Return to Vocal Ministry
Return to Vocal Ministry
Three part series presented at Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends,
August 2007
Tim Seid, Assoc. Dean & Assist. Prof. of NT Studeis, ESR
Wouldn't it be nice if we all had our own PR person, an advance man or woman to prepare the way for us? I read an article in Time magazine from 1968 describing the advance man's work for Hubert Humphrey. His advance man, Kingsley Hopkins Murphy, would go a week in advance of a campaign appearance to do what was called "run the traps." There were certain tasks essential to preparing the way for the presidential candidate in 1968: "Make them come to you; get typists and a legman quick; be anonymous; don't spill news—dribble it out; stress unity; keep calm; avoid nonunion bands; don't make cameras shoot into the sun; be ready to pick up strays; beware of national committeewomen." In addition, Murphy had to make sure Humphrey's hotel room was properly stocked. There would be no "no feasts in his room, 'just cheddar cheese, saltine crackers, diet root beer, Canadian Club and soda, 'wine of the country,' usually ten bottles of beer." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900380,00.html
I could have my own list if I had an advance person. I find that the older I get, the longer my list gets. For example, I now know I like the sheets on a bed to be untucked. My wife happens to like a tightly tucked bed. My advance person would reserve a hotel room with two queen beds: one tucked, one untucked. I've acquired the taste for good coffee. I drink it black, so I can't rely on creamer and sugar to disguise the taste of cheap coffee. When I travel, I either have to bring my own coffee and my Frenchpress coffee maker or find the local Starbucks.
There are other necessities. I have to make sure, if I'm going to be seated somewhere in front of people that I am provided with a chair large enough and sturdy enough to hold me. Since I am more of a man than others, I need a man-sized chair and not something brought out from the nursery room. I would like people to know how to pronounce my name, to know what I do for a living so I don't have to explain it, to know I'm a Quaker and to know what that is so I don't have to explain that.
Perhaps your list has grown longer as you've gotten older. People need to know to speak up when they talk to you or to know which ear is your good ear. You want your host to know you don't want the temperature in the room a freezing 75 degrees but a comfortable 80-85. If someone wants you to read something, they need to make it large enough to be read by the average octogenarian. I'm sure you could think of many more ways an advance man or woman could prepare the way for you and introduce you to others.
Jesus had an advance man named John, known in the Gospels as John the Baptist or John the Baptizer. The story of Jesus begins with the story of John. If you accept the predominant view about the order of the writing of the four Gospels, you would think of the Gospel of Mark as our first written Gospel and remember how it begins. Mark begins with a prophetic statement: Mark 1:2-3 "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'" Mark goes on to describe this messenger who had prepared the way.
Mark 1:4-6 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
If the Gospels of Matthew and Luke come after Mark, they serve as prequels to the Gospel of Mark. They provide us with infancy narratives describing the circumstances surrounding Jesus' birth and explaining how he was first recognized as having been sent by God. Luke includes the birth story of John and his special calling. The angel told Zechariah,
Luke 1:13-17 "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
In the gospel tradition, then, John is the one who introduces Jesus to the world. In the other gospels, John is called "john the baptist" or "john the baptizer." In the Gospel of John, which is also called the Fourth Gospel, John the Baptist is only referred to as John. The Fourth Gospel also begins with John. The prologue first describes how the Logos, the Word, existed at the beginning of the world. The Logos was "with God" and "was God." The Logos was the one through whom all things came into being and was life itself. The life which the Logos brought into the world was light to all, an inextinguishable light that enlightens all to the knowledge of God. The gospel writer then pauses to introduce the introducer.
John 1:6-8 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
When the author of the Fourth Gospel begins to narrate the story of Jesus, he begins with scenes of John practicing a Jewish practice of ritual ablution of people in the Jordan River out in the countryside near a no longer existing city named Bethany. John 1:19-28 opens with Jewish leaders trying to find out from John what he's doing to attract so much attention--why he's doing it, and by what authority. When they finally get him to talk, he simply says, 26 "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal."
What follows in chapter one of the Fourth Gospel are three scenes occurring on successive days. They function transitionally, moving from John introducing Jesus to Israel, to John introducing his disciples to Jesus, to Jesus seeking out those who would be his first followers. On the first day following John's interrogation, he sees Jesus coming to him and announces to everyone who Jesus is. From this I want us to think about our role as ones who introduce Jesus to others. Just like John, we tell people who Jesus is, we tell them how our lives are given purpose by Jesus, and we tell them how we ourselves have experienced the presence of God through Jesus. Let's first look at verse 29 in which John tells people who Jesus is.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Before this encounter of John the baptizer and Jesus, they have had a previous meeting that John will only allude to here. According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus comes to John to be baptized by him. In our text John will give his testimony to what he experienced that day. On this day, when John sees Jesus coming toward him, he stops what he's doing and announces to all in attendance, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
Within the unfolding drama of redemption, the lamb figures as a symbol of innocence to whom is done violence. The act of voluntary sacrifice then is redemptive for others. Perhaps he is here alluding to Isaiah's "Suffering Servant" who "like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before the one shearing it, so he does not open his mouth" (NETS Isaiah 53:7). Within that context we find the words, "This one bears our sins and suffers pain for us" (NETS ISA 53:4); "But he was wounded because of our acts of lawlessness and has been weakened because of our sins; upon him was the discipline of our peace; by his bruise we were healed" (NETS Isa 53:5). John chooses this as the image to describe to those around him who Jesus is.
How do we tell people who Jesus is? Perhaps you do it through symbols, like a cross around your neck or a fish on your car. Perhaps you relate to Jesus by means of images and metaphors. The picture of the laughing Jesus or a simple expression like "Jesus is my friend" may appeal most to you. Or you might find that an orthodox icon of Christ Pantokrator (Christ Almighty) represents how you think about Jesus. If someone asks you who Jesus is, you might give them a book or pamphlet to read or maybe suggest they read one of the Gospels, most likely it would be the Gospel of John.
