January 14, 2018                       Come and See                                                                 

A number of years ago, I purchased a DVD from Adam Hamilton, entitled, “When Christians Get it Wrong”. The DVD contained a series of 8 minute sermons, on topics where Christianity has been corrupted by political opinions. Some of those topics include the use of religion to deny science, the use of religion in politics, the use of religion to denounce sinners and others, and etc. 

At the beginning of the DVD Adam Hamilton cites studies in which people under the age of 30 are increasingly turning away from the Christian Faith. In discussion groups with youth, these studies find that there is one word that dominates the discussion - Hypocrisy. It seems that 70 percent of youth use this word to describe Christianity, and hence they leave the church and seek God on their own, or even turn to other religions as a guide to finding God.

Now I realize that a good portion of this comes from the portrayal of religious people in politics, news media, and even in the portrayal of Christians on television and movies. But the tipping point for many youth who leave the church, is when they find these attitudes in their own churches. The Good News is, that these young seekers of truth want to know God. The not so good news is, they are seeking God on their own, apart from a community of faith, which can lead them to be easily misled, or worse, lead them to lose their faith. And that’s where we find our gospel lesson this morning.  

In the first chapter of John, following the prologue, we find the story of Jesus calling his first disciples. John the Baptist witnesses to Jesus saying, Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Immediately, his disciples leave John and follow Jesus. When they ask Jesus where he is staying, he tells them to come and see. And when they do, when they get to know him, they become so excited that they go out and invite others to come and see as well.

In our reading this morning, we hear the story of the calling of Nathaniel. Now Nathaniel is a skeptic, he has seen the corruption of the Jewish religion by the politics of the priest, and so he is untrusting of anyone who preaches religion. Nathaniel is one of those young people of his day, who hungers and thirsts for God, but does not know where to find God – that is until he meets Jesus!

In the reading, Jesus first acknowledges Nathaniel’s skepticism by saying he is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit, and secondly, he recognizes Nathaniel’s desire to find God, by saying he saw him under the fig tree. You see, in Judaism, the fig tree is an image of salvation, as the prophet Micah says, in that day, all will come to worship the Lord, and they will beat their swords into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks, and all will sit under their own fig tree, and none shall be afraid, and the shall make war no more.

By saying he saw Nathaniel sitting under the fig tree, he is telling him that that day is about to come, and that Jesus message is about that day. That is why we get the immediate response to Jesus by Nathaniel that he is the King of Israel and the Son of God! According to Nathaniel, here is a teacher - who has it right!

Now in our world today, there are a lot of people out there who are looking for God on their own. A lot of people who have left their churches because of the hypocrisy they have experienced in them. They are looking for a church that will offer them this vision of the world’s salvation. One in which we can all live together as brothers and sisters in peace. One in which we meet the needs of those who suffer and are in want. One in which there is justice for not just us, but for the others among us. It is this gospel, which is the true message, and the straight path to reaching God, and the Nathaniels of this world will be drawn to it! 

And so, for those who are discouraged about inviting others to come to church, I encourage you to continue to invite them to come and see! And I encourage us all to continue to make Union Congregational the kind of place where people will see God's love in our affection for each other and the ministries of love that we provide. For then, we will find new family members for our church and new disciples of Jesus Christ. And that's the good news of Jesus Christ.