Epiphany ll

Epiphany ll (John 1:43-51)

You will see greater things than these.

Jesus makes all things new.

For a world lost in conflict and cynicism Jesus brings hope. He does this patiently and personally.

Our heavenly Father did not send his son into the world to impose a law or establish a program. He sent Jesus to establish and cultivate a personal relationship.

The law has its place. The rituals of our religion have their place. Their place is to facilitate the personal relationship our Heavenly Father offers us in Jesus Christ.

We see the pattern of this dynamic in this passage. Jesus always meets us where we are, accepts us fully and completely where we are and then offers us a new way forward into an abundant life we never dreamed possible.

When Jesus tells Nathaniel “you will see greater things than these” he is introducing Nathaniel into a new way of experiencing God, other people and himself.

There are two basic observations the Biblical writers record. The first is that most people most of the time do not pay attention. We do not pay attention to God, other people or the reality of who we are and who we might become. We are lost in the many distractions of our culture, our disordered desires and the subtle temptations of Satan to avoid change.

A second observation is a consequence of not paying attention. That observation can be summarized in the phrase: your God is too small. What keeps our God, our concept of God, too small, is pride. We all have a tendency to place God in a box. We each craft our own unique box to enshrine and limit God. For Philip, Nathaniel and the other disciples the box was nationalism and xenophobia. They believed God was the exclusive protector of their nation. They believed all other nations were cursed.

They did not pay attention to the prophets who declared that the Messiah would be a light to enlighten all of the nations. They refused to observe that God makes his sun to shine and rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

Jesus knew this. He knew this from personal experience. He knew that God is infinite and universal love. He knew that people in general are lost in willful and spiteful separation from God. He also knew that the only solution to this problem was to offer people a new Way.

Jesus himself is the Way. As the disciples entered into that Way through a personal friendship with Jesus they discovered something amazing. They experienced life the way God intended us to experience life. They experienced the wonder and the mystery of divine love in their relationships with each other and with other people.

Jesus performed miracles through relationships. He transformed water into wine at a wedding banquet as the servants heard his word, believed his word and acted on his word. He fed thousands of hungry people as a child heard his word, believed his word and acted on his word by sharing his own lunch with Jesus.

He alludes to these miracles and more at the beginning of his public ministry. He astonishes Nathaniel by a simple statement. Then he says: does this impress you? You haven’t seen anything yet. Come. Follow me and you will experience God, other people and life itself in a new and amazing way.

Jesus says the same to us today. Come. Follow me. Meet me at the altar of sacrifice. Meet me on the seventh day of real presence. Read the Bible with me. Follow me as I seek the lost and find the lost. Join with me to feed the hungry and meet the needs of the poor, the sick and the lonely.

And realize that as you enter into this new way of life you still will see greater things than these.