Healing and Wholeness a sermon based on Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21 preached at Trillium United Church Caledon March 11, 2018

Numbers 21:4-9

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea to go around Edom. The people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Then God sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many died.  The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against God and against you. Pray that God will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

God said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

John 3:14-21

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life.”

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. Whoever lives by truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Ahh those people who followed Moses….in theological and church circles, we call them the “Back to Egypt Committee”. All the while they were in slavery, they cried to God to free them. They didn’t actually have a very hard life in slavery – they had food, good shelter and clothing – and Moses was a respected official with the Pharaoh’s retinue. But slavery is slavery after all – they were free to do only so much.

And so they follow Moses, meandering through the Sinai.  The heat from the sand forms a natural oven that blisters the skin and dries up the water. Not much food on the Sinai -a scorpion here, a tortoise there. Always with manna. In Hebrew it is pronounced, man-hoo, which meant, "what’s that?" Now, "what’s that?" was really a nourishing food that was exuded by plants during the cool desert nights, and dried into solid pieces when the sun arose. Well, yeah, so it was a lifesaver but after month after month of travel, it very likely began to taste like dry oatmeal. So began the grumbling and griping; whine a little here, wheedle there, crab and complain.

Nothing is ever enough for these people. Moses refers to them more than once along the way as a ‘stubborn and stiff-necked people’ – because every time the going gets a little rough, they want to go back to the comfort of Egypt, where everything was familiar. Nothing new happened. Now, there’s little water, little food, and they gripe at Moses as if everything is his fault. And then the poisonous snakes come out too – and Moses is basically accused of trying to kill the people off....

Many died on the spot. But the story does not end with snakebites in the outback. Repentance from this ravaged community comes to the ears of Moses and Moses raises their cry to Yahweh. So God tells Moses what to do: "Make a poisonous serpent and set it on a pole; whoever has been bitten yet looks up at the homemade snake will survive."

So Moses makes a rough approximation of a snake and raises this monstrous piece of art skyward. Sure enough, as long as victims were in eye shot of Moses’ snake, no one else died. Hopefully also no one complained any more - at least not loud enough to be heard.

Well, we all know what John 3:16 says – it appears at almost every sporting event one way or another. The problem is, it overshadows the rest of the entire text. It’s not a text where you can cherry-pick one verse, taking it out of context altogether. All together the verses are a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, What surrounds John 3:16? A conversation. Jesus says “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Jesus refers to the story of Moses to in his conversation with Nicodemus. It would have been familiar to Nicodemus.

But what is this story of the Israelites in the wilderness really about? What about the story of Jesus and Nicodemus? Are they really literally true? Or are they stories about the human condition which can hold us back? That when we harbor hatred and resentment which are motivated by fear, we open the door to a deadly venom that eats away at our lives. Medical science confirms this. When we submit to wrong and hurtful feelings, insist on getting revenge for perceived slights or wrongs, we open the door to the snakes. And their bites can be lethal.

Here in Ontario there are quite a few Jewish families, but for some people, even one is too many. Both north and south of the border we are seeing people putting on their KKK hoods and marching, shouting abuse. Here in Canada we’ve always had the KKK, though many don’t know – Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta – we still have hatred, racism, bigotry. It’s always been here – as people of colour know. Yet still, many simply don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, or hide from dealing with it. I had that experience this week.

Rev. Thomas Hall tells a story of an incident in Billings, Montana, where one faith community in town responded to the hatred against Jews by putting small menorahs in their own windows. And the circle of rage and hate against the families, and against their supporters grew. Within a week the faith community itself was pelted with rocks and paint and its doors were smashed by these angry people. We have seen this throughout our own country, with hatred directed to faith communities which offer a message of peace.

But resentment and bitterness against others is ultimately resentment against God. And in our journey of faith, with resentment against God comes the snakes. And with their venom comes spiritual, and sometimes literal death.

Think back – only to 2016 – to Parkdale United Church in Ottawa, and the Ottawa Muslim Association – where swastikas and racist graffiti were spray-painted. The minister of Parkdale, Rev. Anthony Bailey, happens to be black. Parkdale has supported Muslims against bigotry and racism.