We tend to describe Jesus based on what we feel is the greatest need. In a time of power-struggle, as existed in the Byzantine church, Christ Pantokrator speaks to human need. During times of suffering, the image of Christ in the Pietà, where the mother of Jesus is holding the limp body of Jesus, gives comfort to those in distress. When movements for social reform within urban areas are seeking to help people out of poverty and to lower crime-rates, Jesus is portrayed as the Teacher. In response to times of social upheaval like in the 60s Jesus is introduced as the radical revolutionary. At the end of the 20th century people were looking for spiritual meaning outside of organized religion. Marcus Borg, in his Jesus: A New Vision, popularized the notion of Jesus as a spirit-filled person.
The more I study about Jesus the more complex and complicated the gospel becomes for me but the less I think what I think matters. Let me explain what I mean. Take the example of the sun. People can enjoy and make use of the sun everyday without ever thinking about how it works. Curious kind of people want to know how it works, so they devote their lives to studying it. But even they will sit and just bask in the sunlight. People don't need to know all of the historical and theological traditions in order to meet Jesus and to come to know him redemptively in spiritual friendship and intimacy. We don't need to explain and defend all the tenets of Christianity to every person we meet, but we do have the responsibility and privilege of introducing people to Jesus. In some way or another, we say to people as John did, "Look, here's Jesus." As John will do in verses 30-31, we tell people who Jesus is and then tell how our lives are centered on Jesus.
30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel."
John continues to introduce Jesus in the next verses. He reminds those who are standing around on the banks of the Jordan River what he had said the previous day. He had told them someone would be coming after him. Even though he himself came preaching first, the one coming after him would outrank him in superiority. John tells them he did not know Jesus previously. Yet, the purpose of his life was to prepare the way for Jesus to be revealed.
There was one forerunner to Jesus. John the Baptist did what he did for the purpose of revealing Jesus to others. But we can't all be baptists—nor would we want to be. As an Assist. Prof. of New Testament studies at Earlham School of Religion and a pastor at Salem Friends Church, I consider it a privilege to do what I do. I can spend 10, 20, sometimes 40 hours a week studying about Jesus and talking about faith in the classroom and church. I do what I do to reveal Jesus to others. That's how my life is centered on Jesus. But I realize that's true for many Christians in their calling. The focus of their lives, wherever they are, is on revealing Jesus to others. Christians should be able to say:
Think about what it is you do. How is Jesus the center of what it is you do? There might be areas in your life where you are focusing a great deal of your time and energy, and you can't say it functions as a way of revealing Jesus to others. Maybe there are things you and I need to change. Perhaps you have lost sight of why you do what it is you do. A revival in your life might occur by reorienting your thinking. When someone asks you, "What do you do for a living," you might think first, "I reveal Jesus for a living." And that's real living.
John moves on in his testimony about Jesus from telling people who Jesus is and how he life is centered in Jesus, to describing, in verses 32-34 his own experience of Jesus.
32 And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."
In another flashback moment, we are told of John the Baptist's testimony regarding his experience during Jesus' baptism. John tells how he saw the Spirit descending from the sky like a dove. Remember that Luke's account is more explicit; the spirit comes in the bodily form of a dove. More important than how the Spirit descended is that the Spirit remained upon Jesus.
John again in verse 33 denies he knew Jesus previously. Sometime earlier, we aren't told when, God had disclosed to John that he would see this spirit-filled individual. Although John would be using water to ritually wash the people as a preparatory act, this one who would come would pour out God's spirit. We might be reminded of the prophecy of Ezekiel 36
NRS Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
Verse 34, the closing sentence of this scene, sounds more like the author's words than those of John the Baptist. "34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God." Compare this to 1 John
NRS 1 John 1:1 We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- 3 we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
The identification made of Jesus is that Jesus is the Son of God. This fits well within the context, since the culmination of the baptism of Jesus scene in the other gospels makes the same identification. According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, when Jesus was baptized there was a voice that spoke from heaven, "You are my beloved son with whom I am well-pleased." John the Baptist would seem also to be referring to the prophetic, messianic figure from Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42. In that coronation psalm, Yahweh is affirming the newly anointed king of Israel. Since the king of Israel was viewed as having this special father-son relationship to Yahweh, the psalmist writes in the voice of the king, "The Lord said to me, 'You are my son; today I have begotten you." We have a parallel passage in the Fourth Gospel (1:49) in which Nathananel says to Jesus, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" These are synonymous terms in Jewish thought. The messiah is the anointed king, the one who is designated with the title "son of God." John's testimony regards what he himself experienced of Jesus and what confirmed for him Jesus' identity.
I can't help but wonder whether God meant for John to interpret what he told him in that way. According to John, God said, "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." Wouldn't you think God just meant for John to pay attention to the really spirit-filled person? Maybe John really is a baptist, if he takes God so literally that he sees something dove-like landing on Jesus' head and not fly away. Whatever it was that people experienced that day at the Jordan River, it was instrumental in identifying Jesus as God's chosen one, God's son.
One of the most difficult aspects of Quakerism for me has been hearing people's mystical experiences of Jesus. I've not seen Jesus, sat with him on a park bench, or witnessed God's spirit landing in the guise of a bird. I've had a bird do something else to me and I've blamed God for giving me such a crappy day, but that's another story. Even if you don't have that kind of mystical story to tell, I'm sure you have had some experience in which you have felt God's powerful presence.
