Proverbs 3:1-8/1 Corinthians 4:7-10/St John 1:43-51
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen
Our Lord spotted him under a fig tree, and for that, Nathanael, son of Tolmay, declares Him to be the Son of God, the King of Israel. He is confessing that the Man who stands before him is YHWH in the flesh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the One who walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day and called to Adam and Eve, seeking them out. For having sinned they were ashamed of themselves and tried to paper over their guilt with fig leaves.
But now, by the invitation of Philip, Nathanael is drawn out of the shadow of the fig tree, out of the shadow of death, out of darkness, and brought to Jesus, the Light of the world. For He is the Light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And Nathanael, whose name means, “God has given,” has now been given true faith and a good confession.
But what of you? What of your condition? In what shadowy darkness do you hide? Under what tree do seek shelter? Do you find your rest in the shadiness of trickery and manipulation of others? Is your respite in running into the arms of another who is not your wife? Do you crawl into the darkness of pornography? Drugs? Alcohol? Do not waste time hiding from your sins. Don’t bother attempting to paper over them with the fig leaves of excuses and lies. Our Lord sees right through them. He sees right through you. He knows our hearts; we are filled with guile, with deceit.
Yet in mercy He calls to you, as He did to Philip, Follow Me. He uses the simple invitation of another, Come and see. I have long said that with Philip and Nathanael we have the greatest evangelism program ever. No door-to-door solicitation; no cajoling or scare tactics, no false promises or bait-and-switch routines. Just a simple invitation: Come and see. Come and see the One of whom Moses preached and the prophets foretold. Come and see the One of whom Solomon spoke and in whom David trusted. Come and see.
And it is not a single use invitation, merely a one-time encounter. You can never say, “I am baptized, that should suffice. That’s enough.” And then never darken the door of the church. For our Lord calls Nathanael a “true Israelite,” so as to distinguish him from the false Israelites; those who boast in their lineage and brag concerning their descendancy from Abraham. They are his children by blood, we must concede, but they do not share his faith. They are false Israelites.
So too are there false Christians. They boast the same way: “We are baptized and bear the name Christian.” But they do not remain true to Holy Baptism and the pure teaching of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of Christ. Rather, they fall away from it and live in sin and vice, neglecting the preached Word.
The genuine Israelite has the promise of Abraham and the faith of Abraham; studies Moses and the prophets and seeks the coming Christ as we see in Philip and Nathanael. Just the same there are genuine Christians. “When they are baptized they give ear to the Gospel, read Holy Scripture, partake often of Holy Communion, and love their neighbor.” (AE 22:197).
Solomon speaks this way in the Old Testament reading from Proverbs: My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
St Paul, who wrote today’s Epistle to the Corinthian Christians, learned this lesson well. Our Lord knew him, as He knew Nathanael, and He called him on the road to Damascus. He taught this son of Israel what it meant to suffer for His namesake: in affliction and perplexity, in despair and persecution. For only then, in weakness, is God glorified. As St Paul writes later to the Corinthians, To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:7-9).
So I ask you, What could be weaker than the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? Nothing! It is the folly of God’s salvation. It is the weakness of His power. Christ crucified. For upon the hill of Golgotha Nathanael and all the apostles beheld the greatest thing, as Christ promised them, Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. You see, neither Philip or Nathanael were present at our Lord’s baptism when heaven was opened and the Father uttered His blessing. Neither were present at the Transfiguration when heaven was opened again, Moses and Elijah appearing and the Father reiterating His previous sermon concerning the beloved Son.
But Christ is speaking spiritually. He is highlighting the incident with the patriarch Jacob, who while fleeing from his brother Esau whom he had deceived out of the birthright and blessing, beheld in a dream heaven opened. He saw a ladder, reaching from heaven and it rested upon earth. The Son of Man stood atop this ladder while the angels of God ascended and descended upon it. When he awoke, Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, confessed, Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it! How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gn 28:16-17).
To Nathanael and Philip, and for you, Christ interprets this text. He refers it to Himself, as all of Holy Scripture preaches Him. When the Son of God came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made Man, then heaven was opened. Beginning with that time, it is open and remains open. It has never closed since His baptism in the Jordan. It has never closed since His Transfiguration.
It was opened and remains open since His crucifixion, when the Son of Man was lifted up from the earth, suspended between heaven and earth, the ladder upon which we do not ascend, but He has descended to us. Indeed He descended into the very depths of our sin, into our death. By His death and resurrection He has chopped down your shady trees of lies and deceit, of lust and pride. In their place He has planted the Tree of His Cross. As the Psalmist said, The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life (Ps 121:5-7).
My friends, heaven is open to you. Christ has opened it by His death. The Father addresses you, He bids you behold His beloved Son. For in the baptismal font the foot of His ladder is placed, Christ descends to you there by water and Word, and in faith you ascend with Him to life and salvation. Come and see.
And the foot of the ladder of His Cross is grounded in this pulpit, for in preaching and the absolution heaven is opened to you; proclaiming Christ and Him crucified. Come and see.
And there, upon the Altar, the true Body and precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, bringing heaven down to you. There angels dare to descend and kneel before God in the Flesh, hidden in the weakness of bread, in the foolishness of wine. Come and see. Surely the Lord is in this place. This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven (Gn 28:16-17). Partaking of His crucified, risen, ascended and glorified Body and Blood, you carry around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in your bodies.
