Skeptical? Come and See

Skeptical? Come and See By Pastor Lohn Johnson Text:  John 1:46-49 John 1: 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."  47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"  48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ,  [Video: O Brother Where Are Thou]  I kind of identify with George Clooney’s character in this clip.  He is a skeptic –skeptical of the prediction of the old blind man.  I tend to be a rather skeptical person, too. If you want to convince me of something, a logical argument with charts and graphs will go a lot further than an emotional narrative with a complicated plot line. I tend to look at things analytically and scientifically; I appreciate hard data and sound analysis. I tend to think that when things go “bump” in the night, they are more likely to be the result of bad plumbing, a small earthquake, or a loose floor board than anything remotely supernatural.
I. I think I come by this honestly. All those years in the chemistry classroom shape how you think, and I was thinking that way long before I chose chemistry as my major in college. I think God just wires people that way when He doles out our “reason and all our senses.”
	A. There is such a thing as healthy skepticism.
			1. It guards against superstition and generally wards off strange ideas and mistaken notions in addition to a lot of bad religious ideas. Skeptics are like the control rods in a nuclear reactor, cooling down the fevered pitch of enthusiasm with some cool analysis.
			2. But man does not live by hard evidence alone. While it’s true that our technologies rely on hard data, and our courts rely on hard evidence, and when I make a decision as to whether it is safe to cross the street or not I do not simply close my eyes and pray, nevertheless some of the most important things in life are held without hard evidence in hand.
					a. Things like beauty, justice, mercy, and love go far beyond our measurements, charts and graphs. If I try to understand why a piece of music is beautiful by analyzing the wave forms of the sounds, I will no longer have the music in all its beauty. b. Higher still is eternity and heaven, the angels and archangels. The Bible can only deliver in pictures that only faintly sketch the outlines of these things. When Isaiah saw the Lord on His throne, he could not describe the Lord in His glory, for “no one may look on God and live.”
		B. But There is something that happens, though, when Sin gets into that act.
			1. Sin turns healthy skepticism into a deeply hardened cynicism. It stunts the imagination and blinds us to the “things that are above.” 2. Skepticism fueled by Sin simply becomes unbelief and atheism, a blanket denial that there a god at all or that there is anything above and beyond this natural world. Sadly this is where most of the world comes down today.
II. When I think of skeptic, I think of Nathanael. But he hasn’t gone too far with it yet.
			A. Nathanael is the skeptical one in our text. “Nazareth, you say. Ha! Ha! Nazareth. That’s a good one! Can anything good come from there?”
							1. Nazareth, hardly the place one would expect the messiah to come from. Nazareth was a nothing town way up in the north country, a garrison town watching over the northern highlands. Nazareth is never mentioned in Moses or the Prophets. Bethlehem is, but not Nazareth. 2. Besides, Nazareth has a reputation, what with all those soldiers hanging around in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, can anything good come from Nazareth?
			B. I love Phillip’s answer to Nathanael’s skepticism.  He says: “Come and see. Never mind your preconceived notions, your prejudices, your skepticism. Just come and see for yourself.”
				1.  And I absolutely love Jesus’ initial encounter with Nathanael. Before they even shake hands and are introduced, Jesus says with tongue fully planted in cheek, “Why look. Here is a true Israelite in whom there is no guile. This one tells it exactly as it is.”  2. This catches Nathanael off guard. Jesus seems to know him, and yet they’ve never met. “How do you know me?” Nathanael asks. “I saw you under the fig tree before Phillip called you.” Now that doesn’t seem like much, but it sure impressed Nathanael, so we have to assume we’re missing a few details.
							a. Some scholars think that Nathanael may have been reading Torah under the fig tree, which people were wont to do at that time, so that he encountered Christ in the Torah. b. It may be as simple as there was no one around when Nathanael was having his little fig tree moment, and now Jesus claims to have seen him. c. Whatever it was, those words of Jesus cut through Nathanael’s skepticism and drew his confession: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” He saw and heard and believed.