There was a time for me in the late 80s when my life was hitting a real low. We were living in a small city in Rhode Island. We didn't have much money and I was trying to finish my course work for my doctorate in Religious Studies at Brown University. I don't think we were attending church in those days. I suppose you might say I was sewing my wild oats, but it would be more accurate to say I was just tending a few weeds in my life. But I had become hardened against God, trying to become the best liberal, secular humanist I could become. The more I lived for myself, the more miserable I became, and the worse life got. I finally reached such a low point that I was at a total loss for how to tolerate life. I only knew one thing to do and that was to pray. God literally brought me to my knees. I think I had been outside in the front of our duplex. I walked inside to the living room couch, knelt down, and poured my heart out to God in the name of Jesus. All I can remember is being filled with such joy and peace. It was like a huge burden was lifted from me.
I was then faced with a dilemma. How was I going to reconcile this experience of calling on God in the name of Jesus with what I had been studying about the historical Jesus at a university? That took years of work. Gradually, we began attending church again. At first it felt strange to say and sing the words again. I thought in order to be a good Christian I would need to become a fundamentalist again, like I was when I was growing up. But I found a way to be true to my experience of Jesus in my life and to be intellectually honest about how I read the Bible. My testimony begins from how I experienced Jesus growing up in a Christian home, how I came to commit myself to him during the last years of high school, and then how I came back to God during graduate school.
The work of evangelism begins with us sharing how we have experienced God's transforming power in our lives. That story will be different for each one of us. But it is a story that's real to us. Jesus has come to us in the world as God incarnate. It was in the living of life that Jesus affected others. It is in us living the life of God that others will see God alive in us and know that Jesus is real. Just like John, we tell people who Jesus is, we tell them how our lives are given purpose by Jesus, and we tell them how we ourselves have experienced the presence of God through Jesus.
We serve God as heralds in this world, telling God's good news. So much of what passes for evangelism seems to be based on bad news. There's a knock on the door. You open it and greet your visitor. He says, "I want to stop by today to tell you you're a sinner and you're going to hell." You reply, "Well, thanks for dropping by and sharing that with me. You have a good day now." The gospel is good news. It is the good news of God acting in our world in an extraordinary way to transform us into spiritually alive people in this world. If you were to say to your next-door neighbor, "Can I tell you about the most incredible thing that happened to me?" Do you think your neighbor will say, "No, I'm not interested in incredible things. I'm quite satisfied with my mundane existence." We prepare the way for God to touch people's lives when we share with others what Jesus has meant to us.
John 1:35-42 35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).
To each generation Christ gives the charge to make disciples. Many churches these days, however, spend more time debating whether we should make disciples of other people instead of discussing what discipleship is, how we should do it effectively, and then do it. If we were simply to define discipleship as the process of adding members to our churches, then there are three or four common ways to make disciples.
Evangelicals have struggled with this issue. What is evangelism and discipleship? Those in the fundamentalist camp seem to be concerned with just getting the chosen sheep into the sheepfold before the meadow burns up. Others, however, are concerned, on the one hand, with gathering all the sheep they can but, on the other hand, are also concerned with developing the sheep into blue-ribbon winners on judgment day. There's more to discipleship than just getting in.
Another way to look at it is in the sphere of education. At Earlham School of Religion we review the admission applications of prospective students and decide whether to admit them. They need to confirm that becoming a student at ESR is indeed what they want to do. At this point, we could call them students, but learning doesn't begin until they matriculate. Only after they have given evidence of learning the required subjects and shown themselves to have developed in holistic ways do they graduate.
Church roles in most cases are dwindling and many of those who still remain are people who have never really matriculated or have not qualified for graduation to a higher level of living. There is no getting around the fact that the foundation of Christianity and of Quakerism is persuading people to join the movement. You may not like terms like evangelism, mission, preaching the gospel, or discipleship but the fact remains we must be about the business of acquiring new members for God's kingdom. The Gospels tell us how it all started and may give us ideas for how we might be people who come to know Jesus and share that experience with others.
The opening scenes of the Gospel of John move rapidly from day to day, unfolding to us the identity of Jesus and what it means for people to recognize Jesus and come into a relationship with him. We now move to this second day after John's initial day in which he stood trial before Jewish leaders explaining his own identity and mission. On that first day John the Baptist had pointed out Jesus to the crowd and related his own experience of who Jesus is. Now on the second day people move beyond who Jesus is and toward following Jesus as disciples. In these verses of John 1:35-42 we find glimpses of what it means to become a disciple, to begin to grow as a disciple, and then to bring others to discipleship.
35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
Verses 35-37 begin with a scene in which two men become disciples of Jesus. On this second day, we find John the Baptist standing around with two of his best buds. The word used here for the first time in the Fourth Gospel is disciple.
The word disciple has been very important in Christianity. The making and growing of Christians is often referred to as discipleship. But what do we mean by the term? A cursory study of the usage of the world would reveal that the term only occurs in the gospels and the book of Acts. Paul, it turns out, never uses the word disciple. The word also never occurs in the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Septuagint. Discipleship, therefore, is not a practice that originates in Israelite religion and develops as a Jewish practice.
Where does the concept of discipleship come from then? As you know, during the years before Jesus, Greek culture spread throughout the Mediterranean world. In the literature of Greece, the same word we have as "disciple" in the Gospels, is the term for a student. Among the philosophical schools, those who were adherents of a certain philosopher were called disciples. We could use synonyms like "students, pupils, learners." What we find in the land of Judea in the first century is a complicated mixture of Hebrew and Hellenistic practices. Teachers among the Pharisees, for example, had disciples. We know that from first century Jewish writers. Keep in mind that what we think of as Rabbinical schools in which students study the Torah with a Rabbi comes about only in the second century and develops into the formal system only in the medieval period. Put simply, disciples were people who gathered around a teacher and learned from that person and were trained in the way of life advocated by the teacher. From the Greek practice of philosophers gathering pupils to them, pupils called disciples, we come to have described in Hellenistic Jewish literature the practice of discipleship.