So now, a thousand years after the story about poisonous snakes, we see a man talking to a Pharisee, Nicodemus – who comes to Jesus ‘under cover of darkness’ because he doesn’t want the other Pharisees to know.  Jesus doesn’t talk about hatred, racism, or other poisons. I guess by this time, the fact that humans have all been bitten by poisonous snakes at one time or another is obvious. So Jesus moves to the antidote. "When I am lifted up on that pole - just like when Moses erected the snake in the wilderness - people will recover and experience fullness of life."  

John is letting us see Jesus, crucified on a cross in the name of hatred and fear. All the serpents of jealousy, greed, grasping at power, hatred, bigotry, racism, sexism, and unforgiveness. CBS picked up the story of the little congregation and Jewish families who joined together to fight hatred. Donations and money for repairs came from all over the US to that little congregation and its Jewish neighbors. Here in Canada expressions of support came from all over to Parkdale and to the Ottawa mosque. And there in Ottawa, a local synagogue held a ‘solidarity’ evening, standing together against hatred and fear.

In the end, it will always be love, not hate, which wins. The poisonous bites can be healed. Faith in goodness, generosity, and love will always supersede anger and fear. In our walk to Good Friday and beyond, this is the message we are called to carry. May it be so.

Sources:

Venomous Bites, Uplifting Antidotes a sermon based on John 3:14-21 and Numbers 21:4-9
by Rev. Thomas Hall

“All Things to All People?” a sermon based on Mark 1:29-39 February 4, 2018 Trillium United Church

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
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This week I came across a story which is absolutely true. A woman in the United States was refused passage on a United Airlines flight because she wanted to take her ‘emotional support peacock’ with her. Now, if you’ve seen the pictures, this was a fully grown adult male peacock. She had called the airline three times to see if she could be given a permit to bring the bird, and was told no. Even so, she arrived at the airport with the bird, and was turned away. At first I laughed, and there was more than a tinge of derision there. I rolled my eyes – thinking, emotional support *peacock*??????  Then on Friday I heard of someone who flew with an ‘emotional support duck.’ Well, OK. We have emotional support dogs and cats…and there’s a part of me which understands that.

But then I backed up a bit and started thinking “What’s under this? What’s the real problem here?” Is this a problem of our western society? Of our growing isolation from each other? Is it easier to relate to an animal than to other people? What are people missing in their lives? And it occurred to me that under these things, as bizarre as they seem, are souls in pain struggling to be seen and heard –  and not knowing how. And that the church, if it cares to make the effort, is beautifully placed to reach beyond itself and find ways to address this growing cultural change.
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Second century tradition ascribes the Gospel to Mark the Evangelist (also known as John Mark), the companion of Peter. It is supposedly based on the memories of Peter. However, the author uses a variety of sources including a passion narrative, collections of miracle stories, apocalyptic traditions, and sayings. Some of these sources were already written, some were oral. It was written in Greek for a Greek audience, shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, possibly in Syria. It is generally agreed that this is the earliest of the Gospels, but that the author is unknown.

And Mark’s Gospel moves at blinding speed. Jesus arrives with heaven-splitting force, deals with evil in the wilderness, announces the realm of God, chooses disciples and heals a man with a psychiatric illness in the blink of an eye. Everything in Mark happens “immediately”. Within the very first chapter, Jesus has set the framework for his ministry and for all those who would follow him. He moves from the synagogue, to the home, and out into the world.

Beginning with last week’s story of Jesus healing right there in the synagogue, we see that Jesus really doesn’t care where he is, and he really doesn’t care about the religious authorities’ interpretations of Sabbath law. He will address and work with those who are near him – whether it is a man in the synagogue, a woman in her home, people on the streets, or even in lands far away.

So today’s reading offers the second and third parts of that framework - the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, even as he is a guest in the house. She is ill with a fever, and the house is full of hungry men who don’t know what to do. It’s still the Sabbath, which means that work should not take place, and (as we learn in many of the stories) even healing on the Sabbath is a violation of God’s law.

