Where Did You Get To Know Me?

John 1:43-51 (NRSV)

The next day 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.

 

 

Greetings this morning from my parent’s former condo in Darien, IL. 

Hopefully, they have joined us this morning from their new apartment at the Holmstad in Batavia IL right along the beautiful Fox River.

Since they moved out earlier this weekend, Nancy and I, along with some of our children and my brother’s children have been busy preparing their place to be sold.

          We spend 15 hours yesterday painting

It has been --- at times --- a bit overwhelming.

          As I was trying to prepare them for this move

Last April, I was feeling, like many of you, a bit lost.

I needed to find something to ground me --- So I invited folks to join me on Thursdays for half an hour to just walk slowly through Richard Rohr’s book Falling Upward. 

Following that we worked through The Book of Joy --- always at a slow leisurely pace so that we can all participate.

It was fun, because I did it for ME --- I wasn’t really teaching --- I just happened to have a dozen friends join me on the journey.

Starting Thursday, I am starting up again --- we are going to spend some time talking about story telling --- what makes a good story --- and then we will have the opportunity to share our story --- if we desire. 

You are invited to join me.

Because if the truth be told --- I don’t think we can be followers of Jesus without sharing our story.

Last week I shared how I have some issues that I need to wrestle with.

Today I want to take that one step further.

I believe it is important to know our I AM statements because the truth is --- they impact how we come to the biblical story --- and how we interpret the biblical story 

I shared last week that

          I am a privileged, white, older, cisgender male, living in the United States

Now much of that may seem rather apparent.

But for me it is a part of my identity that will influence how I read and interpret the biblical story

I cannot completely separate my interpretation of the Bible and Jesus unless I begin to own --- WHO I AM --- what makes me tick --- and how those influences affect me

Let me try to illustrate this in another way

About 32 years ago --- two other young men and I --- from the recently birthed new church in Warsaw --- traveled to Jamaica on a mission project.

We were thrown in with a bunch of other United Methodists --- mainly from Indiana and arrived in Montego Bay fairly early on a Saturday afternoon.

After collecting our luggage and getting through immigration we drive to the South-West side of the Island 

It was about a 3 hour drive to the little “town” of Malvern where we would be working on fixing up a Church.

One we arrived --- the gave us a tour of the area (that didn’t take long) and as we sat down for a late dinner, they began to outline the plan for our stay.

Since we didn’t all know each other --- we of course --- spent time introducing each other and sharing what skills we had.

The two other young men and I were quickly identified as the three mules --- and we spent most of our working days hauling material from the bottom of a steep hill up to the church which was at the top of this hill.

          We moved everything from rock, to sand to building material

                             Day in and day out

As I identified myself as a clergy person --- in hindsight I now realize that there was some commotion going on.

As soon as the dinner was over --- the leader of the group came to me and said --- they would like to preach in the morning --- a driver will be here to pick you up at 7 am --- it is a good hour drive to the church

It was time to go to bed and I was in full bore panic!

I imagine I felt kind of akin to you might feel if you were --- on the spur of the moment --- asked to pray publicly.

          You know you can do it --- but you have many insecurities about it

I didn’t get much sleep that night

And as we headed off to the church in the morning we took these tiny, windy, what I would say were wide enough for 1 and a half small cars (we were in a mini-van).

I was given the seat of honor in the front --- but it was terrifying --- because every time you went around another curve --- you would hold your breath in case another vehicle was coming.

          The good news was --- I don’t think we ever encountered a car

          The bad news was --- we encountered a lot of trucks!!!

If prayer before preaching is the key to success --- that should have been my greatest sermon ever.

If you were called upon --- at the last minute --- and asked to give a speech, or even a prayer --- what does one speak about?

You would gravitate toward something you feel comfortable about.

I never got comfortable.

I had an interpreter who would translate my midwestern English into Jamaican patois

I was told the expectation was that I should preach for about 45 minutes

I think I managed about 40 minutes

          I spoke about Jesus --- and how he knew me.

In our scripture story today --- which is one of my favorites Jesus is up in the Galilee starting to gather his disciples.  He has just called Philip and Philip is taling to some of his friends:

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?”

I have never met you before --- how could you possibly know me?

I think, whenever we read the Biblical story, we need to remember that it is Jesus who knows ME.

          Before I knew him --- Jesus knows me!

So, once I know the starting point --- that I am already known (and I would add loved) how do I get to know Jesus?

Let me offer three steps that can be summed up with the acronym PSA

          This is my Public Service Announcement for you

                   Prayer, Scripture, Action or life

PRAYER --- spend time with Jesus

          Think of any relationship that you have --- what makes it strong

                   You spend time with that person

                             You listen to their story and you share your story

If you think of any broken relationship in your life I am willing to bet that the time together and the talking and listening to one another broke down before the relationship did.

SCRIPTURE --- we need to read and study the scriptures

But as you begin reading try to avoid the one question that most of us were taught to search for.

Do not ask --- What does this passage mean to me --- Instead try to figure out what this story might have meant to the people who heard it first.

Yes, I know that to do that takes work --- but doesn’t every good relationship.

We need to try to understand what a first century person might have heard in this story 

The reason why this is so important is because at this step we begin to be able to see our personal I AM statements creeping in and by trying to understand the story in context it is no longer about an older white male living in the United States but is about an olive-skinned peasant (in other words – a person of color) living in the first century under occupation by a foreign government.

After we begin to understand its context --- then we can begin to ask the question --- what lessons am I to draw from this story.

ACTION --- I think this is pretty self explanatory

          Jesus told us to go and serve!

To take his message of love wherever we are and to apply his standard to all that we meet

As we begin applying this to our relationship with Jesus --- we are able to have an authentic life for Jesus.

This is basically what we in Methodism call the quadrilateral and I believe it is key to understanding and living Jesus.

So what did I say for 40 minutes or so to my new friends in Jamaica

I can tell you --- that was one of the most terrifying days in my life.

But I felt Jesus’ presence --- because I knew that he already knew me

          I shared how I knew Jesus loved me

But at the same time I shared how I could SEE how Jesus loved them and how they were living that love.

Jesus already knows you --- now it is our turn to learn more about him.