There is an additional element, which is the practice of disciples traveling around with the teacher. Much of what we find in the gospels reflects the Greek tradition of the wandering Cynic sage. The manner of dress, the confrontations with people who live according to social conventions, the teaching about living life according to nature, are all typical of the wandering Cynic wise man. All of this goes into how we are to understand the way in which discipleship functioned in the first century.
In the case of the disciples of John, we get some indication there was a rivalry between them and Jesus' and his disciples. But according to our passage John feels no such competition. When he sees Jesus walking by, he tells his disciples, "Look! There he is. The lamb of God." Two of John's disciples hear this. Without so much as a good-bye, not to mention handing in their disciples-of-John-the-Baptist membership cards, they leave John behind and follow Jesus.
At what point, then, does someone become a disciple of Jesus? Those whom we know as disciples in the Gospel accounts are people who literally followed Jesus around. In that sense, our experience as disciples is different. But the Gospel of John seems to take that into consideration. More than the other gospels, John emphasizes the mystical and spiritual connection Jesus' followers have with God.
Early Quakers emphasized the universality of the saving light of Christ based on KJV John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." They contended that people in far-flung places in the world didn't need to read a printed Bible or hear a gospel message. The light of Christ enlightened every human being. But Friends didn't end there. George Fox wrote in 1655 in Newes coming up out of the north, sounding towards the south:
[T]his you all see with the same light which is the eye, as was in the Prophets and Apostles; which light is Jesus Christ that enlightneth every one that cometh into the world, and the one loves it and walks in it, and there is his Teacher, his guide to the Father; the other he hates it, and there is his condemnation to the hell, the pit, and misery, this light is the same as ever was in all the Prophets, which light is Christ which comes from God, which draws to God, which light is God.
It is a Principle of Divine Light and Life of Christ Jesus, placed in the Conscience, which opens the Understanding, enlightens the Eyes of the Mind, discovers Sin to the Soul, reproves for it, and makes it appear exceeding sinful; quickens such as accept and believe in it, tho' they were dead in Trespasses and Sins, makes them alive to God, and bringeth up into Conformity to the Image of his Son Christ Jesus. (Truth Vindicated, p. 90).
I was sent to turn people from darkness to the light, that they might receive Christ Jesus; for to as many as should receive him in his light, I saw he would give power to become the sons of God; which I had obtained by receiving Christ. For I saw that Christ had died for all men, was a propitiation for all, and had enlightened all men and woman with his divine and saving light; and that none could be true believers, but those that believed in it. (journal, vol 1, p. 90)
The light of Christ is available to all. But that's only the beginning. A person needs to turn to that light and not resist it. One who has opened to the light has a note sounded within them. And just as the vibrations of sound playing a note on a stringed instrument will cause another string to vibrate, so does a person respond when they first recognize the name of Jesus. Jesus only had to walk by John for him to say, "There's the lamb of God." The sound resonated with John's two disciples and they followed the music of their hearts.
There's another stage beyond becoming a disciple of Jesus. We must begin to grow as disciples. That's what we find in verses 38-39.
John 1:38-39 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.
Jesus apparently kept walking past the group. When he turned around he noticed these two following him. Jesus asks a question, "What are you looking for?" This question could be taken simply as, "What do you want?" Or we could understand the question as much deeper: "What is it you seek?" The latter is the more philosophical question.
From Jewish history and literature we know that rabbinic figures from the first century were influenced by the customs and teachings of the Greek philosophical school called Cynics, which had its origins in 4th century Athens.
Evangelicals familiar with the work of the famous—or infamous—Jesus Seminar might be aware—and wary—of my references to the Cynics. After reading Anne Rice's first book in her trilogy Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt, I wrote to her, commending her for her accurate portrayal of the cultural context, and recommended she consider how the evidence regarding the Cynics in the first century helps us understand the early Christian movement. She admitted having been turned off regarding the Cynics because of the excesses of the Jesus Seminar, but she agreed to give it another look.
Jews in the first century speak positively of the Cynics. Take for example the Jewish philosopher of the first century named Philo and his description of the most famous Cynic philosopher Diogenes, whom he said had "a loftiness and greatness of spirit" (OMN 1:121). Philo said there were "an incalculable number of men ... who chose to practice [this] mode of life" (PLA 1:151). According to the Encyclopedia Judaica many of the rabbinic stories contain Cynic material "including their original social values, such as endurance, poverty, lowly toil, strenuous effort, and total non-worry (all non-biblical)" (Fischel, Henry. "Cynics and Cynicism." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Eds. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 5. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 346. 22 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Thomson Gale. Earlham College. 29 June 2007).
The first-century Stoic philosopher Epictetus describes the Cynic,
he is sent a messenger from [god] to men about good and bad things, to show them that they have wandered and are seeking the substance of good and evil where it is not, but where it is, they never think. It is his duty, then, to he able with a loud voice, if the occasion should arise, and appearing on the tragic stage to say like Socrates: “Men, whither are you hurrying, what are you doing, wretches? like blind people you are wandering up and down: you are going by another road, and have left the true road: you seek for prosperity and happiness where they are not, and if another shows you where they are, you do not believe him.” Why do you seek it without? In the body? It is not there. In possessions? It is not there. In power? It is not there. Is it in royal power? It is not."
“And how is it possible that a man who has nothing, who is naked, houseless, without a hearth, squalid, without a slave, without a city, can pass a life that flows easily?” See, God has sent you a man to show you that it is possible. “Look at me, who am without a city, without a house, without possessions, without a slave; I sleep on the ground; I have no wife, no children; no praetorium, but only the earth and heavens, and one poor cloak. And what do I want? Am I not without sorrow? am I not without fear? Am I not free? When did any of you see me failing in the object of my desire? or ever falling into that which I would avoid? did I ever blame God or man? did I ever accuse any man? did any of you ever see me with sorrowful countenance? And how do I meet with those whom you are afraid of and admire? Do not I treat them like slaves? Who, when he sees me, does not think that he sees his king and master?”
