PREACHING THE LECTIONARY: THE McGREGOR PAGE
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Epiphany 2
January 19, 2003
1 Samuel 3: 1-10
Psalm 139: 1-6
1 Corinthians 6: 12-20
John 1: 43-51
In seminary, the droll among us would deliberate misunderstand the word "exegesis" and say, "Extra Jesus!?! I don't know what to do with the one I've got." Most of us came to school with
one Jesus and left with many. A close examination of the Gospels reveals a Jesus for each writer. John's Jesus doesn't suffer and die on the cross; he is "lifted up." Mark's Jesus doesn't want
anyone to know he is the Messiah. Matthew's Jesus does everything to demonstrate that he is the Messiah. Luke's Jesus is especially concerned about social justice. Then there is the Jesus of the creeds who has a divine and human nature. Modern scholars have proposed a "Historical Jesus." Since real human beings don't walk on water, command the weather with a word or rise from the dean, they reason there must have been a "real" Jesus that gave rise to the fabulous stories in the Bible. Psychology of Religion adds another Jesus, the one whom people love, with whom they talk, and on whom they lean.
So, naturally, the title "The Jesus I Never Knew" caught my eye a few years ago. A friend had recommended my reading it since I had asserted that we should be preaching Jesus Christ ever Sunday. Fine, which Jesus are we to preach? Preach the Jesus you love.
Philip Yancey's book is about the Jesus he loves, and I love it. It is the Jesus we find in the text,all four Gospels together, and the Jesus we find in our hearts and minds. We are like Nathanael in the text from John. We don't know much about Jesus, but we know his promise to reveal himself as our Savior. We know our own confession of faith, and we know that he saw us before we first saw him.
That last assertion requires some support. The story of Jesus found in the Scriptures and proclaimed in the church has not just revealed God to us, it has revealed us to ourselves. It is as if God has said to each one of us, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." Meeting Jesus includes meeting the self that God has always seen. "Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)
So, a sermon on this text can probe what it means to meet Jesus, to confess Jesus as Savior and to become a disciple. It can also focus of the "come and see" role of the church in the world. Yes, evangelism, but evangelism in the sense of introducing a friend to a friend. It raises the question
of the friendly nature of your church. If a member says to a friend, "I would like you to come to church with me to meet Jesus," is the church prepared to make good on that offer? Can that "Nathanael" meet Jesus in the sermon, in a Sunday School class, in the spirit of the congregation? The question is not just can "Nathanael" hear the name and the claim. Can he meet the friend who has known him and his needs, the Savior he desperately needs?
Roland McGregor, Pastor
Asbury United Methodist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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