Jesus isn’t interested in eating. He’s concerned about the sick woman upstairs. So he goes to her, and we see a healing touch - he takes her hand. Mark tells us she got up and began to serve them. Peter’s mother-in-law is generally understood to be the first deaconess in the new group. - and it’s a clue that this isn’t so much a story about a healing, as it is an example of the whole of Jesus’ ministry. Simon’s mother-in-law doesn’t see her role as serving a bunch of inept men, she interprets it as the beginning of *her* ministry. The first person to serve Jesus is a woman.

After the meal is over, a crowd begins to gather outside the house. Mark, with his typical hyperbole, says “The whole city was gathered around the door,”!

Well, we know that whenever there have been big events in the news, there is a media frenzy around the home of the families involved – sometimes it’s the home of the victims, sometimes it’s the perpetrators. Peter may have felt as if the entire world was standing outside his door, but Jesus meets the people, listens to their story, and offers a blessing. Like the meal earlier in the day, his focus is on the people around him.

Jesus is then fed and goes off to pray. The people keep coming and keep looking for him, and they are selfishly seeking him out so he can meet more of their own needs. Here we find the third piece of the framework for Jesus’ ministry. He sees the needs of people elsewhere, and leaves for other towns and places where healing is needed.

In a few sentences, Mark has given us all the things he considered most important about Jesus. The realm of God is lived out in three parts - synagogue, home, and outside the doors. The synagogue is part of the spiritual life, but always involves ministry, regardless of who the people are. There is no “us” and “them” inside the church. Jesus’ healing of the man in the synagogue demonstrates that to the fullest. Jesus demonstrates, as well, that ministry is also outside the doors - right where people are, right where they live - and not necessarily the people *we* think need ministry.
Too often in the church, our primary paradigm is to meet our own needs. We ask what people want in worship, for instance, rather than asking what God wants for our worship. We talk about bringing more people into our church so we can pay our bills, instead of asking how we can help people meet their very real needs. The reality today is that there are a whole lot of people who say they are “spiritual but not religious.” What they are really saying is that they don’t find what feeds them inside our churches. In 1995, Canada’s leading religious sociologist, Dr. Reginald Bibby, wrote a book called “There’s Got to be More”, based on a study he had done of those people who had dropped away from church. He said people have three kinds of needs: spiritual, social and relational. When asked if they would go to church, those people answered “I would, if I thought it would be good for me and my family.” But they know that when churches talk about getting more people in, they care more about paying bills than about meeting needs, or real healing.

And I think the woman with the peacock, for us, is the clue. Somehow, something is missing. Something doesn’t fit. In discussing this week with colleagues, how the healing takes place, one colleague commented that she ‘doesn’t have the power Jesus does’. My answer was ‘Yes, you do – we do.” What Jesus did was nothing short of miraculous, true – but it was also excellent psychology. Look at the phrase from last week – ‘impure spirit’, and this week ‘driving out demons’. I read that as Jesus recognising deep spiritual needs, so deep they even affected how people behaved – and he was able to address those needs.

Simply trying to convince people they should come to our church, or come back to church, because WE get something out of it, won’t work if we figure our church is fine just the way it is, and if they come they will see it. That route means WE don’t need to change, we want them to come here and adapt to how ‘we’ do things. If we want our churches to be vital places of spiritual life, we have to offer something that is meaningful to those people who don’t come. We need to look through the eyes of Jesus, and to do that, we have to shift the way we think. Perhaps most significantly, we have to find a way to allow God to use us to meet the needs of others. We have to allow ourselves to stretch, to be healed, to move beyond what we have been.

And then, what we do can become an answer to the prayers of others, as the good news is experienced in their lives and in our midst. What we do becomes the living embodiment of the ministry of the one we follow. Thanks be to God.

Sources:

1. Seeing the Needs of Others sermon based on Mark 1:29-39 by Rev. Randy L Quinn
2. Barclay, William. The Gospel of Mark (The Daily Study Bible Series). Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mark

“Healing in the Temple” a sermon based on Deuteronomy 18:15-20 and Mark 1:21-28 preached at Trillium United Church Caledon January 28, 2018

God will raise up a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” God said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them prophets like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in the prophet’s mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name; but a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”

Mark 1:21-28
They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching--with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
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There are two things in my mind, in this sermon: one is right at the very beginning of the Harry Potter series, at the Hogwarts School, when Draco Malfoy (son of the villain) says to Harry ‘You don’t want to be seen with the wrong sort, Potter. I can help you there.” Harry responds “I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks.” This one tiny part defines the whole of the ground of the Potter books - a young man who isn’t afraid to get hurt for what he knows is right, and another young man who is afraid. Harry is the prophet in this story, the one who walks willingly to death for what he believes is right - the power of Love.