The question from Jesus was, "What are you seeking?" They respond to Jesus with a question, "Where are you staying." It is as if to say, "What we are seeking cannot be satisfied by a brief response. We need to spend time with you and talk with you." So Jesus invites them to come to where he was staying. We don't know what went on, only that these two former disciples of John the Baptist stayed with Jesus the rest of the day.
We have only to recall the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount to know of the kinds of things Jesus taught.
Matthew 6:25-33 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who [seek] for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But [seek] first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Being a disciple, therefore, is more than studying the Bible with the teacher. It is the formation of a new way to live life. It requires the time it takes to learn and grow, to develop as mature people of faith.
Some people enjoy playing board games. For me, even the name "board" suggests "b-o-r-e-d" games. These games move too slowly for me and they rely too much on chance. Maybe I'm just too competitive, but I hate losing a game to a kid. I don't even like to go to Cracker Barrel with the family because I'm afraid I'll play the little peg game and do worse than everyone else. Now that I've found the solution to the game on line, I can go back to Cracker Barrel and be relaxed.
Two of people's favorite board games have been Monopoly and Life. For me, they illustrate the wrong attitudes about the life of discipleship. It seems to me, many Christians feel like the only really important thing is to provide people with the "Get out of jail free" card. Evangelism is just a matter of getting people out of hell ... for free. The game of life, then, for many Christians is no different than it is for anyone else. You do what you need to do to get a career, to earn money and invest, you get married and have kids, and eventually you retire before you cash in your chips (but that's a different game). Have you seen the little toys kids play with that has a virtual pet? Tamagotchi now has a more sophisticated version. The advertising describes it: "For the first time ever, you'll mentor your character through the stages of life."
That sounds like the game of discipleship. It's about you and I growing and developing in all aspects of our being in order to become the best sort of humans possible. That means developing character, progressing in the stages of faith, learning about God and God's world, growing spiritually and emotionally, becoming capable of dealing with all of life's trials and temptations. We are followers of Jesus, walking with him, abiding with him, developing as his disciples.
After we become a disciple of Jesus and begin to grow, we then need to bring others into discipleship. That's what we find in verses 40-42.
John 1:40-42 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).
We learn now in verse 40 of the identity of one of the two disciples of John the Baptist. His name is Andrew. Andrew's name is clearly Greek. He and his brother Simon have come from what is known as a Galilean village Bethsaida, according to verse 44. There we also learn of another resident of Bethsaida named Philip, clearly another Greek name. These Galileans, whose mother-tongue most undoubtedly is Aramaic, bear Greek names and obviously also spoke Greek to some extent. Andrew's brother is called Simon, which in this form also suggests a Greek name. Simeon is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Shimon.
The first thing Andrew does is find his brother Simon. What he tells him is, "We have found the Messiah." The author of the Fourth Gospel first transliterates this Hebrew word meshiach. Then he interprets it in Greek as Christos, "the anointed one." What has led Andrew to that conclusion? How is it that in the Gospel of John the disciples right away understand who Jesus is without the author providing us with proofs?
In Matthew's Gospel, we have the scene in which Jesus asks his disciples about his own identity.
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
When does this occur in Matthew. Not in chapter one. In chapter 16. What's the difference? In the synoptic gospels (Matt, mark, Luke), the identity of Jesus slowly unfolds for the disciples and for the readers. The Gospel of John, however, begins with stating Jesus' identity—the Word, the light, the lamb of God, the son of God, the Messiah, the king. Then the author supports his case by calling forth witnesses to testify and by citing the signs by which Jesus proves himself.
Jesus is the Messiah, but not in the sense in which many hoped for a Messiah. We find two sorts of texts prophesying and praying for the Messiah. On the one hand are the texts which call upon God to send his anointed to destroy the wicked and restore Jerusalem to its former glory. The Dead Sea Scrolls tell us of the Jewish sect at Qumran who wanted to fight next to God's messiahs. On the other hand are the texts that describe Yahweh bringing about the restoration of Israel with peace and justice. In what appears to be a Jewish text from the century before Jesus, the Psalms of Solomon contains a lengthy section regarding the messiah. A text originally written in Hebrew and probably from Jerusalem, it was later translated into Greek and included with the earliest Bible manuscripts from the fourth and fifth centuries. In chapter 17 the author turns from the image of messiah as warrior to messiah as righteous ruler.
And he shall be a righteous king, taught by God, over them, and there shall be no injustice in his days in their midst, for all shall be holy, and their king the anointed of the Lord, for he shall not put his hope in horse and rider and bow nor shall he multiply for himself gold and silver for war nor shall he gather hopes from a multitude of people for the day of war. The Lord himself is his king, the hope of him who is strong through hope in God, and he shall have pity on all the nations before him in fear.
For he shall strike the earth with the word of his mouth forever; he shall bless the people of the Lord in wisdom with joy. And he himself shall be pure from sin so that he may rule a great people, that he may rebuke rulers and remove sinners by the strength of his word. And he shall not weaken in his days, relying on his God, for God has made him strong in the holy spirit and wise in the counsel of understanding with strength and righteousness. And the blessing of the Lord shall be with him in strength, and he shall not weaken. His hope shall be in the Lord, and who can prevail against him? He shall be strong in his works and mighty in fear of God, shepherding the flock of the Lord faithfully and righteously, and he shall not let any among them become weak in their pasture. And he shall lead all of them in equity, and there shall be no arrogance among them, that any one of them should be oppressed. This is the majesty of the king of Israel, which God knew, to raise him up over the house of Israel to discipline it.
