Jesus is Calling

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Who’s Calling? and my focus is our Gospel (John 1:43-51). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

After last summer’s Vacation Bible School ended, Linda Rodenbeck gave me a spreadsheet with the names of the children who attended and their parents’ information. I called a few of the parents, and as I began to inquire on the correct pronunciation of one family name, the man on the other end of the call kept asking, “Who’s Calling?!” I responded, “This is Pastor Cwynar from Mt. Olive Lutheran Church.” He then said, “You can never be too sure these days when you answer the phone.”

I get that …  a lot because when I call, your cell phone shows that the caller (me) has an out of state number. Often with first time callees, I send a text immediately afterwards. I learned to do this when I was conducting background investigations for security clearances. Most of the people I called always had good reason to be suspicious.

I thought of these experiences as I reflected upon this Gospel because Jeus is calling His first disciples. These men may have asked themselves, “Who’s this guy calling me to follow him?” And so, let us look at “Who’s Calling.” Then, “Who’s Called.” Finally, “What’s the Call About.”

Who’s Calling? We already know that it is Jesus calling. He calls Philip, who subsequently calls his brother, Nathanael. Our passage opens with Jesus deciding to go to Galilee. Keep in mind that Jesus was in the area where John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing – in Bethany across the Jordan (1:28). Now, don’t try to figure out how Jesus got from there to Galilee in time for the wedding at Cana (2:1). John the Evangelist was neither a cartographer nor a travel guide. He was a mystic theologian. He was not concerned about making geographical sense, but was concerned about a spiritual journey with Jesus Christ.

The other thing we should keep in mind is how this passage fits into the rest of chapter one. After the Prologue (1-18) and the Testimony of John the Baptist (19-28), Jesus is spotted by John who identifies Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” After recalling the Baptism of Jesus, John further identifies Him as the Son of God.

Two of the Baptist’s disciples follow Jesus (35-42) and address Him as Rabbi, and after spending a day with Him, Andrew tells his brother, Peter, that He is the Messiah. In today’s passage (43-51), Jesus calls Philip, who then believes that He is the one prophesied by Moses and the prophets, and he calls Nathanael, who also addresses Jesus as Rabbi, and then “King of Israel.” Our passage closes with Jesus identifying Himself as the “Son of Man.”

Now, there are many titles applied to Jesus throughout the New Testament. In the first chapter of John alone, Jesus is called the Word, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, Rabbi, the Messiah, and King of Israel. Today, I focus only on the one Jesus uses to speak of Himself – Son of Man.

Son of Man. When Jesus spoke of himself and His mission, He often referred to himself as “Son of Man.” Many of Jesus’ listeners knew the term from the Books of Ezekiel and Daniel. “Son of Man” highlighted Jesus’ human nature, just as “Son of God” emphasized his divinity. Drawing from the Jewish tradition’s use of the term, “Son of Man” brings together his identity as Messiah and as one who was to suffer for others. It helps highlight Jesus’ identity as one who came to give up His own life and in doing so gave life to others. We read in the Gospel of Mark: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many” (10:45). And so, the phrase helps us see Jesus’ self-understanding of His relationship to humanity: as suffering servant as found in Isaiah and in the Gospels, when he predicts: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly” (Mark 8:31; Luke 9: 22).[1]

John has his own view of the cross, not as a moment of humiliation, but as Jesus’ consummation of his life’s journey and purpose, the place where he returns to the glory that was his and where he glorifies his Father by bringing to perfection the task given him. John uses a Greek word that has a double meaning. As a play on words, hypsothenai means “to lift up physically” and “to exalt.” The lifting up of Jesus on the cross simultaneously means exalting Jesus.

Because everything is viewed through the prism of the Cross. The use of the term in John’s passion predictions differ from those in the Synoptics[2] stressing not so much the suffering, but the necessity that one believe in Jesus as the one who has been exalted or glorified in order to attain salvation.[3] After Jesus multiplied bread to feed his audience, many of his disciples abandoned Him because they found his teaching too difficult to swallow. He warned his disciples, “what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” (6:62) In other words, John the Evangelist developed his own “Son of Man” saying apart from the other three Gospels.

The pattern of descent, rejection, and ascent to a prior place in heaven is introduced in John’s Prologue (1:1-18). In light of the Word’s preexistence that we find in the Prologue, rejection and suffering were recast into descent/ascent patterns. In our closing verse today (1:51), the vision Jesus promises is fulfilled in the believing community, the Church. That will be important as I move to my second point.