The other is the story of First United Church in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. In case you don’t know, the downtown east side of Vancouver has for many years been a place of drug use and abuse, alcohol abuse, mental illness - and a life expectancy of about 32. First United Church runs a centre where those people who struggle with demons can come for a meal, a place to sleep, connections to help, and unconditional love. First United never saw itself as a shelter, but rather a radical example of the Gospel in action. They became a shelter when the City of Vancouver asked them to do so, because there were not enough shelters for the many homeless. But their radical living of the Gospel meant that they defied laws which restricted the number of those who could come in to any shelter. The staff of the shelter took in anyone who needed a place, and  pushed the City to build more shelters. Local police complained they had to answer calls; ambulance attendants claimed they had to go in there to pick up people; there were a couple of assaults. In the end, the shelter closed in 2013 - at the direction of the Presbytery. Political and legal pressure won, over the living of the Gospel, and the three staff who worked to live this radical and prophetic vision of Gospel were forced to resign. 

Lots of people these days claim to be speaking on behalf of God. People of every stripe, every colour, every religious and political persuasion are all claiming *they* speak on behalf of God. And it’s interesting that much of what God says, according to them, is about hate. God deliberately selects certain people to be leaders, rather than others.

In every denomination, at every level, people claim they speak on behalf of God. The staff at First United on the Downtown East Side said they spoke the message of God. The Presbytery says it speaks for God. When we call our ministers, we write in our position descriptions that we want strong, relevant preaching, current scholarship, and the word of God. We want prophets to teach us - but what happens, of course, is that it’s only the word of God if it’s the word we personally agree with; it can’t be the word of God if it makes us challenge authority, or feel uncomfortable.

So the question is, how do we discern who really is speaking for God? Who really carries this authority? In the reading from Deuteronomy we get one idea. Moses is coming to the end of his time, and knows he will not enter the Promised Land. The Israelites want to know who will tell them what God wants, when Moses is gone. Moses replies “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.” But Moses isn’t talking about one prophet, but a new prophet for each generation - the phrase actually used is “raising up prophets.” who will *continue* to speak on God’s behalf – and there’s no time limit.

In today’s world our guide is partly Moses, but mostly Jesus. Anyone who says they are speaking for God must be held up to the ministry and teachings of Jesus. So today Mark tells of Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry; Jesus begins with a sermon in the synagogue in Capernaum. He and the disciples walk in to the synagogue, the resident rabbi hands Jesus the first scroll, and he sits down to teach. So he reads the lesson, and then opens the service with the traditional ‘berakah’, or blessing. Probably not more than five minutes into his sermon, it happens. Just when the congregation is starting to notice that the sermon notes are not on an old yellow legal pad, just when they discover that the topic is not being put to them the way the traditional scribes would, just when they realise this man doesn’t speak like the scribes and religious leaders at all, just when they are starting to see that faith without action in the world is a dead faith, a raving man in the middle of church shouts vague threats at the young preacher who dared to say something radical.

"I know who you are," the man yells. “You’re God’s holy messenger, come here to destroy us.”
"Be muzzled, you evil spirit" Jesus yells back, jumping up from his chair, "Leave him alone! Stop hurting that man." The man falls to the synagogue floor, tears and shudders going through his body, wails coming from so deep inside they seem to touch a primordial chord in everyone there. Then he becomes calm. He picks himself up, now tranquil and calm, and finds a seat in the congregation.

How would you respond if that happened here? Most of us would be so shocked that we would just sit. Some of us would leave making disgusted faces at such behaviour in church. Maybe we would have called the ambulance and told them to bring the jacket and restraints.

