January 17, 2021
“The Call”
1 Samuel 3:1-10
John 1: 43-51
When Jesus say Nathanael approaching, Jesus said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Now do you understand how Jesus knew the heart of Nathanael? Jesus saw Nathanael under the fig tree. The shade of a fig tree was a favorite place for study and prayer in hot weather. Jesus must have seen Nathanael in prayer or study in the shade of that Fig tree in hot weather. It told Jesus all that he needed to know about Nathanael. He studied and prayed and was therefore a true Israelite.
So, we are known by Jesus simply by the practices and associations which we have. Think about where you have been and with whom you are associated … that tell others a lot about you.
A few years ago, we received a request from the Rev. Forest Hoppe, then Association minister. It seems that there was a Chinese Christian group that was seeking a place to worship and study and he and their pastor wondered if our church would have room for their
Friday night gatherings. A couple weeks later I met with them, just to show them our double room on the second floor and explain a bit about our church. Now let me make it clear…this was an established Chinese Christian church that was merely asking for space and not to join our church. We, of course, were fine with that. So, I met with them.
I told them that on Friday’s they would find over 100 folks from AA meeting in the Goodwill Room. They may come across Food Pantry Clients up in that hallway or in the downstairs. I told them that we were going to set up for a dinner the next night. “What dinner?” they all asked.
I told them we were going to host Muslims and have a meal together. I told them that we were not asking the Muslims to become Christians, they were not asking us to become Muslim. The response of the Chinese Christians?
They smiled and said, “Oh that sounds good.” And finally they asked, “If we came to your church worship on Sunday, would we be welcome?”
I thought that an odd question. I had never before had a group of Christians ask if they would be welcome in our worship service. I tend to subscribe to the passage that we are all “One in the Lord.” I could understand a Muslim asking if they would be welcome in our worship. And by the way, the answer is “Yes, absolutely.” I could understand a Hindu asking if they would be welcome, and the answer would be “Yes, absolutely.” I could understand a Jew asking, and the answer would be “yes, absolutely.” But for a Christian to ask if they would be welcome, I was a bit surprised.
I told the Chinese Christian woman, “you are always welcome to worship with us. We do not expect you to join our church to worship here. Our door is always open to you.”
What in that 10 minute conversation made the strongest impression on those Christians who are all Chinese? I found out later in the week when I received an email from their leader who said that our acceptance of Muslims in sitting down for a meal together had made a strong positive impact on the Chinese Christians.
Do you see the connection with Jesus and the story of Nathanael? Without ever having met Nathanael Jesus knew that Nathanael was a man of faith from his study and prayers under the Fig Tree. Jesus had correctly sized up Nathanael simply by Nathanael’s association with others of faith. Those Chinese Christians did the same thing with Dublin Community Church. They did so in ways that neither I nor anyone else in this church imagined when we invited the Muslims to sit down and break bread with us. This group of Chinese Christians who are a bit wary of Anglo Saxon Christian churches due to their history; this group of Chinese Christians figured that if Dublin Community Church is welcoming of Muslims from Asia and the Middle East…we would also be welcoming of Christians from Chinese background who are doing Bible Study in the building. They correctly assumed that we would not press them. They correctly assumed that we would always welcome them in whatever form of study or worship their ethnic background was accustomed to when it came to practicing Christianity.
It’s as if the Chinese Christians saw us already, before we even knew they saw us under the Fig Tree. That is how Jesus did with Nathanael.
This is no longer 1950 when there is a preponderance of Anglo Saxon Christians in our churches. We are a multicultural society, not just in Los Angles or Boston. We are multi cultural, multi lingual and multi religious. We have a vast array of cultures which bring their own religions and merely asked if they will be accepted as Americans. We have a vast array of cultures that bring their own brand of Christianity, different from what you and I grew up in. We are all one in Christ Jesus.
There is no question in my understanding of Jesus that He will accept those of other faiths and those who experience Christianity in non Anglo-Saxon forms.
The only question is whether we will do the same. Amen