The other difference between how the Synoptic Evangelists understood Son of Man and John was his unique authority to judge. For Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Son of Man would return in the future as a universal judge. For John, because the presence of Jesus is the revelation of God among men and women, this presence also brings judgment. We read this in chapters 3, 5 and 12.

In Jesus’ words, “whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (3:18-19) In chapter 5, we hear, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (v. 24) And in chapter 12, Jesus says, “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (v. 48)

John brings together the two judgments. As we heard in that last verse, future judgment is not totally excluded, but present judgment is real. Those who reject or change Jesus’ teaching bring judgment on themselves.

The place where Jesus is lifted up, where he is exalted, the cross, is the focal point of revelation to humanity. Christ on the Cross points to the imminent revelation of the glory of God as John saw it. During the Passover meal when Judas left the upper room, it was night, and Jesus spoke of himself on the cross, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.” (13:31-32) That brings me to my second question.

Who is Called? The text tells us that Jesus called Philip and Nathanael. We learn from Philip’s words something that the disciples would come to know after the Resurrection in Luke’s Gospel. Recall the Road to Emmaus. Beginning with Moses and the Prophets, Jesus interpreted for them all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Lk 24:27) Here, Philip tells Nathanael that Jesus is the one described in the Mosaic Law and the prophets.

Nathanael initially reacts to Philip’s news with disparaging doubt, a reaction that Jesus often encountered among Jews who believed in the Law and the prophets.[4] Yet, at Philip’s insistence, Nathanael’s willingness to come and see the Christ shows that he is not like those who claimed to accept Moses but rejected Jesus and remained in the dark (9:29, 41). We are reminded of this in Paul’s Letter to the Romans when he wrote, “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.” (9:6-7) Jesus hails Nathanael and proclaimed him to be a true Israelite, a true representative of Israel because was willing to come to the light.

Some think that this is a reference of Jacob, but he was a man of guile. He deceived his brother, Esau, out of his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew and a piece of bread. (Gen 25:29ff.) Jacob also tricked his elderly father into blessing him, the second-born, instead of the firstborn Esau. (Gen 27) Yet, when he wrestled with God, his name was changed to Israel because he struggled or wrestled with God and man and prevailed.

Others see this as a reference to Isaiah 44, where we read, “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.” (3-5) But in the verses that follow, we are reminded that the Lord, the King of Israel, is God, and in the days when people are waiting for the Messiah, the true believer will be the one who is faithful to Yahweh alone. A man of guile would be unfaithful. In Nathanael, the purpose of John the Baptist’s ministry is fulfilled, for he spoke “the reason I came baptizing with water was that he [Jesus] might be revealed to Israel.” (1:31)

Jesus revealed himself as the Son of Man exalted on the Cross. Nathanael shows himself to be a true believer and represents true believers. Jesus is the caller. Nathanael is called. Now, what is the call about?

Do you believe that Jesus is calling you? I do. I believe Jesus is calling everyone of you. I believe Jesus is calling all of you to be His brothers and sisters, His Father’s sons and daughters. Jesus Christ is calling us to be a faithful family to our loving and merciful Triune God. He is calling you simply to be faithful to his teaching.

Like Nathanael, one minute you are resting under a fig tree, and the next, you are confessing Christ as King. One day, you are simply living your life, and the next day, you realize that Jesus Christ has called you. You do not understand or comprehend who Jesus Christ is as fully as you will when God calls you home, but one day you will. For now, keep focusing on Christ exalted on the Cross.

Keep in mind that just as Jesus took an interest in the smallest detail of Nathanael’s life, he also notices the smallest details of your life. Through Jesus, God stirs your heart. Our Father wants to speak to us and show us his love and his glory through His Son on his throne, the Cross.

Let me close by telling you a brief meeting with Pastor Robert Newton, the former District President of the California-Neveda-Hawaii District. It took place in his office in Livermore, California, when I was inquiring about becoming a pastor in the Synod. He explained that as Lutherans we understand that God’s grace comes to us from the Father through Christ on the Cross, and all we have to do – and he leaned back in his chair and widened his arms as if to prepare to embrace something – is receive it.

Friends, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is calling you to receive His Father’s loving-kindness. Whatever it is you do in life, open yourself to God’s grace, and you too will recognize God’s Son as your King. When you do that, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Dave Andres, “A Question of Faith,” The Catholic Telegraph, February 1, 2019. https://www.thecatholictelegraph.com

[2] John 3:14; 8:28; 12:34; Mark 8:31.

[3] Pheme Perkins, “The Gospel According to John,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall (1990), p. 953.

[4] Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (I-XII). Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. (1966), p. 86.