Come and see. Listen and believe. Be washed. Eat and drink. Believe and live.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen
Our Lord spotted him under a fig tree, and for that, Nathanael, son of Tolmay, declares Him to be the Son of God, the King of Israel. He is confessing that the Man who stands before him is YHWH in the flesh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the One who walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day and called to Adam and Eve, seeking them out. For having sinned they were ashamed of themselves and tried to paper over their guilt with fig leaves.
But now, by the invitation of Philip, Nathanael is drawn out of the shadow of the fig tree, out of the shadow of death, out of darkness, and brought to Jesus, the Light of the world. For He is the Light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And Nathanael, whose name means, “God has given,” has now been given true faith and a good confession.
But what of you? What of your condition? In what shadowy darkness do you hide? Under what tree do seek shelter? Do you find your rest in the shadiness of trickery and manipulation of others? Is your respite in running into the arms of another who is not your wife? Do you crawl into the darkness of pornography? Drugs? Alcohol? Do not waste time hiding from your sins. Don’t bother attempting to paper over them with the fig leaves of excuses and lies. Our Lord sees right through them. He sees right through you. He knows our hearts; we are filled with guile, with deceit.
Yet in mercy He calls to you, as He did to Philip, Follow Me. He uses the simple invitation of another, Come and see. I have long said that with Philip and Nathanael we have the greatest evangelism program ever. No door-to-door solicitation; no cajoling or scare tactics, no false promises or bait-and-switch routines. Just a simple invitation: Come and see. Come and see the One of whom Moses preached and the prophets foretold. Come and see the One of whom Solomon spoke and in whom David trusted. Come and see.
And it is not a single use invitation, merely a one-time encounter. You can never say, “I am baptized, that should suffice. That’s enough.” And then never darken the door of the church. For our Lord calls Nathanael a “true Israelite,” so as to distinguish him from the false Israelites; those who boast in their lineage and brag concerning their descendancy from Abraham. They are his children by blood, we must concede, but they do not share his faith. They are false Israelites.
So too are there false Christians. They boast the same way: “We are baptized and bear the name Christian.” But they do not remain true to Holy Baptism and the pure teaching of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of Christ. Rather, they fall away from it and live in sin and vice, neglecting the preached Word.
The genuine Israelite has the promise of Abraham and the faith of Abraham; studies Moses and the prophets and seeks the coming Christ as we see in Philip and Nathanael. Just the same there are genuine Christians. “When they are baptized they give ear to the Gospel, read Holy Scripture, partake often of Holy Communion, and love their neighbor.” (AE 22:197).
Solomon speaks this way in the Old Testament reading from Proverbs: My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
St Paul, who wrote today’s Epistle to the Corinthian Christians, learned this lesson well. Our Lord knew him, as He knew Nathanael, and He called him on the road to Damascus. He taught this son of Israel what it meant to suffer for His namesake: in affliction and perplexity, in despair and persecution. For only then, in weakness, is God glorified. As St Paul writes later to the Corinthians, To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:7-9).
So I ask you, What could be weaker than the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? Nothing! It is the folly of God’s salvation. It is the weakness of His power. Christ crucified. For upon the hill of Golgotha Nathanael and all the apostles beheld the greatest thing, as Christ promised them, Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. You see, neither Philip or Nathanael were present at our Lord’s baptism when heaven was opened and the Father uttered His blessing. Neither were present at the Transfiguration when heaven was opened again, Moses and Elijah appearing and the Father reiterating His previous sermon concerning the beloved Son.
But Christ is speaking spiritually. He is highlighting the incident with the patriarch Jacob, who while fleeing from his brother Esau whom he had deceived out of the birthright and blessing, beheld in a dream heaven opened. He saw a ladder, reaching from heaven and it rested upon earth. The Son of Man stood atop this ladder while the angels of God ascended and descended upon it. When he awoke, Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, confessed, Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it! How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gn 28:16-17).
To Nathanael and Philip, and for you, Christ interprets this text. He refers it to Himself, as all of Holy Scripture preaches Him. When the Son of God came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made Man, then heaven was opened. Beginning with that time, it is open and remains open. It has never closed since His baptism in the Jordan. It has never closed since His Transfiguration.
It was opened and remains open since His crucifixion, when the Son of Man was lifted up from the earth, suspended between heaven and earth, the ladder upon which we do not ascend, but He has descended to us. Indeed He descended into the very depths of our sin, into our death. By His death and resurrection He has chopped down your shady trees of lies and deceit, of lust and pride. In their place He has planted the Tree of His Cross. As the Psalmist said, The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life (Ps 121:5-7).
My friends, heaven is open to you. Christ has opened it by His death. The Father addresses you, He bids you behold His beloved Son. For in the baptismal font the foot of His ladder is placed, Christ descends to you there by water and Word, and in faith you ascend with Him to life and salvation. Come and see.
And the foot of the ladder of His Cross is grounded in this pulpit, for in preaching and the absolution heaven is opened to you; proclaiming Christ and Him crucified. Come and see.
And there, upon the Altar, the true Body and precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, bringing heaven down to you. There angels dare to descend and kneel before God in the Flesh, hidden in the weakness of bread, in the foolishness of wine. Come and see. Surely the Lord is in this place. This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven (Gn 28:16-17). Partaking of His crucified, risen, ascended and glorified Body and Blood, you carry around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in your bodies.
Come and see. Listen and believe. Be washed. Eat and drink. Believe and live.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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