Andrew then brings Simon to Jesus. Jesus takes one look at Simon and chooses to give him a nickname. Within this story, we are not told why Jesus wants to call him this Aramaic nickname, which is the equivalent of the name Stone or Rocky. Only from this point forward in history and literature do we find the man's name Peter. Is it because Simon is strong like a foundation stone, which is what Matthew's account of Peter's confession implies? Or could it be something as simple as a nickname based on his profession as a fisherman, spending so much time on the stony banks of the Sea of Galilee? For John, Jesus' words are taken to be prophetic and powerful. This new disciple would be an important link in the formation of his circle of disciples.
Introducing people to Jesus is sort of like matchmaking. Whenever we have eligible people in our families, we're always on the look out for a good match. It's the same way with friendships. We introduce people to someone with whom we think they will have something in common. Andrew runs home to his brother and says, "Boy, have I found the right person for you." He gets them together and introduces them and something clicks. Before you know it, they have nicknames for each other.
Why wouldn't we want those people we love to be introduced to Jesus? We can tell them what we have experienced as disciples of Jesus and suggest they might also gain from the experience. There's a new relationship to be formed, a mystical transformation from acquaintance to friendship to intimate connection. Jesus goes beyond our name to the core of our personality, like he did with Simon, and names who we really are and what our full potential is.
From these verses in the Fourth Gospel we have come to know what it means to become a disciple, to begin to grow as a disciple, and then to bring others to discipleship. The work of being and making disciples can be frustrating at times. But it is the work we are given. Fox wrote at the beginning of letter 171,
Let all that ye do be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom all things were made and created, that ye may do that which ye do in the true dominion; and then what ye do ye do in the power of God. And all Friends, dwell in love, for that is the mark of a disciple, and the fruits of faith and the spirit; which love out of a pure heart is the end [or goal] of the commandment and fulfils the law, and in that is edification and building, and the fruits of being passed from death to life. (Fox, Letter CLXXI, vol 7, p. 159)
John 1:43-51 43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 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." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." 51 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."
I could never be a fundraiser, a fun-raiser, maybe once you get to know me, but not a fundraiser. I could never be a fundraiser because, first of all, I know I don't like to be asked for money. I hate walking past people collecting donations outside a store. Several times a year I get calls from my three alma maters asking for money. After ten years I finally donated $10 to Brown University's annual fund. I'm sure the sons and daughters of royalty and movie stars appreciate my measly $10. Whenever I see TV commercials asking for money to help needy children, I think about running ads to raise money for my own needy children.
I couldn't be a fundraiser, secondly, because I don't like to ask people for money. There have been times when it seems like the public school system is subsidizing its programs by turning the students into a sales force. I hate to see the fundraising packets come home and my kids' hopeful faces imploring me to sell to people junk they don't need and can't afford.
Working at ESR, however, I have come to understand the importance of making the ask. I'm not the one making the ask, but my job is all about supporting the ones who make the ask. My work in maintaining the school's web site is not only about promoting the school to prospective students but also to prospective donors. My work in the classroom teaching students is primarily focused on their education and training for ministry, but it is also intended to be the substance of why people should invest in what we do. Much of our time is spent overcoming people's misunderstandings of who we are and what we do. When people get to know us and experience the campus, they realize we're not the bad thing they were led to believe. All of that goes into persuading people to make the commitment.
A vital part of spiritual living is bringing others into the experience. Christianity has always been about persuading others of the benefits of following Jesus. From the earliest days of the Christian movement, people have been invited to become disciples of Jesus.
The community of the Fourth Gospel were experiencing ostracism among their Jewish compatriots because of their conviction that Jesus was the one who fulfilled all the prophetic expectations of scripture. The unique telling of the story of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel weaves together a message about the need to recognize who Jesus is and to become his followers. Instead of marshalling forth prophetic texts and their direct fulfillments in the actions of Jesus, like Matthew's gospel, the Fourth Gospel seeks to draw people into the experience of Jesus. Jesus is life. He is the air we breathe, the thoughts we think, the bread we eat, the water we drink. The cycles of life are imbued with his very presence. He is the very light by which our eyes see. He is human and he is God. He is body and he is spirit.
As the Fourth Gospel begins with Jesus bringing individuals to him as disciples, we find patterns for our own experience. That's the case with these closing verses of chapter one that describe the calling of Philip and Nathanael. In them we find lessons for our own experience. In the formation of disciples we often have to contend with incredulity. But when a person is open to the experience of the presence of Christ they come to confess Jesus' identity in relation to themselves and even to confirm Jesus' divinity.
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 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." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
In verses 43-46 we follow Jesus to Galilee where Jesus' new disciple Philip must contend with his friend Nathanael's incredulity. The setting for the story of Jesus' first disciples according to the Fourth Gospel shifts location from the area of John the Baptist's activity in the wilderness of Judea near the Jordan to Galilee in the north. The Fourth Gospel compresses the several days it would take to travel to Galilee and simply states that Jesus wanted to go there and, presumably, once there finds Philip. With equal brevity, Jesus simply tells Philip, "Follow me."
Apparently Philip responds positively to Jesus' call to follow him. Just like Andrew found someone close to him to tell about Jesus, so does Philip. He finds Nathanael. Philip tells Nathanael what he, Andrew, and Peter have discovered. He says, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth."
The approach to demonstrating how Jesus fulfills Moses and the prophets is somewhat different in the Fourth Gospel. Rather than citing Old Testament texts like Matthew, the Fourth Gospel is structured around the way in which Jesus embodies the expectations of the Bible.
The early Israelites worshiped in a tent, but, according to John 1:14, Jesus was the Word which "became flesh" and, put literally, "tented" among us as God's tabernacle. Jesus then refers to himself as the Temple, when in 2:19 he says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." This is explained in verse 21, "But he was speaking of the temple of his body."