Would you walk out of the church complimenting the preacher on a great sermon? If the teaching went contrary to what you had always been taught by the scribes and Pharisees, what would you do? My personal experience is the good sermons rarely draw comment; the sermons which provoke, which make people feel uncomfortable, get a strong backlash. If a sermon made you uncomfortable, would you compliment the preacher? A wonderful teaching, with fresh insight? Yet, that is what happened in Capernaum. The congregation leaves the synagogue commenting about how wonderful the teaching was. What has teaching to do with expunging a demon?

And the crowd is “astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.”(v. 22) This man clearly is different – his teaching sets him apart from those who claim to be the successors of Moses, who claim to have authority from God. Mark doesn’t say *what* Jesus taught, just that he taught, and it made an impression.

The religious leaders who claim they speak for God have shunned a man who, according to them, has a “demon”. They have *talked* about the Realm of God on earth. They have used established procedures to interpret and debate the Law of Moses. Their interpretation might be intellectually demanding, but does not demand that they change the way they think, or change their lives.

Jesus is different, because while he understands the scholarly interpretations, he also knows that theory is useless unless it is put into practice. Jesus works to bring God’s realm right into the present situation. So when a man comes to the synagogue, clearly suffering social discrimination, Jesus acts to free the man, so that he has the courage to be who he truly is regardless of what the authorities claim is God’s law.

Jesus’ authority does not come from being born into the *right* family. His authority does not come from attending the right schools or studying with the right people and earning the right degrees. Jesus’ authority is granted by God, and is demonstrated through the many ways in which he works to make the Realm of God a reality throughout his ministry. Jesus is authoritative; but there is a difference between speaking with authority, and being authoritarian.

Two words are crucial in this text; teaching, and authority. Mark wants us to see that in Jesus, God is among us to confront our own demons, the things which hold us back from a Gospel of Love. When Jesus is the teacher, no one snores through the sermon! When Jesus is the teacher, we all are faced with a choice - to let the demons speak or let Jesus drive them from us so that we learn to live and love in the very same way he did.

Most churches tend to deal with issues through the rumor-mill, or the ‘parking lot’ conversations, instead of honest inquiry and ensuring that there is truth. There is not a congregation in any denomination which is completely free of this behaviour. Talking behind, talking about, half-truth or incomplete information. Gossiping in front of others, putting down things or people. When this happens in a congregation, energies are turned inward, and commitment to the Gospel together is divided. The congregation is divided - the result often is people turn away, just not come because they expect more of us, and we let them down. And interestingly enough, mission and commitment to the world outside our doors begin to take a back seat. Martin Luther once said, "When the gospel is preached, devils are set loose and start to roam among us."

Rev. Thomas Hall, one of my favourite preachers, asks “Could it be that preachers have lost our nerve? Our voice?” I ask “Could it be that we don’t *want* anything transformative to happen at 11 o’clock on Sunday morning? That we don’t want to be disturbed by the Gospel?” Could it be that we preachers have lost our prophetic voice in the face of self-preservation? Could it be that we as a congregation of disciples have lost the sense of mission which brings us to God and then sends us out to Love in risk and sacrifice of ourselves? Could it be that this is a message we want to contain?

The message of the Gospel is that Love can get us hurt. Being church can get us hurt. Taking three congregations and making a new one can get us hurt. We risked and were hurt; but our task is to work tirelessly at being the “right sort”; our task is to work together, to work at being inclusive and thinking of the good of all; our task is to work in love and commitment to each other, for the creating and building up of the whole community of the Gospel. The Gospel prophecy lives here. True prophets, in my definition, work for Love – radical hospitality, radical inclusivity.  Our work is to be prophets.

May it be so.



Sources:

1. The Middle Generations, Joshua 24:1-24 January 27, 2012. A sermon by Rev Christina Berry, outgoing Moderator of the Synod of Lincoln Trails

2. Speaking on Behalf of God? a sermon based on Deuteronomy 18:15-20 & Mark 1:21-28
by Rev. Richard Gehring

3. A New Teaching a sermon based on Mark 1:21-28 by Rev. Thomas Hall

Called and Named Epiphany 2 1 Samuel 3:1-10, John 1:43-51 Trillium United Church, Mono Mills, Ontario January 14, 2018

