Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Second Sunday After the Epiphany - 01/19/14 Sermon - “Come and See”

Sunday 01/19/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Come and See”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Isaiah 49:1-7             

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Gospel Lesson: John 1:29-42

                             

          Welcome and good morning once again! It’s great to be back from my trip to the Holy Land, as I missed you all very much while I was away!

          This Sunday, is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany. This Epiphany of course, was the Epiphany of the three Wise Men or the three Magi seeing the Bethlehem Star or the Christmas Star in the sky, and then following this star to visit the baby Jesus.

It was interesting to me, that when the group of seminary students that I was part of was in the Holy Land, just happen to be there when many Eastern Orthodox Christians were there to celebrate Christmas. Specifically, the Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrated Christmas on Monday January 7^th. The reason for this is that most Eastern Orthodox Churches use a different calendar than the churches in the Western World, like us.

          Given this, I found it to be nice that for the Eastern Orthodox Churches, that they celebrate Christmas near the time we celebrate the three Wise Men or the three Magi were coming to see the baby Jesus.

          In fact, when our student group was in the hotel that we stayed in while we were in Bethlehem, there were many Russian folks staying at this same hotel that came to the Holy Land to celebrate the Eastern Orthodox Christmas. I found it sort of funny that in the meal area of the hotel that our group was designated as the “American Group” with signs on our tables, as the “Russian Group” was designated with similar signs on their tables, on the other side of the meal area. I remember saying to one of my professors as I looked across the room at the all of the Eastern Orthodox Russian Christians, “All we need is a concrete wall between us.”

          Needless to say, this comment was not greeted with open arms by my professor. Yet, these Russian folks, like us were excited about Christmas. Since there Christmas was January 7^th this year, our Christmas Day celebration had already ended. Their Christmas though, was upon us. This made me further realize just how big Christianity is. It also made me realize that the Cold War is thankfully over, as a bunch of us loud Americans were eating breakfast and dinner, starring face to face with a bunch of Russians. These Russians were people that were no longer Communists though and were likely people that believe in the statement, “In God we trust.”

          I also found on this trip, that in general, as Christians, as we read the Bible and as we read the gospels, we often imagine the places we read about as being grassy opened aired places. We might think of Bethlehem for example, as wide open pasture land. The reality is though, is that Bethlehem and most of all of the other Holy sites are now modern day places. People run and work at businesses in these places. Taxi cabs buzz by, there are colleges, there is industry, and amidst all of this hustle and bustle, there are Holy sites. In these places, is the convergence of the three “Abrahamic religions,” of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

          Since Israel is made up of about 80% Jewish folks, in some of the areas that we went the population was almost always Jewish. In some places the population was mostly Muslim. In some small places there was a Christian majority, but in general, we as Christians were strongly in the minority. In Jerusalem, as our student group of Christians would leave one of our historic churches or cathedrals, we would sometimes hear the hourly church bells ring, as the Muslim religious leaders would do their 5-times a day call to prayers. These prayers were done from large towers called minarets, and were done over loud speakers. As the church bells were ringing, and as the Muslim pastor or Imam was doing this loudly spoken call to prayer in Jerusalem, we could also see conservative Jews heading to the Jewish holy places, dressed in the traditional full black outfits and top hats, with their white prayer shawls or “tallit’s” on.

Yet, while much of Israel is holy to the Jews, to the Muslims, and to us Christians to, I found that perhaps the diversity of some of the parts of Israel might have been similar today, to when Jesus walked and talked there almost 2,000 years ago. That when we visited King Herod’s summer palace, that it was literally built on a mountain that had been made bigger by thousands of Herod’s workers moving tons and tons of dirt to make the mountain even bigger than it was. I even saw some of the structure that the Romans built there, and then I realized just what Jesus stood up to, and that he was no wimp. That Jesus knew what the stakes were, he knew what he was up against, and that he stood firm, in what must have been massive opposition. The Holy Land that Jesus began to minister to was much like it is today, with his followers being very much in the minority. There were Jews and others faiths as well, yet Jesus offered and still offers us the path of righteousness, the path of heaven.

When you’re in Israel then, you can quite literally feel like that you among a “Whitman’s Sampler” of religious options. Yet the uniqueness, the power, the truth, and the grace of the resurrected Christ are still alive and well in all of these places. In this way, I did still see the diversity and the tension that was very much evident in Jesus’ time, when he called people to repent, to follow him, and to “Come and See” the way to righteousness, the way to purity, the way to heaven. To “Come and See” who he was and who he still is. To “Come and See” why he is the “Prince of Peace,” and why he is the “Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

When looking at the Old Testament reading from the prophet Isaiah from this morning, it says, “Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.” You see when I reflected upon this scripture, I thought of all of the people that I encountered in the Holy Land from all over the world, that were from “far away.” Yet the Lord called us all before we were born. Isaiah goes on to say, “And he said to me, ‘You are my servant,’ Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Isaiah then continued on in saying, “my God has become my strength.”

