Jan. 19, 2003

Mindekirken Jan 19, 2003
Pr. Jens Arne Dale

John 1:43-51

Who really is this Nathanael who we read about in today’s text? Jesus had 12 disciples, but where they are listed (Matt 10:3, and Mark 3:18) there is no Nathanael. The gospel of John is the only one that mentions him.

It has been guessed that Nathanael is a literary ideal figure. He sat under the fig tee, almost like a Buddha. The fig tree was a peace symbol (1 Kings 4:25, and Malachi 4:4). It was an ideal to sit undisturbed in the shadow of the leafy fig tree to meditate. And Jesus calls him a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit. Those are strong words, picked from Psalm 32;2 and Isaiah 53:9. Is it the ideal picture of the Jew who frees himself from the traditions and surrenders himself to Jesus? On the same basis, some have proposed that it’s Paul who is the real character behind this Nathanael. At least he had a dramatic conversion, but I doubt it’s possible to smuggle the apostle of the heathens into the gospel in that way. It looks like Nathanael is a real person. At the end of the gospel, he even joins in on a fishing trip. John 21:2

Some have thought that Nathanael is the same as Matthew, because both names mean the Gift of God. And now we’re on the track of something right. At that time, it was not unusual with two names, one Greek, and one Jewish. The problem is, however, that both Matthew and Nathanael are Jewish names. We have to go through Philip to find the solution. Nathanael is never mentioned in the first three gospels. John never does mention Bartholomew. But they are both mentioned as friends of Philip! Moreover, Bartholomew is really a second name, it means Son of Tholmai. The answer is in other words, that Jesus had a disciple whose name was Nathanael Bartholomew. And it’s him we’re going to hear a little bit more about today.

The text shows us that Nathanael was the friend of Philip. It’s strange to see how Jesus picked disciples who were siblings or close friends. The disciple flock, is like taken out of an isolated rural district of Western Norway where everyone is related to each other. But the evangelist doesn’t seem to regret that. Quite the opposite! We get to know how family relations and friendships are handing over the very best things among the disciples. Some of us come from the "inner valleys" as the weather forecast in Norway would have put it, it could be like a small place in North Dakota, for instance. Often, such close communities are described negatively in film and literature. Maybe it has been a relief for some of us to breathe in the air of a big city like Minneapolis after a youth in controlled environments. But when the first disciples of Jesus are picked from Galilee, it’s not prejudice and lack of freedom that are emphasized, but the confidence and the open channels where the good news is being spread.

Andrew got to meet Jesus. He told it eagerly to his brother Peter, and literally led him to Jesus. Sometimes I have seen a youth carry his or her younger sibling to the baptismal font. Could a relationship between siblings be shown in a more beautiful way? We give of ourselves, we say, and think of what a mother or father does for their child. But we may also give of more than ourselves, by taking our loved ones to Christ. It’s a great gift and rich blessing to have the fellowship of faith with family and friends.

That is mirrored in the chain reaction that occurs when Andrew gets the company of Peter, and Philip tells his friend Nathanael about Jesus. Philip was among those who got to hear a radical "Follow me!" from Jesus. He was on fire to have found the one the Jews had waited for, for hundreds of years, the one the prophets and the law had predicted. His spontaneous reaction was that he would share this with his friend. Nathanael was not that quick, and wasn’t persuaded immediately. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" he asked. He himself came from the neighboring town of Cana, and I don’t know, but there might very well have been jealousy between these small cities of Galilee. Anyway, Nathanael was skeptical. But Philip is still eager, and what we now get to hear is interesting. We would have expected that Philip would have argued about his "Messiah-find", but he doesn’t do that. Instead, he says: "Come and see!"

How many have become Christians by listening to arguments? It’s not easy to make some one believe by winning a discussion. It’s not discussions, but people we are supposed to win for Christ. And for the most part, this is about getting a personal experience. "Come and see!" is a personal recommendation which corresponds to what Jesus has called us to do. You are my witnesses, he says. Acts. 1:8. You don’t need theological education to be a witness, but the will to simply tell what your faith means to you. Mindekirken has become what it is today among others because so many have said "Come and see!" What do the ones who come and see our services experience? The impressions will vary. Some might feel a liturgical service is dull because most of the words have been written ahead of time. Others regard it as a strength that the service rests in deeply engrained words that have been tried out by generations before us. Some like the hymns and the music. Personally, I would say that those are among the things I appreciate very much about Mindekirken. Here we have a quality of music which one doesn’t easily get to hear too much of. When it comes to social needs, I think and hope people feel that they are taken good care of here. It’s important that we use the ingenuity of love, and do our uttermost to make people feel welcome. But "Come and see!" is not first and foremost about finding a beautiful church and nice people. The goal of our efforts is that people might meet Jesus as the Son of God as Nathanael did, and that we may celebrate the fellowship with him and each other. One more point: The first disciples went to a brother and a friend to share the good news. Here at Mindekirken, we see our main mission in the same way: To go to a brother and friend and a fellow countryman. We are bound together by Norwegian culture, and are given a natural contact point we also use in the service of the gospel.

It happens that some people go to art galleries and find the pictures quite uninteresting. But if they join an art scholar who is clever at explaining about colors and composition, a new world may be opened through the paintings. We might need time and help to get into the music and the words of our service, but it’s a treasure without end, not only historically spoken. It’s mainly because we are able to meet a living Savior, Jesus Christ.

Nathanael came and saw. He was convinced that Jesus was the Son of God. And Jesus smiled to himself and said: You will see greater things than these! Did he think of miracles and signs? No, he told about the ladder between heaven and earth that their forefather Jacob had seen in a dream . Gen. 28. Jesus had come to open the connection between heaven and earth. "Come and see – he who has opened the way to heaven for you!"

Glory be to God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.

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