Epiphany 2 & Martin Luther King Sunday

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Epiphany 2 & Martin Luther King Sunday
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 16,2000

SERMON FOLLOWS THE READING OF PASTORAL LETTER FROM THE BISHOP REGARDING RACE RELATIONS & MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

TEXT: John 1:43-51 - The Calling of Disciples
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” Nathaniel said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

ISSUE: Nathaniel speaks out of a prejudice and stereotype when he says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” But he is invited to “Come and See.” He finds himself a part in the development with Christ of the new Israel of God. All of us are challenged to face our prejudices and enter into our callings as the disciples with Christ. Human prejudices are real, but with Christ they are not insurmountable.
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Let us pray: Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last: Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
It is hard to imagine that there are people sitting in the pews today that don’t remember the struggles of the 1960’s when Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement. They were extremely difficult times in terms of the feelings people had about the movement. Many white people saw the movement as merely rabble rousing and only intended to create distention in the country. Some of King’s greatest opponents were people who proclaimed to be Christians, and many members of the church dug in their heals in opposition to Martin Luther King. What many did not know was that King was an advocate of Ghandi who taught non-violent protest in India against the English establishment. Following that line of thinking, King attempted to lead the black community in protest against racism, and to establish their cause of justice for all through non-violent protest in this country. They sought equal opportunities. But bringing people to change and to put aside their prejudices is not easy. The letter from our Bishop’s asks us to look at that whole issue of racism and to look once again, and continually, at our motives and our way of thinking. Changing and continuing to work at changing is not easy.
In fact, when we look at the Gospel reading today from John’s Gospel, we find even among those early disciples some prejudicial thinking. Jesus began himself calling some men to be his followers and close disciples. Jesus found Philip who followed him, and Philip invited Nathanael to at least come and see Jesus, and to see him as the unique prophet who came from Nazareth. Philip’s response was one of prejudice: “Can anything good come from Nazareth. In this first century there were many prejudices. To come from Nazareth, that little hick town was to tell all anybody needed to know. The people of Nazareth weren’t thought to be much, nor to have much in the way of honorable standing. Nathanael, based on the way of thinking of the time and based on what he had learned from others challenges Philip’s assessment that nothing good can come from Nazareth. But Philip urges Nathanael not to make a quick judgment but to come and see.
What I suppose is good about Nathanael is that he listens to his friend Philip and seeks to know Jesus. Jesus sees in Nathanael an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. Jesus has seen Nathanael as a studious man of Scripture under the fig tree, which is what that idiomatic expression means. Jesus sees in Nathanael a man who can change and is open to new learning, and assures him that he will see heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of Man. What’s going on here?
It is helpful to know the Hebrew Scripture story of Jacob when he has the vision of the ladder, where the angels are seen to be ascending and descending. Jacob had been a deceitful man. Recall the story of how he stole his brother’s birthright. He was a real conniver of a man. But still God used Jacob and showed him the way to heaven through his faithfulness in the vision of the angels ascending and descending. Now says Jesus, here is Nathanael, a man in whom there is no deceit (note the unprejudiced remark of Jesus toward Nathanael), and who will follow me, and make the changes necessary in his live, for Nathanael says after having thought that nothing good could come out of Nazareth, that Jesus is Son of God! King of Israel.
The point that seems to being made is that following Jesus, Nathanael will participate in a New kind of Israel where there is no deceit, and where those who become involved in this community will truly find their way to God. They will see God revealed through Christ who descended and who ascends leading folk back to God from whom they are often estranged.
Our faith calls us to follow Christ, to see in him the Son of God, the way to God, and that in doing so we are called to be unique people who are invested in change and who want to see Christ’s way become a way for all people that leads them to God, and to God’s justice. Even today we are still caught up in our prejudices. But our prejudices don’t change anything, and we keep living in a world of racial jokes, where differing kinds of people are kept in their so called place. Many people are not afforded the dignity they deserve as human beings. Still in these recent years there have been horrible expressions of racism that has resulted in cruel and violent deaths of black persons. To come and see Christ means we have to see that he has something new to offer, and that there is another way.
The disciples of Jesus learned some startling new things. The learned the importance of loving their enemies, and blessing those who persecuted them. They learned to turn the other cheek, to give more than is asked, to give your coat and you shirt as well. They learned that merely loving the people who loved them was not going to change things in the world of prejudice suspicion and hate. Jesus taught the importance of looking beyond your own family, and your own kind. He saw all human beings as the people of God worthy of dignity and respect. ( (Luke 6:27-36) To respect the dignity of every human being is an important and significant part of our baptismal covenant, of our relationships with God and Christ.
When we are distanced from one another and a set apart from one another it is easy to be suspicious of others and to misunderstand them. It is only in being close to one another that we get a much better appreciation of who these people are. An old Native American proverb states something like this: “You really don’t know another person until you have walked in their mocassins.” It is easy to judge from a distance. It is comfortable to hold on to old prejudices because that’s what our dear and blessed loved ones taught us. But there are clearly times when we must part from the past and from ancient so-called wisdom, when new insights make us aware that God is calling us to a new way, when God is calling us in Christ into the making of a new Israel where there is no deceit and prejudice.
It is important in the living of our lives that we make efforts to know people who are different from us and our own cultures. We need to strive for understanding and grow in appreciation for all that God has provided for us. God surely has a wonderful sense of human and creativity. He has given to our world such diversity of beings and ways of thinking. These ways only contribute to a growing and wonderful kind of life that is never ever dull. Come and See what it is that Christ is calling us to be an enjoy the participation in his mission that changes the world, bringing it into the full light of bountiful love.