what Nathaniel was doing under the fig tree, or why Jesus’ words moved Nathaniel and changed his heart. The Bible doesn’t tell us why, but this story invites us to think about how we are called to be disciples, what it means to be called and live as Jesus’ disciple. This calling story is not just about the first disciples of Galilee, but about us!
Two things are clear: first, it is an invitation! It is indeed a great invitation that happens throughout our lives, in which we catch glimpses of something more, something bigger than us. We find each other in faith and take the journey of learning- peace, justice, spiritual nourishment - not just alone, but together as a community. Second, faith is really a mysterious element of our lives. The ignition of faith, the true understanding of God’s love, often starts in the most unexpected ways, in the most unexpected times, and in the most unexpected people.
Here’s one more aspect of discipleship. We may set up high standards or expectations about discipleship, thinking there’s an ideal way or best practice that dictates what it is like to truly follow Jesus in our lives. For example, there is St. Francis, the lover of Jesus and God’s natural world, or Mother Teresa and her lifelong dedication to the poor and the poor children in Calcutta. Or think of someone – we all have a ‘someone’ who inspires true admiration and respect for their faith-filled life.
Today, I invite you to take a different look at what it means to follow Jesus. In fact, as all of the four Gospels tell us, Jesus’s first disciples were far from the St. Francis or Mother Teresa we know. They consistently, (not just ‘often’, it is safe to say, ‘always’) misunderstood Jesus, could not understand what Jesus meant in his teachings and his parables. They kept making mistakes; they made many blunders in their walk with Jesus. To illustrate, in today’s story, Nathaniel blurted out, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” He didn’t understand that Jesus’ divinity had nothing to do with his birthplace or origin. It wasn’t just Nathaniel; the disciples did not understand the parable of the Sower, and Jesus despaired of their understanding any of his short, illustrative stories. “And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?”
It’s like this: If the disciples heard the parable of the yeast, in the 21st century, - “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod” - they would worry, asking each other, “Does he mean that we should prepare gluten-free bread for the communion this Sunday?” (Ding)
Peter, Andrew, James, the beloved disciple, John, and many other disciples were seasoned fishermen. But they were afraid of being shipwrecked in a storm, even when Jesus was with them in the boat! (Ding) (Oh, well, yes, Jesus was sleeping.)
Then later, they doubted Jesus’ awareness of his healing powers (Ding); Peter questioned Jesus’ mission (Ding), and Jesus responded by calling him, “Satan”, which is never a compliment. They sought to prevent parents and caregivers from bringing their children (Ding) despite his telling them to welcome children. Judas betrayed him (Ding); Peter, James, and John fell asleep when Jesus was in agony in Gethsemane. (Ding) Peter then denied him; and they all fled from the cross. (Ding)
The point is not to be hard on the disciples, but to know discipleship is a long journey of learning - life-long. Plus, if we realize, “Oh, not again. I made a mistake,” or “I misunderstood the truth,” know that, perhaps, that may be a good sign that we’re doing discipleship right. We fail, we misunderstand, we make mistakes. However, we remember, realize, then turn our heart again; we change. The good news is, that’s what any disciple is supposed to do: Go back to Jesus’ program and teaching of peace, justice, crossing borders to establish unconditional love in our own lives and in the world.
But still, a wonder remains: Why are we, and the first disciples, too, so often, so far from understanding and following Jesus? Why was it so hard for the disciples to ‘get’ the meaning of even the simplest parable Jesus told, like the Parable of the Sower? Like the Parable of the Yeast? They lived in the same historical time as Jesus, lived in the same culture as Jesus, spoke the same language as Jesus – how could they follow him, and yet not follow his words?
Intellect may not be the problem here. We can answer the question of understanding from this perspective:
They were looking for something within their comfort zone, like us. Prejudice, perception, expectation, hopes and fears all live in the comfort zone. If the teaching and mission don’t fit us, we resist. That resistance can create consistent misunderstandings on the disciples’ part. The truest role of religion is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. Jesus requires that we do more than listen; Jesus asks us to think as well.
Now, I am not making an unconditional assurance that mistakes, hurts, misunderstandings are fine. Instead, what I would like to share with you is the knowledge that failing is an essential part of the life-long learning of discipleship. If you have failed… (and you know that you failed) think this. Jesus’ program is designed so that you will fail to follow Jesus, you will fail to know who Jesus is, because our path is not to follow our own human wisdom - it is to follow the way of God’s love, peace, justice, healing, reconciliation, forgiveness, open to the mystery and the challenge of following what we can never fully comprehend.
Faith challenges us to look into the hidden aspects of our own values, our lives. Faith brings to the surface unasked questions, and reveals the answers we have always known, but refuse to acknowledge. Jesus’ teaching is never limited to a single interpretation, a single moral, a single belief statement, the cheap comfort of “God will take care of it”, “Be nice” “All is right as long as we believe in Jesus.” We fail the teachings of Jesus if we only look for something within our comfort zone. If we have failed, and we know that have failed, we are closer to following the genius of Jesus’ teaching, which prompts us to see God’s world and ourselves, in a different way.
Jesus calls to all his disciples, “Follow me.” We cannot dictate the path, but we have faith in the one that leads us on.
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