Year B 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 14 January 2024
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“Doing the Impossible”
Collect: Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
John 1:43-51
Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Start small. Start where you are. These are simple instructions for Life, and for Faith, too. But the one thing they have in common is Start. If we don’t start we never will do anything.
Whether Santa singing “Put One Foot In Front of the Other,” to the Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu saying, “A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step.” However we get about to getting things done, there is a starting point, and often that first step is the hardest.
In graduate school I studied the 12 Step Program that met at the church I was serving. I was so blown away. There was a group who met weekly to work on being better, and openly struggling with a hardship they all shared. They were intentional about it. They wanted the crazy to stop, and they did not only want that, they wanted some day, somehow, to be well. Wellness, Wholeness, is a dream for so many of us. And when things like this are dreams they start to be in the clouds instead of the end of a path that we can take.
The people in the 12 Step Program were working their way to making their dream come true. And they were constantly reminded that they were not doing it alone. They were all on a journey to Wellness together. They needed each other, and some who had made progress wove it into their DNA to help those who were taking their first steps.
The First Step, if you are not familiar with it in the 12 Step Programs, is this: Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol [or whatever is the addiction]—that our lives had become unmanageable. It seems so silly, almost, if it were not life and death we were talking about. But to actually say that we cannot do it and we cannot pretend any more is a huge, brave, and vulnerable statement that many are not willing to make.
When Jesus calls Nathanael it is small and it is very simple. “I saw you under the fig tree.” And Nathanael in response gushes out, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Huge response to something so insignificant.
But Jesus spoke to the one listening. He knew what Nathanael needed to hear. Like Philip in response to Nathanael’s derogatory statement, or maybe it was even a joke that went around that area of Galilee, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Instead of responding at the same level, Philip knows his friend. “Come and see.”
In this year where we are praying for God to make “ALL THINGS NEW” I think that we can follow a lot in today’s story. Let God’s work speak for itself. When we reach out to friends and neighbors about joining their journeys to ours, we do not need to convince or cajole, and let God speak for God. Why should I come to St. James the Less? We can be like Philip and merely say, “Come and see.”
“Come and see.” Simple. Small. But it is a Start.
The First Step is admitting that things are not right, and there can be a better way. To make “ALL THINGS NEW” we need to start with the fertilizer that is our lives as they are, and move to the health and growth of Christ.
You may have started something new in your life with Resolutions or some other new program this year. Good. Have you failed already? Statistically most have by this point in January.
Part of it is doing it on your own. Part of it is expecting bigger things in the first steps than is realistic. When we start to run we do not begin with the Olympics. There is an African proverb that you may have heard:
If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.
Friends, we come together as this church to support, protect, encourage, embolden, commiserate, and comfort each other in our daily walk in Christ. Our journeys are a single journey. We may be in different places, and for those further down the path, it is incumbent upon us to help those beginning their journeys to make it further down the way. Philip had found Jesus. He felt he was the One, the long awaited Messiah. He came to tell Nathanael to share in the wealth that he found in this Jesus of Nazareth. He invited Nathanael to see for himself if Jesus could really be the One.
You are the Baptized, and if you are in Christ, then I am talking to you. In our baptismal covenant we made vows of how we would walk the way of love Jesus taught and modeled for us.
I love how our covenant breaks it down into small, simple steps that actually can be done. Not alone, but together.
I think it is important as we focus on making ALL THINGS NEW that we are on the same page, so please turn to page 304 in the Book of Common Prayer. I like to do this every couple of years in some way. We should use this Covenant as our metric and our touchstone in any steps we take. Page 304, please read it with me…
The Baptismal Covenant
So friends, Jesus came to Nathanael and met him on the road. He met him where he was, intellectually, too. He made a simple statement about a fig tree, and that was all that Nathanael needed. But Jesus tells him if that impressed him, then just wait. Oh, there is so much more!
[Jesus] said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
In other words, “Nathanael, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” But in it, Jesus also models for us the goal and the outcome. The endgame. What is the point is of all this. He let’s him catch a glimpse of where this road he is being invited on will lead to.
When we begin something, the endgame is so important. With the outcome in sight we can get through the hard times, the dry times when we just are not feeling it. Jesus’ vision of what Nathanael would see helped him take those early steps, and while on that road, keep him going when times were hard.
I have always been fascinated by labyrinths. There are so many designs that come from various cultures and other faiths, too. The ones I appreciate walking the most are the 11 circuit one in the Chartres Cathedral in France. The Stone and Pebble Labyrinth at Shrine Mont is based off of the Chartres Labyrinth, so design. The genius of this design is that at the very beginning you are brought in close, right next to the outcome, the Center. And then, the pilgrim is spun out to the outer edge and the rest of the way works to get back to where they began at the beginning. In so many things in life this is the way. We are given a glimpse of what can be accomplished early on. We even have a phrase for it, Beginner’s Luck. Our Buddhist brethren speak of having a Beginner’s Mind. Both relate to the approach of that openness to something new, combined with the laser focus of the Learner who wants this new thing, or new skill, or to win the game.
Friends, as we continue to step into what 2024 will bring, keep it small, keep it simple, keep the outcome in sight. Picture yourself where you want to be, and then take the steps, small, consistent, dedicated steps to get there.
My beloved St. Francis put it this way, “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Hold that close dear friends, adventure awaits! Amen
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Blessings, Rock