The Second Sunday After the Epiphany John 1:43-51 January 14, 2018

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Wrong Side of the TracksOur text is from the Gospel according to St.

John chapter one, here again reading verses

45 -49: 45 Philip found Nathanael and said

to him, “We have found him of whom

Moses in the Law and also the prophets

wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 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! You are the King of Israel!” (Jn 1:45–49).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

I grew up on the west side of Detroit in a place called Redford - yes, Radford from Redford -

and even though I never realized it when I was growing up, Redford was considered the

wrong side of the tracks (even though there were no railroad tracks) by the more affluent

suburbs outside the city limits. Certainly it wasn’t the inner city, and for the most part there

were well kept houses and neighbourhoods, but it’s definitely a blue collar working class place

and somewhat gritty and rough around the edges. So when I played sports in high school �1

and traveled around to some of the fancier school districts I got a sense of what it was like to

be coming from the wrong side of the tracks, from a place where people turned up their

noses and looked down at you simply because of where you lived. You see, whether we like it

or not where you come from is a big part of how we look at each other in our society. It’s

much harder to attempt to relate to someone on an individual level because that takes time

and effort - and courage - and it’s much easier to sweep people into broad categories and

generalizations based on the assumption that everyone who comes from a certain place is

alike.

Nathaniel is no different. To set the stage for our text, Jesus has called the first disciples,

which we see in the first chapter of John right in the verses immediately preceding our text

this morning. John tells us the names of these first followers were Andrew and Simon, who

would be called Peter, and another unnamed disciple who was probably John himself. The

next day Jesus was in Galilee, the area that will be the centre of much of His ministry, and

He finds Philip. Philip then goes to find Nathaniel and says “We have found Him of whom

Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Now,

maybe Nathaniel knew something about Nazareth. Maybe he had been there, maybe he had

heard of it, or perhaps had never heard that name before and it didn’t even register but he

just associated with every other no-account Judean village in the area. But there was one

thing he knew for sure, there’s no way that “Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the

prophets wrote” could ever come from a place like Nazareth. Oh maybe Jerusalem, the big

city, or maybe some other large city in Judea, that would make more sense. But Nazareth?

Can anything good come from there?

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Nathaniel had an idea about the coming Messiah, and that idea was that the Messiah was

coming to rule the world as a great and mighty king, decked out in gold and silk and

commanding armies and sitting on a throne in a palace. They sought a king who could

liberate them from the yoke of Roman occupation and restore Israel to the glory days of

David and Solomon. They wished for Christ, the Anointed one, to be the highest king on

earth and in heaven. So the idea that a Messiah who was going to do all these things would

come from a place like Nazareth, the very epitome of the wrong side of the tracks, well that

would have seemed preposterous. But Philip, he has seen Jesus. Philip knows something that

Nathaniel doesn’t, because Philip has been found by Christ - he has been found, Philip did

not do the finding, and that changes everything. In this finding Christ has brought the

redemption promised in the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy says “I

will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words

in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (Dt 18:18). The prophet

Zephaniah said “14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with

all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against

you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you

shall never again fear evil” (Zep 3:14–15).

The Right Side of the TracksYou see, it takes more than being from the right side of the tracks to become a child of God,

to be adopted into His family. It takes “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the

world” (Jn 1:29). In fact, we are all born on the wrong side of the tracks in the sight of God,

for we are all corrupted by the stain of sin. David says, “Behold, I was brought forth in

iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5). To be on the wrong side of the

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tracks in God’s eyes is not a questions of where you live but who you are, and Paul tells us

that apart from God’s grace and mercy we are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). Sin,

trespass, corruption - this is the neighbourhood on the wrong side of the tracks, spiritually

speaking. And it’s a very bad neighbourhood indeed. But there is a way back. Philip

beckons, come and see, see who found me so that you may be found in Christ also. So

Nathaniel goes to Jesus and Jesus says “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no

deceit.” How can he says this about Nathaniel? After all, isn’t Nathaniel the guy who said

nothing good can come from Nazareth? Well, Jesus came from Nazareth! How can Jesus say

he has no deceit? Here’s how: because Jesus found Him, and in that finding is the forgiveness

of sins, the righteousness of God, and in that forgiveness and righteousness all our sins and

transgression and corruption are wipe away and we are made a new creation. Psalm 32 says

“Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no

deceit” (Ps 32:2). Jesus Christ, the Anointed Son of God is the one who gives us this blessing

so that in us there is no iniquity, so that in our spirit there is no deceit. In His compassion

Christ beheld you before you knew Him, when you were lying under the burden of sin.

Even still, He sought you out, He found you, and today the heavens are opened for you to

receive these blessings. Nathaniel is amazed that Jesus saw him under the fig tree, but Jesus

says that Nathaniel will see something even more amazing, for Christ is the access to the

opened heavens and to the Father. Jesus is the heavenly escalator by which God reaches

down to us and brings us back to himself. Luther says “For when Christ became man and

entered upon His preaching ministry, then heaven was opened. Beginning with that time, it

is open and remains open. It has never been closed since Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan; and

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it will never be closed again, hidden though this sight is from the physical eye.” So we hear 1

God speaking to us through His Holy Word as it proceeds from the mouth of those who

proclaim His message, and we call and cry to Him in our prayers and He answers us.

Heaven is open and our Lord addresses us by name in our Holy Baptism, and we participate

with all the saints on earth and in heaven in the Divine Service as we receive the very Body

and Blood of Christ Himself. St. Paul writes, “So then you are no longer strangers and

aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of

God” (Eph 2:19).

In the city of God there is no wrong side of the tracks. Like Philip, Jesus has found you and in

doing so has shown that He is the fulfillment of Moses and the prophets, for only the

anointed One of God takes away your sins and raises you again to new life in your baptism.

So like Nathaniel you have been declared to be without deceit, the heavens are opened

because Christ has taken the sins of the world onto Him. In order to see the light of Christ,

we have been seen. And now in order to love our neighbour, we first have been loved with

the extravagant mercy of God the Father through the Son. Can anything good come from

Nazareth? Jesus bids us, “Come and see.”

And now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds

in Christ Jesus. Amen.

✠ Soli Deo Gloria

AE 22.2021

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