In chapter 4 Jacob's well provides fresh water from an underground spring. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that he is himself "living water" and that he is indeed greater than Jacob because "those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."
The Sabbath was a holy day set apart by God. Yet, in John 5 Jesus heals on the sabbath. When confronted by "the Jews" about breaking the sabbath, Jesus responds in 5:17, "My Father is still working, and I also am working." The explanation is added in the next verse, "For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God."
In the exodus the Israelites ate manna from God, but, according to John 6, Jesus is the true bread of the Passover. After Jesus feeds the five thousand, the Jews want Jesus to give them a sign of his authority. Moses gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness as bread from heaven. Jesus tells them he himself is God's true bread from heaven. They respond, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus then tells them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
John 7 sets the scene of the Festival of Booths. During that festival a water ritual would involve bringing water from a brook, through the water-gate, and the priest pouring the water into a silver funnel on the altar. At the end of that festival Jesus announces to the crowd, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:37-38).
In chapter 10 the Festival of Dedication, what we know of as Hanukah, takes place. This eight-day festival commemorated the consecration of the temple after it had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes. Jesus says that he himself is the one "whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world" (John 10:36).
In this way the Fourth Gospel represents Jesus in himself bringing to fulfillment the institutions of Israel. The problem for Nathanael is the last part of Philip's statement, that Moses and the prophets wrote about Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth. Nathanael is a bit put off. He asks Philip, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Matthew's gospel explains that Jesus was from Nazareth to fulfill a prophecy that the messiah "shall be called a Nazarene." The problem wasn't just that Jesus was from Nazareth, but simply that he was from Galilee. Incredulously people objected, "Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?" (John 7:41) and "Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee" (John 7:52). Philip doesn't enter into a theological debate with Nathanael but beckons him to "come and see."
Christianity has always had its skeptics and even its antagonists. A recent antagonist of Christianity—and of religion as a whole—is Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens, who was a British subject and is now a US citizen—aren't we lucky—fits the current stereotype of the arrogant and antagonizing Brit. In fact, for you American Idol fans, he makes Simon Cowell seem like Paula Abdul by comparison. I can't blame him for wanting to make a name for himself since that's the only kind of immortality he believes in. But his book "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," is obviously an attempt just to be a liberal version of the "shock jock." His arguments and attitudes are not worth getting worked up about, which is exactly what he hopes people will do: get all worked up, buy his book, and talk about with other people.
Remember the famous line from Chesterton, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried." When people think about Christianity, they begin to analyze the claims of canons and creeds. They begin with the idea they have to intellectually understand and commit to the beliefs of the church. They begin with all their doubts and skepticism and never get beyond the difficulties raised by philosophical conundrums. More famous, perhaps, is the old slogan from Alka-Seltzer, "Try it, you'll like it." Those of us who have grown up in the faith or who have encountered in our lives the living Christ begin with our experience of Jesus and from that relationship with God come to understand how Christian faith provides the best answers for living life in the world.
Philip contends with Nathanael's incredulity by stating his own experience and faith and then encouraging Nathanael to experience Jesus for himself. Evangelism is not about winning an argument standing in someone's doorway. It's about inviting people into your home and into your life. Show them your experience, share your life with them. Bring them into experiences of worship and fellowship and let them come and see for themselves.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
Once Philip had contended with Nathanael's incredulity, Nathanael was able to hear his friend confessing Jesus' identity in John 1:47-49. Nathanael apparently agrees to go with Philip and see for himself whether this guy from Nazareth is what others are saying of him. As Nathanael approaches Jesus, Jesus greets him with the statement, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." This has always seemed to people a strange encounter, since Nathanael acknowledges Jesus' assessment. It's like greeting Bob and saying, "There's a gentleman and a scholar" and Bob says vainly, "Yes, how did you know me so well?" Why did Jesus say this to Nathanael? Our best guess is that Jesus was alluding to the story of Jacob in Genesis. In the account of Isaac bestowing his blessing on the eldest son, Isaac says to Jacob's older brother Esau, "Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing" (Gen 27:35). Jacob, the one whose name is changed to Israel, is remembered for his deceit. But Nathanael is truly an Israelite, one who has no deceit.
Jesus, in the first of many actions beyond normal human ability, tells Nathanael that he had a clairvoyant vision of Nathanael sitting under a fig tree before Philip came to him. Nathanael is astounded by Jesus' special insight. To him it is the confirmation that Jesus not only meets Jewish expectation but exceeds it. Jewish expectation was for a messiah, an anointed king of Israel. The Hebrew expression for this person was ben elohim, a "son of God." Angels and prophets could also be called "sons of God" in the Old Testament. But in the Greek world a huios theou, a "son of God," meant a god or demi-god, a divine being. Therefore, the expectation of Hellenistic Judaism--Jews who were speaking Greek and reading the Bible in Greek--is not only that God will send an earthly king but that God will send God's own son as the messiah. Nathanael's response to Jesus' divine knowledge is the exclamation, "You are the son of God." For that is clearly the theology of the Fourth Gospel. Not only does this Gospel begin with the mysterious language of "The Word was with God and the Word was God," but it also states it clearly in NRS John 1:18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known." Nathanael, therefore, was convinced by Jesus and came to confess Jesus' identity in agreement with Andrew, Peter, and Philip.