The boy Samuel ministered before God under Eli. In those days the word of God was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of God, where the ark of God was. Then God called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
Again God called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
Now Samuel did not yet know God: The word of God had not yet been revealed to him. A third time God called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that God was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, God, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
God came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

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The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”   “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

During the presidential election campaign in the United States ten years ago, the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday falls tomorrow, found its way into the election campaign. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, claimed that he saw his father march with Dr. King in 1963. In fact, Romney’s father had never appeared with Dr. King, even though he had been a strong supporter of civil rights during his political career. What Romney *meant*, his campaign stated, was that he “figuratively” saw his father with Dr. King. Frank Rich, a columnist for the New York Times suggested that the insertion of race into the discussion was to deflect any possible charge of racial insensitivity; Romney’s own Mormon church discriminated against blacks until 1978, and he had never spoken out.

Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton said in a speech that “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964... It took a president to get it done.” Members of Barack Obama’s staff felt her comment diminished Dr. King’s legacy. Senator Clinton’s staff said she was paying homage to both men.

Dr. King, however, would always point to the God who had been his guide throughout his life, and would have seen himself simply as a disciple living the call.

Today, one might in a mood of complete depression, feel as if all the movement forward has been lost, that all sense of equality and sense of decency has been lost – and we may find ourselves asking if anything good can come out of the current situation..the extent of lies and deceit almost renders the tale of Mitt Romney pale by comparison.  And the question which hangs in the air now – why do people come from those ******** places? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

In her book “The Gospel of John: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections,” author Gail O’Day talks about the “drama of discipleship”. And this morning we have two stories of both call, and discipleship – one which is quite dramatic, and one which contains a slur against a  particular place. – Nazareth, a backwater noplace……

Samuel, just a boy lying in bed, who we are told doesn’t yet know God at all. Now, the name Samuel in Hebrew means “God hears”, and it also means “son of God”. This boy wakens to God's voice calling him. God tells Samuel that he is to go and speak to Israel with the authority of God behind him. It is the story of a great prophet being called, even when still a boy. God’s intent leaves absolutely no possibility of any doubt. Yet it takes several ‘calls’ before Samuel’s teacher Eli realises that something significant is happening, and that Samuel – a child – is being called.

And this is probably what most people consider a call - something so dramatic as to stop us in our tracks, and change the course of our lives so significantly that there can be no doubt. For Samuel, God’s call set the course of his life even before he had ‘come to know God’.

In December of 1955, Rose Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to move to the back of a city bus. Leaders in the African-American community organized a city-wide transportation boycott, and turned to the young black pastor, Martin Luther King, Jr. as the leader. King was just 26 years old, and he wrestled with issues of call; call to ministry, call to discipleship, and whether or not his role was call to be a local pastor. In the end, he concluded that God called him to this new ministry as well - and the rest is history. He became President of a new organisation called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He organised the great civil rights marches. We know he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, but we also know that this call first set the course of his life, and eventually spelled the end of his life.

Well, let’s look at the second story - the call of Nathanael. Nathanael means, in Hebrew, “a gift of God”. The story tells us Jesus had seen Nathanael sitting under a fig tree even before Philip went to get him. Fig trees give good shade, and maybe sitting under the tree was a good place to read, get cool, take a nap, or sleep off the previous night’s fun. And if we read the prophet Micah, the fig tree was one symbol of a place of peace, of rest, of community and hospitality. Now, Jesus simply talks to Nathanael after Philip goes to “call him out” from under the fig tree. That’s all Jesus did. Nothing spectacular - and the funny thing is, Nathanael is called to be a disciple. No dramatic vision, just a man saying "Follow my way." And Nathanael saying yes.

Now, as the author of the story, John believed Jesus was the Messiah, born in Bethlehem, but he *identifies* Jesus as from Nazareth, and Nathanael’s first question is “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nazareth being considered a ‘******** place. John’s whole point, of course, is that this Messiah is a real human being from a backwater town - and that this man was called as well. In current vernacular terms, Nazareth was a zero-horse town of maybe 250 people on a good day – and not considered the best place to live, or to come from, by any means. Nazareth was one of those places the current US president has a name for – and the name in Jesus’ time was pretty much the same. Can anything good come from a place like that? What do we want with someone from a place like that?