III. Then Jesus hints at much more to come. “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. That was nothing, Nathanael. You haven’t seen anything yet. You will see heaven open and the angels of god ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
		A. Jesus identifies Himself with, of all things, the ladder in Jacob’s dream.
			1. A ladder connecting heaven with earth on which the angels ascend and descend.
						a. It’s not a ladder of our ascent to God but of God’s descent to us. “He came down from heaven” to be Immanuel, God with us, to die for us, to conquer Sin and Death for us, to rise for us, to bring us to His Father and to be the sole Mediator between God and Man. Oh, Nathanael, greater things than these you will see. b. So what did Jesus mean? It wasn’t that Nathanael would see a ladder; rather, he’d see Jesus. Jesus was the connection between heaven and earth. The Savior didn’t want Nathanael trusting only in things like Him seeing people under fig trees.
			2. Jesus is speaking of something else that Nathanael will see: He's speaking of when heaven will be opened for Nathanael. He's speaking of the cross.
					a. The gates of heaven have been closed to man since the Fall of man into sin, and sinners have been shut out because of their sin. There is only one way for those gates to be flung wide open again: A perfect sacrifice must be made. And Jesus has come to make the perfect sacrifice. b. So Nathanael sees Jacob's ladder, but it isn't quite as impressive as it was in Jacob's dream. It has one rung; and when the Savior places His hands upon it, man drives nails through His palms to keep Him there.
		B. But even before those greater things the skeptic becomes the believer, all because he came and saw Jesus.
			1. That’s really what “evangelism” is all about. The invitation to “come and see.”
					a. You’ll note that Phillip didn’t even get all of his i’s dotted and t’s crossed about Jesus. But it was sufficient. A simple invitation from a good friend. “Come and see.” b. And what you will see and hear are greater things than can be seen and heard anywhere else. People reborn and renewed in Christ. Sins forgiven. Sinners justified. Men and women made right with God.
			2. Nathanael is historically identified with Bartholomew, among the least known of the disciples. History and church tradition tell us the Nathanael brought the Gospel to India and to Armenia. He is revered as the patron saint of the Armenian church to this day. The most enduring legend about his martyrdom is that he was skinned alive. One thing is certain. He now sees greater things than he ever saw that day under the fig tree.
IV. And Skeptics wonder today, “Can anything good come out of the church?” The church’s reputation isn’t always very good. There is word on the street of corruption, immorality, hypocrisy. There are skeptics today who wonder whether any of it is even true or is it all just a bunch of silly wishful thinking. “Can anything good come out of the church?”
		A. We are sinners, you and I.  Nothing good dwells in our flesh.  Rather, we are filled with unholy thoughts.  Our mouths are filled with deceit and lies, with cursing and angry words; our hearts with malice and envy, with jealousy and hatred, with lust and pride.  Can anything good come out of such sinful people as we are?
			1. Absolutely yes!  Jesus comes out of you just as He came out of Nathanael.  He became a witness of the Risen Savior.  He was martyred for confessing his faith in Jesus.  He who came out of Nazareth also, in time, came out of Nathanael as he lived for the rest of his life, a servant of Jesus.   2. That’s why Jesus came out of Nazareth in the first place.  He came out for you, friend.  He came out to live a holy life and give it to you in your baptism.  He came out to be led to a lonely cross and die there for you.  He came out of Nazareth so that here in Lexington Jesus comes to you in Word and Sacrament and gives you faith, forgiveness, and eternal life.  Jesus came out of Nazareth so that He can today come out of you; so that His name is on your lips; so that His peace is in your heart.
		B. That same Messiah, each and every Sunday morning, comes out of Good Shepherd.  We may not have huge crowds gather here.  We may not be very impressive to the world.  Your Champion—He who fought the battle against sin, death, and hell for you, and won—comes out of this very place in the preaching and teaching of His Word and the giving of His Sacraments.
			1. “Can anything good come out of Good Shepherd?”  “Come and see.”  Bring your children to Holy Baptism; bring them with you to church faithfully, and just watch as Jesus gives them faith and nurtures them into wonderful Christian people. 2.  “Can anything good come out of Lexington?”  “Come and see.”  Come and hear the words of your Savior week after week.  Come to Bible Class and be immersed in the teaching of the Holy Spirit.  Come up to God’s altar faithfully to receive the Lord’s body and blood—and see your life empowered by the Word of God.  See God at work in you and through you.  See your confidence, and joy, and peace, and hope, and faith grow like never before.  “Can anything good come out of Good Shepherd?”  “Come and see.”
CONCLUSION: Come and see. Come and hear. Hear what God in Christ has done and is doing. Invite your friends to do the same. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.   Amen help continue "bringing jesus to heart and home and community" make a donation to good shepherd lutheran church at:    GSLC Donation Page