We continue our sermon series “Beyond the Manger”, looking
at the early life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus has been baptized, he’s
been tempted, and now it’s time for him to begin his ministry.
Let’s stop for a minute and think about where Jesus is at
this point. He’s had the Holy Spirit descend upon him. He’s heard a
voice from heaven saying that he is, in fact, the divine Son, and that God the
Father is well pleased with him. He’s gone out into the wilderness,
spending time fasting and praying. He’s been working out, with the help
of God the Father, exactly what he should do and how he should do it. And
then, at the end of working that out, he’s tempted by the devil. But
Jesus not only resists the temptation, he overcomes it and triumphs over it.
And he’s ready to take the next step to get started with his mission on
earth.
We generally think of that next step as Jesus calling the
disciples. And you know, this shows how sometimes we really need to take
a closer look at some of these Bible passages that we think we know.
Because we all have said it that way: “Jesus called the disciples.”
I’ve said it that way, too. But if you look at John’s account here,
which is the first five of Jesus’ disciples being called, Jesus actually only
called one of them. He accepted them all, of course. He wanted them
all. But he was not the one who initiated things with four of the first
five disciples.
Look at how this works. John the Baptist is standing
there with two of his disciples. Jesus walks by. John the Baptist
says who Jesus is. And immediately the two disciples leave John the Baptist
and start following Jesus.
Those are the first two of Jesus’ disciples. We’re
told that one of them is Andrew. The other one is not named. We
assume it’s the disciple John, the one who wrote this gospel, and that he
simply did not want to use his own name. There are other places in the
gospel of John where he avoids using his own name, so we assume that’s what’s
going on here. But the point is that these first two disciples were not
chosen by Jesus. They chose to follow Jesus, not the other way around.
And the third disciple, Simon Peter, was not called by
Jesus, either. He’s Andrew’s brother. We’re told that after Andrew
decided to follow Jesus, the first thing he did was go find his brother Simon
Peter and tell him they’d found the Messiah. Then it says, “and he
brought him to Jesus”. Jesus did not go find Simon Peter. Andrew
brought Simon Peter to Jesus.
The next disciple is the only one of the first five that
Jesus calls. It’s Philip. We’re told that Jesus “found” Philip, and
said to him “Follow me.” But then, look at what happens. Philip
goes and finds Nathanael and tells him they’ve found the one Moses and the
prophets wrote about. Nathanael is skeptical, but Philip just says, “Come
and see”, and he does.
So four of the first five disciples were not called by
Jesus at all. Two of them came on their own, after hearing what John the
Baptist said, and the other two came because someone they knew brought them to
Jesus. And maybe you’re thinking, “So what?” What difference does
it make how they got to Jesus as long as they got there? And in one
sense, you’re right. As long as we get to Jesus it really does not matter
how we get there. But I think there are some lessons here for us.
Because I think the way these disciples found Jesus mirrors the way we
find Jesus today.
Some of us are like Philip. Some of us are just kind
of going about our business, living our lives, and suddenly Jesus comes along
and speaks to us. It could be through a direct contact, actually hearing
the voice of Jesus or of an angel. That may seem far-fetched to some of
you, but I’ve talked to enough people and heard enough stories that I believe it
does happen that way sometimes. Or, it could be the Holy Spirit speaking
directly to our hearts and souls somehow. But that’s one way we find
Jesus--through the Lord taking the initiative and speaking directly to us.
But there was only one of the first five disciples who
found Jesus that way. It was not the way it happened for the majority.
And I think it’s not the way it happens for the majority of us, either.
It’s great when it does, don’t get me wrong. But for most of us it
happens in another way.
One of the other ways it happens is the way it happened for
Andrew and John. They were already following John the Baptist.
They’d heard John the Baptist’s preaching about repentance and
forgiveness. They’d heard him tell them that he was preparing the way for
when the Savior came. What that means is that Andrew and John had a
background in the faith. They were open to the message of salvation.
And when they found Jesus, the one who could give them that salvation,
they were ready to follow him right then.
Some of us are like that. Some of us have grown up in
the church. We’ve heard the word preached. We’ve heard about
repentance and forgiveness and God’s love. We’re open to the message of
salvation. And when we find Jesus, the one who can give us that
salvation, we’re ready to follow.
But some of us are like Simon Peter and Nathanael.
Jesus did not send us a direct message. We did not grow up in the
church. We were not looking for the message of salvation. But then,
someone came along and told us about it anyway. And they brought us to
Jesus. Maybe some of us were like Simon Peter, who seems to have come
right away when his brother went to get him. But some of us are like
Nathanael, openly skeptical of what we hear. And someone says to us,
“It’s okay if you’re skeptical. But come and see. Come and see for
yourself.”
What this shows, I think, is that God has all kinds of ways
of calling people to him. God gives some people a direct message.
And that’s awesome when it happens, but it’s not something in our
control. God either does that or God does not, based on whatever reasons
God may have.
God calls some people through their parents or others
making sure they grow up in the church and have a background in the church.
And that’s a wonderful thing, too, when it happens. But if you’re
an adult now, you either grew up in the church or you did not. We cannot
go back and change the past, even if we’d like to. However we grew up is
how we grew up, for better or worse.
But sometimes, God uses people to call other people.
God used Andrew to call Simon Peter. God used Philip to call
Nathanael. And God can use you and me to call people to God, too.
Now, notice, God did not have Andrew and Philip call
complete strangers. Andrew was Simon Peter’s brother. Philip and
Nathanael don’t appear to have been related, but from the way it’s written they
clearly knew each other. The people Andrew and Philip went to were people
they already had a relationship with. Simon Peter knew he could trust
Andrew. Nathanael knew he could trust Philip. That relationship had
already been established.
And notice, too, that Andrew and Philip did not use any
fancy words to persuade Simon Peter and Nathanael. Andrew simply told
Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah”. Philip uses a few more words,
but he basically says the same thing. “We have found the one Moses wrote
about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote.” And when
Nathanael is skeptical, Philip does not argue with him. He does not go
into a big spiel to try to persuade him. He simply says, “Come and see.”
See for yourself. We’ll show you what we’ve found, and you can
decide whether I’m right or not.
That’s all God asks us to do. We don’t have to go
onto a street corner and confront strangers with the gospel. All God asks
us to do is to go to people we know, people we already have some sort of
relationship with, people who know they can trust us. Go to those people,
and tell them what we’ve found. Tell them what our faith means to us.
Tell them how important our faith is to us. Tell them how our faith
helps us. Tell them what this church means to us, how important this
church is to us, how this church helps us. And if they’re skeptical, we
don’t need to argue with them or go into a big spiel to persuade them.
All we need to do is say, as Philip did, “Come and see”. See for
yourself. We’ll show you what we have here, and you can decide for
yourself whether we’re right or not.
We won’t always succeed. For all we know, Andrew and
Philip might not have always succeeded. Maybe they went to some other
people and got turned down, we don’t know. But we’ll succeed sometimes.
And when we do, we’ll have done what Jesus told us to do. We’ll
have made disciples of Jesus Christ.
We come to God in all kinds of ways. Sometimes God
brings people to himself directly. But sometimes, God uses us to bring
people to him. May we always be open to sharing our faith. And when
people are skeptical, may we always invite them to come and see.
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