It is an amazing thing to watch how people's minds can be changed by experience. For example, my boss, Jay Marshall, was for years a confirmed Mountain Dew drinker. I don't know if that came about just because he liked the taste or because his home state of North Carolina was an early market for the drink when it was called "zero proof moonshine" and had pictures of hillbillies on the bottle. The motto then was, "Yahoo Mountain Dew. It'll tickle your innards." When I first began working at ESR, Jay drank Mountain Dew from dawn to dusk. I would hardly ever see him with a cup of coffee. I enjoyed drinking coffee at work, but he rarely did. He wouldn't listen to my reasons for why coffee was good. Then Jay took some trips during a sabbatical to Central America a few years ago. Along the way he tried the local coffee--undoubtedly freshly picked and roasted. When he came back to work after his sabbatical, he began bringing coffee in the morning. Now he has a coffee grinder and coffee maker in his office. Jay had experienced coffee for himself. He had visited coffee plantations, watched the drying process and the roasting. He then tasted the rich flavor of coffee the way it should be. He then supported that experience by reading a book about coffee and learning about it. Then he found where he could buy freshly roasted coffee that came from Honduras. Now he shares that experience with others and even gives samples to people. His mind was changed by experiencing it for himself. Now it's a part of his everyday experience.
It's exciting to talk with people whose lives have been changed by an encounter with the living Christ. I knew a guy in high school. I would play basketball with him at the local playground. He was, you might say, part of the fast crowd. Several years later, I met him again. I was part of a choir going out to sing in churches. I was shocked to see him there at a church. And then I was excited to listen to him talk about what it meant to him to be a Christian and to participate in mission trips. Christ has that power to change lives when people come to know him and to recognize him for who and what he is.
50 Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." 51 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."
The next step beyond people's disbelief and beyond their coming to know Jesus' identity as the one who is the light of God is the full realization and confirmation of Jesus' divinity. Jesus' response now to Nathanael goes something like, "If you think that was good, you just wait and see what I have in store for you!" In the words of the Fourth Gospel, "You will see greater things than these." Jesus then seems to go on with his statement to Nathanael in verse 51. But here we have one of the many times when Jesus' words to a person transitions into a speech to the audience. What I mean is, the Greek text will have the singular form of "you" when Jesus is talking to a person. But then there's a transition in which Jesus' words suddenly begin to be in the plural. You could explain that by saying here in this context and in the story of the woman at the well, Jesus might be understood to switch to addressing other people nearby. But this phenomenon also happens in the story of Jesus talking alone with Nicodemus in chapter three. What I think happens in these discourses is that the writer of the gospel interjects a message for his own audience. Verse 51 reads, if we take into account whether the pronoun is singular or plural, "And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you (pl), you (pl) will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." But it's interesting that Jesus is addressing this to Nathanael, the one who is not deceitful, unlike Jacob. For we have here a clear quotation from the ancient Greek translation of the Bible: "And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it" (NRS Genesis 28:12). Nathanael is the anti-type of Jacob and among those who will see the heavenly staircase upon which angels tread.
But what about that last expression, "son of man." Nathanael has called Jesus "son of God." Why now does Jesus refer to himself as "the Son of Man?" On the one hand, this is a simple Hebrew expression for a human person. On the other hand, there are certain texts, primarily in Daniel, in which this expression takes on new meaning. For example, " NIV Daniel 7:13 "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence." With this one expression "son of man," Jesus both acknowledges his humanity and affirms his divinity. Nathanael might be impressed by Jesus' special powers, but Jesus tells him, you haven't seen anything yet.
Is it okay at this point to tell a joke from Prairie Home Companion? Do Iowans listen to Garrison Keillor or is there some interstate feud going on with Iowans and Minnesotans?
A mangy looking guy who goes into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender says: "No way. I don't think you can pay for it." The guy says, "You're right. I don't have any money, but if I show you something you haven't seen before, will you give me a drink?" The bartender says, "Only if what you show me ain't risque." "Deal!" says the guy and reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a hamster. He puts the hamster on the bar and it runs to the end of the bar, down the bar, across the room, up the piano, jumps on the key board and starts playing Gershwin songs. And the hamster is really good. The bartender says, "You're right. I've never seen anything like that before. That hamster is truly good on the piano." The guy downs the drink and asks the bartender for another. "Money or another miracle else no drink", says the bartender. The guy reaches into his coat again and pulls out a frog. He puts the frog on the bar, and the frog starts to sing. He has a marvelous voice and great pitch. A fine singer. A stranger from the other end of the bar runs over to the guy and offers him $300 for the frog. The guy says "It's a deal." He takes the three hundred and gives the stranger the frog. The stranger runs out of the bar. The bartender says to the guy "Are you some kind of nut? You sold a singing frog for $300? It must have been worth millions. You must be crazy." "Not so", says the guy. "The hamster is also a ventriloquist."
We can try to tell people about Jesus, but until they experience the indwelling light of Christ and know God's transforming power, they won't understand what we are talking about. We could try to tell someone what we love about a piece of art or music, but until they see it for themselves they won't be able to comprehend its beauty or magnificence. Through the stages of developing as a disciple of Jesus, we come to understand more and more. We come to feel more of Christ's presence, to experience the power of God's spirit carrying us through life's challenges. We come to greater and greater levels of comprehension. But even in those times, Christ can say to us, "if that impresses you, you still haven't seen anything yet." Through Christ is opened the doorway between heaven and earth where angels cross. There's much more for all of us to experience. That's all the more reason for us to continue on the path of discipleship. In the formation of disciples we often have to contend with incredulity. But when a person is open to the experience of the presence of Christ they come to confess Jesus' identity in relation to themselves and even to confirm Jesus' divinity.
Many people have been turned off by the practices of revivalists and evangelists. There are some churches which end every service with the same routine. "All heads are bowed, eyes closed, no one leaving the sanctuary. Raise your hand if you want to receive Jesus as your Savior, or if you want to rededicate your life, or if you want to talk with the pastor, or if you want your parking validated. Yes, I see that hand. One more verse of Just as I Am."
But we must not let our discomfort with the excesses of evangelism make us fail to make the ask. If we fail to ask, people miss the opportunity to participate in what we believe to be the best thing that's happened to us in our lives. The soft ask of Philip is, "Come and see." The psalmist says, "NRS Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good." That's all we need to ask.