(John 1: 35-51)
Back in my younger “dad” days I coached Little League baseball from the time my son was five until he was 15 when we then coached a team together. Draft Day can make or break your season. It’s where you pick your players from the talent pool, and how successful you are by the end of the season is pretty much up to you and whether or not you brought out their talent, or lack of talent, to their fullest potential. For a couple of years, we were a part of Northwest 45 outside of Houston. It was an impressive program and when Neil was 12 the Allstar Team went on to win the Little League World Series. It was a very competitive program. The key to any modicum of success lied in picking pitchers and catchers. Then you started looking for any player that might show some promise, like being able to catch, throw and hit and then, when you got down to your last couple of picks, you looked for whoever would hurt you the least with the hope you could develop some baseball skills by the end of the season helping them feel as if they really are a part of the team and contributed. Ideally, the most valuable players were what we called the utility players. They were the ones you could stick at just about any position and they could get the job done. They could hit, run and catch well and you could depend on them in a pinch. Put me in coach! Not long ago, I got a Facebook friend request from a guy in Iowa who wanted to know if I was the same Scott Rosekrans that coached a Little League team back in 1976. I told him I was, and he said he played for me, wasn’t very good and that I probably wouldn’t remember him. He is now the pastor of a small Baptist church in Iowa and I am happy to say we are teammates in Christ filling in wherever we can on Team Jesus.
And that’s where we find ourselves in our scripture reading for this morning. Jesus is beginning to pick his team of disciples. The day after his baptism, Jesus was passing by John the Baptist and two of his disciples when John exclaimed; Look, the Lamb of God! When the two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus. And when Jesus realized they were following him he turned around and asked them what they wanted. They said, “Rabbi,” which means teacher, “where are you staying?” To which Jesus told them to come and see. So, they went and saw where Jesus was staying spending the day with him. Now, we are told that Andrew was one of the two who had followed Jesus, and that the first thing he did after his visit with Jesus, was to go and find his brother Simon where he told him; We have found the Messiah. At that point, Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. When Jesus saw him, he said; You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas, which when translated into Greek is Peter.
The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip and told him to follow him. We are told that Philip was from Bethsaida which was also the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Apparently, before they set out, Philip went looking for Nathanael and said to him, We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth. Nathanael scoffed, Can anything from Nazareth be good? That was an odd, if not impolite, thing to say. Almost sounds like some kind of hometown high school football rivalry. So, it is important to note that Nathanael’s hometown was Cana which was four miles from Nazareth which may explain why he obviously had a low opinion of Nazareth. Now, Nathanael knew that the Old Testament prophets had predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. But Nazareth was an obscure and insignificant little village and he simply could not imagine such a significant person as the Messiah coming from such a place as Nazareth. There was a Roman garrison in Nazareth so maybe the Jews felt that the Nazarenes were just a little too cozy with the hated Romans. Who knows, it doesn’t take much.
Nevertheless, Philip said, Come and see. To Nathanael’s credit, he put aside any misgivings about going to see someone from Nazareth and accompanied Philip to meet Jesus. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said; Here is a genuine Israelite in whom there is no deceit! When Nathanael heard this, he asked Jesus how it was that he knew him, as they had never met. Jesus answered: Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree. Nathanael, overwhelmed, replied: Rabbi, you are God’s Son. You are the king of Israel. Jesus responded by saying: Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these! I assure you that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up to heaven and down to earth on the Son of Man.
Jesus knew about Nathanael before the two ever met, and by his statement: Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit, Jesus is indicating that he sees something in Nathanael that he considers important in spreading the gospel. So, I got curious as in all my readings of the New Testament I couldn’t recall Nathanael’s name coming up. I checked the index of my study Bible and there was nothing about Nathanael. In fact, if you look at the list of the first twelve disciples, other than Peter and Judas Iscariot, none of them really stand out. I think this is important in that it tells us that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the kingdom of God and it’s not all about the recognition we receive from man, but the glory it brings God the Father. We don’t know what Nathanael’s contribution was, but we do know he was someone Jesus could trust.
And I think that’s the lesson to be learned here. Jesus knows there are things we can do that will contribute to the spreading of the gospel and that he is comfortable in placing his trust in us. When you think about it, Jesus’ early earthly ministry was supported by every day, regular men and women, none of whom had any special training. The Apostle Paul, who came after Jesus’ resurrection, was the first one with any real formal training or advanced education and Jesus sent him off on mission trips to preach the gospel to non-Jews, Gentiles. The ministry of Jesus Christ depends upon ordinary, faithful followers to get things done. We all can’t be a Mother Teresa or a Jimmy Carter, and how wonderful it is that Jesus has used these special people to call global attention to the problems in God’s beautiful but troubled creation, but the real heavy lifting is being done by ordinary people who would rather shun the limelight and not be recognized for their efforts. Ordinary people who have become disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And how blessed we are to be one of those utility players called off the bench to come into the game and take a position that needs filling. Those transformational acts we are called upon to engage in can be small, large or anywhere in between. They can be one and done, or a continuous series of serving wherever needed or called. The service can be in your financial contributions from as small as spare change in the Jesus Cup to the giving of your tithes and offerings which goes to support our church and mission efforts, and to the greater United Methodist Church and the many missions that are supported by them through your generosity and the generosity of countless like-minded others. The service can be through the work you do here at the church by serving on boards and committees to ensure that we remain true to the mission of the United Methodist Church. The service can be as varied as the many little projects we engage in like making fire starters, bean soup mix, gift bags for the residents of Margaret’s Village, and now the new residents of Peter’s Place, or in keeping our mission rooms in order and stocked so we can help people out when they come in for assistance. There is so much we can do to help transform the life of someone else not only right here in our own backyard, but wherever the Holy Spirit directs us.
Jesus knows all about you. He knows what’s in your heart. He knows you are a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit, nothing false. God needs you. He needs you on Team Jesus. Are you ready to get in the game? Are you ready to be a most valued player?
Please pray with me.
Take our lives and let them be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take our moments and our days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take our hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take our feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Yes Lord, all that we have and all that we are, we owe to you. Move us to be your disciples, disciples who work tirelessly in your service. Disciples who do whatever we can to transform the world, your world. We are ready, Lord, show us the way. Take us and we will be ever only, all for thee. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.