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.”
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Grace to you peace, from God our Creator, and Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, the one whom we have been given the gift of following, Amen.
Jesus finds Phillip in Galilee. And we don’t hear how he found him, just where. And that is all. Jesus finding Phillip though doesn’t seem to be the main character of this story from John’s Gospel. Nathanial seems to be the focal point of this lesson. And Phillip went and found Nathanial. Phillip told him “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” “Nathanial, this is the guy who is going to save us… they person that was written about in the Pentateuch, and all over the Hebrew Scriptures. The one that will save all of Israel from Rome.”
And what is Nathanial’s answer? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” “Can anything good come of that rotten place?” Apparently Nathanial didn’t like Nazareth too much. Nor could a messiah come from there.
But Philip is a good friend to Nathanial, and won’t let him get away with much. “Come and See.” “Come and See.” Come and see this guy, and then you will believe it for yourself.
Now, this is an Epiphany story. This is a story about God being made manifest in the world. It is a story about the light bulb being turned on. How is this Epiphany and light bulb story? Jesus is discovered and seen as the King of Israel.
“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.”
Philip said to Nathanial, “come and see.” Nathanial came and saw… and hence, Epiphany.
A light bulb. That is Epiphany. Much like opening line of our liturgy this morning… “Let the light scatter the darkness, and shine within your people here.”
I am currently reading a book called “Shadow Divers.” It chronicles the true story of two deep water shipwreck divers. These are scuba divers who dive shipwrecks at about 200 feet below the surface. Diving that far below is very perilous. It has lead to a lot of deaths. When you are that far below, with that amount of pressure, your body suffers from too much nitrogen which ends up having effects on your mind, making you behave as if you were drunk.
Anyhow, these deep sea divers discovered a boat off the coast of New Jersey, and they didn’t know what it was. Through a series of dives they discovered it was a German U-Boat from WWII. They had to do a little more work, but they ended up discovering it was U-869. They had found a knife with the captain’s name on it. This is how they found the specific boat that it was.
Finding which exact boat it was is difficult. It was especially difficult because 200 feet below the surface of the water is extremely dark. Imagine it to be like night without any lights. The only light they had was the light they brought with. In a way, this story paints an image of the Epiphany story.
They went and saw. They discovered.
Now, we are not so inclined to always think this way. We are not always so inclined to think there is always a light bulb. We are kind of in the dark. At least, as Lutherans, this is what we maintain. Every time we “confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves” we are proclaiming ourselves as being in the dark.
Now, we are in the dark. One of my favorite stories to tell about the dark comes from my childhood. I know most of the dads here will be able to relate. When I was a kid, one of my favorite toys was Legos. I loved them. I had a bunch of them. They were scattered and spread all over the house. Legos are small and they have sharp edges. My dad couldn’t stand Legos. See, in the dark when it was night, if he tried to navigate the house he would ultimately step on a Lego. The sharp small object would gouge into his foot because of the lack of light.
Well, while we are indeed in the dark, there is Gospel. There is good news. Much like our liturgy today reads “Let he light scatter the darkness, and shine within your people here.” The good news is the light. Much like I explained to the children earlier – Christ being like a candle or a light bulb. Christ is the light… the light being made manifest in the world. With Christ, we are not in the dark.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
