1/18/09 - Epiphany 2 - John 1:43-51

"COME AND SEE"
- The one who knows your sins
- The one who shows you his glory

Three words. Three little words changed Nathanael’s life forever. They weren’t ground-shattering words and he was really in a special place when he heard them… He was sitting under a fig. And whether he was just getting out of the afternoon sun or taking a lunch break during work or relaxing there for some other reason - he saw his friend Philip coming towards him. “We have found the Christ!” Philip said. “The son of Joseph, the one Moses and the prophets wrote about, the man from Nazareth!” “Nazareth?” Nathanael doubted. “Can anything good come from there?” And in response Philip said those three little words that changed Nathanael’s life forever: “Come and see.” Come and see. I’m sure Nathanael was a little skeptical at the claim his friend Philip made. But Nathanael got up anyway and he went and he saw. And what Nathanael saw was more than just a man. Nathanael saw the one who already knew him! The one who told him that he had seen Nathanael while he was still sitting under that fig tree! The one who promised Nathanael that he would see even greater things than this minor miracle! And the one who claimed that Nathanael would witness the glory of the Lord himself in the years ahead. Nathanael’s life surely was changed forever by those three simple words. Because from then on he became a faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus in order that others could come and see and believe.
That first conversation between Nathanael and Jesus must have been an interesting one. Jesus immediately demonstrates his divine quality of omniscience - his ability to know all things. He lets Nathanael know exactly who he is. And Nathanael believes him. He confesses “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” It must have been a great moment for Nathanael to finally see the long-awaited Messiah face to face. But that encounter with Jesus also must have been a little embarrassing for Nathanael as well. Because remember what Jesus had told him: “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” And what did Nathanael originally say about Jesus under that fig tree? “Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael doubted Jesus really was the Christ at first! He scoffed at Philip’s words and made fun of Jesus and his home town! And Jesus had heard it all. And Nathanael soon knew that if Jesus had seen him under the fig tree he had also heard the words Nathanael had spoken there. Nathanael must have been embarrassed. He was standing in front of the Lord himself whom he had just mocked! It would be just like you were talking about a person behind his back and that very person walked up behind you and heard exactly what you had been saying about him. Nathanael was caught red-handed. He couldn’t talk his way out of it, he couldn’t pretend that he had never said it, he couldn’t claim his words were taken out of context, because although he had said it only to Philip under the fig tree, he now knew that Jesus was right there all along. This man Nathanael had come to see already knew him well - and he knew his sins more than Nathanael would care to admit.
We have an advantage over Nathanael: we know who Jesus is and we know he sees and hears everything we do. But that doesn’t change the fact that we seem to act like Nathanael all the time! We are very careless with our words when we are around certain people, aren’t we? And it usually happens when we talk about our relatives. We like to talk about certain relatives in ways we would never say in front of their faces. And, of course, if we wouldn’t say those things to their faces we probably shouldn’t say them at all. But just because they aren’t around to hear us doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t there listening to every word that breaks his 8th Commandment. When you are alone with your spouse or your friends, you may speak about members of this own congregation in ways that you wouldn’t speak if they were there in the room. But just because they aren’t there to hear your grumbling or disgust or evaluation of their character doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t there listening to every one of your negative assessment of the ones he gave his life to save.
And we are not just careless with our words; we are sinfully lax when it comes to our thoughts as well. We let any and every thought occupy our minds at any time - mostly because we don’t have to answer for them. No one else see them. No one else questions them. No one else is going to call us out because of them. If I suddenly stopped in the middle of a sermon on any Sunday and asked you what you were thinking about at that very moment, I’m sure half of you would be embarrassed to say. Because you may have been thinking about how hard it was to sing the last hymn or what you were going to do for the rest of the afternoon or how touchy my cordless mike is this morning… There are plenty of things that roll through minds in a worship service and most of them don’t have anything to do with the Lord! And think about the thousands of thoughts that flitter through our minds every day. Our thoughts go unchecked for the most part. They have flown in and out of our minds without a filter for so long that we don’t even notice if they are inappropriate or unacceptable. But just because no one else sees them and just because we aren’t even aware of many of the thoughts that pass through our minds doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t know every single one of our thoughts at every single moment.
