Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC, 14 Jan., 2018, Epiphany 2
Year
B RCL: 1 Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20;
John 1:43-51
“Come
& see,” Philip says to Nathanael. Like
Philip, we are called
to invite our brothers & sisters in the human family to “Come &
see.”
We
come here & see each other & receive God's gifts of word &
sacrament. Sometimes God's love & message are clear. Sometimes we
respond like we hear in our Psalm:
“How
deep I find your thoughts, O God!”
This
verse reflects ideas we hear in our scriptures today. Our Psalm says
God “knit me together in my mother's womb”.
What does it look
like to see God knitting? How do you who knit or crochet feel hearing
this word picture?
The
Rev. Dr. Lauren Winner, Duke University professor & author of
several books, led us clergy in exploring this metaphor & many
biblical word pictures of God at a conference in 2014.1]
Our
Psalm emphasizes: God sees us even in the darkest parts of life. The
“life-sustaining darkness of the mother's womb” assures us of
God's continuing compassion, “kindly protection & wise
planning...”2
whether
we understand it or not.
As
followers of Jesus, you & I know: God's kindly protection &
wise planning are in our lives, & God knows everything about us &
loves us anyway!
Even in our darkest times & confusion & lack of
understanding, God loves us.
God loves you.
We
know God loves us because Jesus died for us, rose from the grave,
ascended into heaven, & the Holy Spirit guides us & knits us
together as the Body of Christ.
Lately,
our weather has kept some of us apart & some of us closely knit
together since we couldn't get out of our homes! Our weather can be
confining, confusing, dark so we can't always see clearly.
Paul
helps the Corinthians see more clearly how to live into new life in
Jesus so they can make a change for the better in their lives.
Knit
together in God's love, they live in a bustling, urban, seaside city
with 2 ports & temples to about a dozen gods & goddesses,
some of which include services of temple prostitutes, who come to
bathe at the public facility beside the synagogue where Paul speaks.3
These facts shine light for us on the difficulty for Christians in
Corinth who receive Paul's letter.
We
see difficulty in a new situation for Samuel in our first lesson.
Samuel does not yet know God. This time in the life of God's people
is dark: prophesy & visions are rare. The almost blind priest Eli
literally can't see & it's night.4 Samuel stays
close to where light literally shines in God's sanctuary.
We
hear
puzzled reactions by Samuel & Eli as God calls Samuel. Sam
thinks it's Eli, who slowly realizes God is calling Sam.
Eli's slow response reminds us:
in
a new situation, our
experience
does not assure our quick understanding.
Notice
the amazed reactions we hear as Jesus calls the disciples.
Just before today's verses, 2 disciples of
John the baptizer see Jesus going by & follow him. One is Andrew.
Jesus
asks what they're looking for, & they ask where he is staying.
Jesus says:
“Come & see.”
They do. Andrew repeats this
invitation to Nathanael
in today's Gospel.
Being with Jesus we can
understand who Jesus is. We see this when Nathanael interacts with
Jesus, whose knowledge of him astounds Nathanael & gives him
deeper insight into Jesus.
Nathanael,
who
has gotten over the stumbling block of Jesus being from an obscure
village5
asks: “Where
did you get to know me?”
Jesus says: “I saw you under the fig
tree...”
The fig tree is a symbol of the
peace the Messiah will bring6;
this gives Nathanael [whose
name means “God has given”7]
special insight & inspires him to declare Jesus is
God's Son.8
Jesus
says “You will see greater things than these...” And then
something changes when Jesus says: “...[Y]ou
will see heaven opened & the angels of God ascending &
descending upon the Son of Man.”
What
changes
are
the verb & the subject, which change from singular to plural:
y'all
will see...
This tells us more
people than Nathanael will see this sight,9
which
reminds us of angels descending & ascending on the ladder in
Jacob's dream in Genesis 28.10
Our
Gospel's
main message to
“Come & see”
reminds us we are called into
relationship with Jesus,
who calls us to share the Good News
of God's Love for humans.
How do we/you encounter
Jesus?
When are you the connector by which someone encounters Jesus?
At
this Holy Table:
“Come
& see.”
Bibliography
Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading
the Old Testament: An Introduction.
New York: Paulist Press. 1984.
Dios
Habla Hoy: La Biblia.
2da
Ed.
Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica Americana. 1983.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary. General
Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers,
1988.
Harper’s
Bible Dictionary.
General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers. 1985.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
Tenney,
Merrill C. Handy
Dictionary of the Bible.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House. 1965.
Winner,
The Rev. Dr. Lauren. Diocese of GA Spring Clergy Conference. Honey
Creek, GA. May 4-6, 2014. and
https://divinity.duke.edu/faculty/lauren-winner
Accessed: 13 Jan, 2018.
1
Diocese of GA Spring Clergy Conference. May 4-6, 2014. Winner,
Assistant Professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity
School, is
as vicar
of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisburg, N.C.
Her works included Girl
Meets God and Mudhouse
Sabbath.
3
Note: information from both personal experience touring Corinth &
from sources listed here.
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