But today’s story is about call, and more importantly that God calls who God will – sometimes from the very places we figure God just wouldn’t. And whose call was more real? The drama of God’s voice in the middle of the night, in the temple with Elli the priest? Or something as quiet as “Come and see.” offered to an ordinary person sitting in the shade of a tree, who begins his call with a slur aimed at Jesus’ hometown. What’s curious here is that both Samuel and Nathanael were disciples - ordinary people who were called by God to live and speak faith. They were called to ministry - but the point is they were *not* called to *ordained* ministry or a specialised priesthood. God named them and called them to ministry – not to a prescribed role.

We tend to think that a call has to be something dramatic, like a Damascus road experience, or a burning bush, or a voice in the darkness. Yet most of us who feel a call to ministry can’t say it was a dramatic event. For me, it was almost a non-event, kind of ‘well, duh’. I wanted to apply for a position in the Canadian Council of Churches, and was told by the then-General Secretary that I didn’t qualify because I didn’t have a Master of Divinity. When I repeated that to a colleague and mentor, that I needed the MDiv – his response was “Well, why don’t you go get one?” Really – well, duh indeed.

John demonstrates to us clearly that we are all called and named, and it isn’t any sudden flash of insight - but instead something as simple as the words “I saw you sitting there. Come.” Samuel’s story, for all the seeming drama, is simply a boy hearing God. He has an open heart and God sees.

Discipleship, or call, doesn’t mean you have to take up formal ministry in the church. Not at all. It *does* mean that as someone professing to be Christian, you are professing that you are called and named as a follower of the way, and that discipleship means doing something.

Dr. O’Day asks this question; “Why are there so many names for Jesus? Each disciple sees something different in Jesus and bears witness in his own way. Each disciple came to Jesus with differing expectations and needs – one needed a teacher, another the Messiah, another the fulfillment of scripture – and each of these needs was met…”

Can anything good come from Nazareth? Can anything good come from Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump? Or Ferintosh, Alberta? Or the tiny island of Aukra in Norway, or the lump of land in Finland known as Korvatunturi? Well, yes, actually. There are some fabulous people in Ferintosh, Alberta population 202, who are committed to being disciples; I have a friend living on Aukra in Norway who is a sailor, building ships – and by all accounts in northern Lapland/Finland, the real Santa Claus lives in Korvatunturi which means “Ear Fell”, or the place shaped like an ear, where Santa hears the children.

Nathanael missed it completely at first. So do most of us. God’s call *does* come to the ordinary people - farmers, fishermen, sailors, truck drivers, mechanics, engineers, carpenters. It is not a call to drop our current lives and go into ordained ministry - but a call to follow even while doing what we do. Seeing what we do as a calling, with God at the centre, as the voice which moves us.

All Philip said was "Come and see" – a simple invitation to meet Jesus. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Can anything good come from Trillium? What is our call to discipleship? It is up to you - because you are all called and named. Each of you - each of us, is a Nathanael - a gift of God, and we are each a Samuel - a child of God. So - come, and see - what is the call in this world, today, in this tiny corner of Ontario. Because that presence is here – calling each of us into something larger and fuller than ourselves.

CALLED

We are called
to leave behind our solitary searching,
to put on that single garment of destiny -
the uniform of faithfulness -
worn by creatures great and small,
old and forgotten,
young and eager,
broken and bewildered,
spirited and set on fire:
sisters and brothers who share not race or tongue,
but whose hearts are claimed by love,
signed by a cross.
Our future is together, arm in arm,
finding healing as we heal,
knowing freedom in our forgiving.
We are the strangest travellers:
seeking no reward at trail's end,
As long as we know the joy of journeying with him.
We are called
Disciples.
We are called
His.

Sources and acknowledgments:

1. Dr. Frank Trotter, First United Methodist Church, Pasadena, California Sermon “The Drama of Discipleship” January 20, 2008.

2. Dr. Gail O’Day. The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995). Dr. O’Day is Professor of Homiletics at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia.

3. Rev. John Nadasi, Paonia United Methodist Church, Colorado. Sermon “Can Anything Good Come from Nazareth?”

4. Poem by Timothy Haut, Deep River, Connecticut. January 18, 2009.