He is the one who knows your sins. He knows you inside and out. He knows how your mind works. He knows what you will do, what you will say, and what you will think long before it ever happens. He knows you better than you know yourself. And so just like Nathanael you cannot hide. You cannot pretend that you didn’t say those words or think those thoughts. You cannot put up a false front and trick the Lord that you are better than you actually are. He knows it all. He knows your secrets. He knows everything. He knows when and where and how and why you sin just as surely as he heard the words come out of Nathanael’s mouth under the fig tree. Nathanael came to be reminded of his sin the hard way. He was confronted by the Lord himself. And sometimes we need to be reminded of our sins the hard way. We need to be confronted by the Lord himself. Sometimes we have to come with Nathanael and see the one who already knows who we are and every sin that we have ever committed.
But that’s not all Nathanael saw. He saw his sin when he saw Jesus, there’s no doubt about that. But in the years to follow Nathanael would also see what Jesus would do. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to him, “You shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Notice what Jesus didn’t say. He didn’t chastise Nathanael for doubting Philip’s words and Jesus’ divinity. Rather he told Nathanael that he would see greater things. Nathanael would see Jesus’ glory. And Nathanael did see his glory in ways he never expected.
Do you recognize what Old Testament story Jesus was referencing here? Who saw angels ascending and descending up and down from the throne of heaven in a dream? Jacob - in the story of “Jacob’s Ladder.” He was running away from his brother Esau at the time after stealing the blessing his brother was supposed to receive as the first born son, and one night during his travels he lay down to sleep. And Scripture says that “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). And the Lord said to him, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (v.15). After Jacob woke up from his sleep, he said to himself, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (v.16). And so Jacob built an altar there and named the placed Bethel - which means “the house of God.” Through that dream the Lord was making it clear to Jacob that he was more than just a God in heaven, he was God on earth to be with him and protect him and guide him and guard him.
This was the story Jesus was undoubtedly referring to when he promised Nathanael that he would see angels of God. But Nathanael never actually saw the heavens physically open or angels visibly ascending and descending on Jesus in his lifetime. However, Nathanael did see the truth that Jacob’s dream set forth. “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” Jacob had said. The vision that the Lord had given Jacob was to reassure him that the Lord was there with him, that he would never leave him nor forsake him. And Nathanael would truly see what Jacob had only dreamed. Nathanael would see the Lord on this earth and he would witness his glory. He would see it in the miracles. He would see it in the Savior’s love, in Christ’s compassion, in his power, in his patience, and in his Word. But most importantly, Nathanael would see the glory and majesty of the Lord himself when Jesus hung on the cross. On that day of the cruelest humiliation and on that hill of shame and disgrace, Jesus’ glory was never clearer. And Nathanael saw it. He witnessed it with his own eyes. He saw Jesus’ blood and his wounds and his body that was stripped of its life. Nathanael saw Jesus defiled. But in that defilement Nathanael saw his forgiveness. And so do we.
In Jesus’ suffering we find healing. In Jesus’ pain we are comforted. In Jesus’ death we have life. We see Jesus’ glory if not through the eyes of Nathanael at least through the eyes of faith because we see his glory in his Word. We see “the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” because we see Jesus on this earth as our God, as our Lord, and as our Savior. We see him bridging the gap between heaven and earth. We see him sacrificing himself, rising from the dead, and ascending into heaven. And we fully believe that because Jesus came to this earth for us we will be taken to heaven with him. This is who we see when we open our Bibles. This is who we see when we sing hymns and read psalms and listen to the readings and focus on the sermon. We see Christ. We see Immanuel: “God with us.”
No wonder Philip hurried to find Nathanael and encouraged him to come and see - to see The One, to see the God-man, to see the Messiah. “Come and see.” Three words that Nathanael probably never forgot. And three words that we should probably keep in mind as well. Because these words should remind us of what Jesus’ sees in us, how sinful we are. But they should also remind us about what we see in Jesus: a Savior from sin. A compassionate God. A loving Lord. A sacrificial Lamb. The Christ whom Philip shared, whom Nathanael confessed, and whom we believe. We are blessed to be able to come and see him every week. We are blessed to be able to come and see him every day. And I pray that you continue to come and continue to see Christ and his cross in all of his glory as you eagerly await to see him one day face to face.
Amen.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ… to him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Peter 5:10,11