Can anything good come out of Glasgow?

Well after a lengthy exploration of John the Baptist’s work last week we are now nipping over to the Gospel of John yet again: John 1:43-51. We are moving from Judea to Galilee, probably to the north of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is on the look-out for some new team members. But can anything good come out of Glasgow? 😉

We are in the middle of a busy week. From when John arrives on the scene (John 1:19) to the wedding at Cana (John 2:1) either three days have passed or a week. Check it out for yourself! (See [1] below)

John’s baptism work in Bethany is a far stone’s throw to where they are now, en route to Cana.

Finding People

In the preceding verses, Jesus has already ‘found‘ Andrew and his brother Simon Peter, and called them into ministry. Oddly Peter is named as Cephas, but there may be an easy understanding available here:

Πέτρος (Petros) is simply Greek (naturally, because the New Testament was written in Greek) for the name Jesus actually gave him in Aramaic: כיפא (Kefa—Rock). In Greek, Kepha is transliterated (not translated) as Κηφᾶς (Kephas—a representation of the Aramaic name with the necessary Greek grammar ‘salting’), but is sometimes translated into the Greek, and so you see Πέτρος (Petros—the equivalent of כיפא in Greek; Rock, Stone).

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Here we see Jesus ‘finds‘ Philip – from Bethsaida, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, and invites him to “Follow Him”. Philip declares Jesus as one whom Moses spoke of in the Law, and also the Prophets, he is Joseph’s son from Nazareth. It was this last part which caused Nathanael to offer the possibly sarcastic response “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Was he mocking Jesu’s place of origin or even that he may have been from the Nazarene movement, a ‘Netzar’?

Nazareth

It wouldn’t be the only time that Nazareth would be mocked. Paul was accused by Tertullus “We have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5).

Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he would be known as a Nazarene. Where do you come from?

I have moved fairly regularly throughout my life, due to service in the military, and now in the Church. So when people ask where do I come from, I’m unable to pinpoint a town or area. How about you?
Can anything good come out of Glasgow?, your location?

Fig Tree

Jesus says that he saw Nathanael under a fig tree. Really? Was this metaphorical rather than literal? The fig tree is often used as a metaphor from growth, for life. Nathanael has his epiphany moment. Jesus has seemingly “found” people, and knows many things about them (John 4 – the Woman at the Well?) – is this a sign of his divinity, given we are reading from the Gospel of John?

“Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of the Jews” declares Nathanael. Wow, that’s an impressive deduction. Later (John 19:19) Jesus has an inscription “Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews” on the Cross.

The Four Stages of Ministry

Dale Roach [2] writes that there are four stages within Ministry, highlighting by the Gospels, and starting in our text today.

Come and See

We are invited to see what Jesus is doing. We may be intrigued, curious to discover exactly what is going on. It could be that people come to a group at Church or we go to a group wherever. There people wonder, maybe even poke fun at, what we do but ask more: why do you believe in such stuff?

Follow Me

Here of course Me is not us not Jesus. People are now more than intrigued but want to discover for themselves. They want more than just words but some substance to what they are hearing. They may come to some discussion groups (Methodists may refer historically to these as ‘classes’ but not like in school) where their voice can be heard, where they can learn more and seek out that individual answer. For faith is individual.

Be with Me

We may then want to come together as a ‘church’ – a group of people not the building – or a Circuit (Methodist speak for many churches in an area). We may want to desire to offer a collective understanding of our faith. This is community. The Greeks would use the word Koinonia – “a divinely intimate, holy unity among believers”.

Remain with Me

Here we seek to support other son their journey of faith. We may see Stewards of churches, teachers, people who walk alongside others as they discern what faith means to them. In Methodism, we believe in a “priesthood of all believers” so it’s a flat playing field – we are all in this together, so I mention ministers last.

So?

Where have we seen Jesus at work where we are? That’s the first stage. Do we wish to just explore a little more?

If we are part of the Church what might be stopping people from making that step of exploration in our local area? Perhaps we need to look at that Host and Guest relationship, to step outside of what we see for ourselves, and look from their perspective?

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[1] The 3 or 5 or 7 days in the first part of John’s Gospel:

• Day 1 (v. 19-28) Bethany across the Jordan. John the Baptist’s exchange with Pharisees
• Day 2 (v. 29-34) John the Baptist testifies to Jesus. There is no explicit baptism. John simply “saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove.”
• Day 3 (v. 35-42) Jesus, Andrew, unnamed disciple, and Simon (renamed Peter and also Andrew’s brother.)
• Day 4 (v. 43-50) Jesus decides to go to Galilee. Jesus finds Philip, who gets Nathanael. (Philip, Andrew, and Peter all from Bethsaida. Nathanael is from Cana, which we find in 21:2, a Resurrection story where Jesus again tells the disciples to “follow me”).
• Day 5 or 7 (2:1-12) Begins “On the Third Day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee…” Does this mean the third day after the Spirit descended upon Jesus, or three days later? (from here)

[2] Roach, Dale., The Servant Leadership Style of Jesus, (Bloomington, IN : Westbow Press, 2015,2106), pp.50-54.