Therefore, God has chosen us all, and this is hard to see sometimes in the places we live, but when I saw people from all over the world converging on the Holy Land to walk and talk where Jesus did, I saw the massiveness of what the prophet Isaiah was saying here.

When looking at the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle or the Letter to the church in Corinth or the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul told the church in Corinth that we are “called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Every place includes the millions and millions of Christians all over the world, from all different denominations, from all different countries, and draws us to the reality that we are all called to be holy, to be righteous, and to be “saints.” The Apostle Paul goes on to say speaking of God that, “He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Lastly the Apostle Paul says one of those timeless statements to the church in Corinth, that “God is faithful.”

In our Gospel reading from this morning, from the Gospel according to John, it said speaking of John the Baptist, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John the Baptist then spoke of how he was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, and as such, that Jesus was coming soon after him. John the Baptist then spoke of how we he baptizes with water, but that the Lord would baptize with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist then testified that when he baptized Jesus that, he “saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

The gospel reading then went on to say that, “The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look here is the Lamb of God!” At this point, “The two of John the Baptist’s disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.” These two disciples wanted to know Jesus, and where he was staying. Jesus then said to these two disciples, “Come and see.”

After this, the gospel tells us about the two disciples, that “They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.” One of these two disciples of John the Baptist was “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.” The gospel then says that Andrew found his brother “Simon Peter” and told him, “We have found the Messiah.” When Andrew brought his brother Simon Peter to Jesus, Jesus looked at Simon Peter and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Following the Lord then my brothers and sisters is like this sermon title says “Come and See.” “Come and See” who Jesus really was and still is today. We must “Come and See” who Jesus the risen savior really is.

I would like to close with a story from my trip to the Holy Land, as believe me I now have many such stories. This story occurred because of being able to see many of my Eastern Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters who were in the Holy Land for their January 7^th Christmas. In seeing many of our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters, from the various Eastern Orthodox Churches, I noticed that it is customary for women to cover their heads before entering the church, to show respect for God.

Of the many churches that we went into, one of the churches that we went into in Jerusalem was called the “Church of the Holy Sepulcher” or the “Church of the Resurrection.” As you enter into one of the side entrances of this church, there is place on this one side that is roped off. In the middle of this roped of place was a long smooth flat slab of rock. What I quickly learned, was that this slab of rock is believed to be the stone slab that Jesus body was laid on when he was put in the burial tomb after his crucifixion. This stone had a beautiful brownish color. This church also commemorates a possible place of Jesus’s burial, as there are two or three possible places of burial in Jerusalem, as well as the place that is believed to be where Jesus was crucified.

As our student group was entering the packed side entrance of this church, I saw several Americans, and I also saw several people from the various Eastern Orthodox Churches pushing eagerly to get into the church. It seemed that many of our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters knew ahead of time what the flat rock slab on the ground was, as most of us Americans did not. As many of these Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters were entering the church, I saw some of them immediately burst into tears. I even saw a woman who was about ten feet from the slab where it is believed that Jesus’ body was laid. This woman immediately fell on the ground where she stood and wept. She then proceeded to crawl to the burial slab of the Lord. She then kissed the slab and wept over the stone.

After this, she put her face on the slab and just laid there for a moment. Then she rubbed her prayer beads all over the slab. I then saw several other Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters do similar things such like this.

You see, many of these folks come from countries that are not that wealthy. While we all as Americans were excited and ecstatic to be in these places, I was amazed at how much faith that our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters had. It was then, that this morning’s gospel reading hit me extra hard. Specifically, that when Jesus the Lord told John the Baptist’s two disciples, that if you really want to know me, then “Come and See.”

This is because, for all of us, Jesus gives us our own opportunity to “Come and See.” These opportunities do not have to be necessarily sought by going half way around the world to the Holy Land though. Sometimes in fact, these opportunities are right down the street. Sometimes, Jesus is telling us, “If you really want to know me, will you be willing to follow me?” So with that said, I challenge us all this week to see where Jesus is calling us. To see where Jesus is saying to all of us “Come and See.” To see where the Lord of life is saying, “Come and See” where I am leading you. Amen.