Fr. Philip Sang: Answering the Call to Follow Jesus

Sermon delivered on Epiphany 2B, Sunday, January 14, 2018 at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH.

If you prefer to listen to the audio podcast of today’s sermon (and who wouldn’t?), click here.

Lectionary texts: 1 Samuel 3:1-20; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51.

Today, I want us to look at the passage from John and 1 Samuel and think about what it means to answer the call to follow Jesus. I suppose, in a sense, every sermon is about what it means to follow Jesus – but there are things I want to draw on this morning out of the lesson.

The gospel scene is set for us as Jesus decides to head for Galilee, and that’s when the encounter with Philip begins. The first thing we notice is actually very easy to miss…

Right at the start of the story, John says: “Jesus found Philip”.

Philip didn’t find Christ. Christ found Philip.

The truth at the heart of the Christian story is not that you and I have found Christ, but Christ has found us.

We did not decide for God. God decided for us.

And the narrative that runs throughout the Bible is of a God who constantly seeks out his people.

And that’s the case right from the beginning of Scripture. If you remember in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, realised they were naked and were embarrassed, so they hid. And, in verse 8, God is walking in the garden and looking for Adam and Eve and in verse 9: “But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” Right from the beginning of time, God has been seeking us out and finding us.

So let us never think that we chose God: he has chosen us! As Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world…”

And this is important because the knowledge that God has sought us out, rather than us choosing God, is crucial in keeping us humble before God. And once Jesus finds Philip, he issues a single command: “Follow me”. Philip is compelled to follow Jesus.

Philip follows Jesus, and bears witness to Nathanael. But Nathanael is skeptical, and he questions Philip.“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” In our day and age, an argument might arise, but Philip does not enter into an argument of words, he simply says, come and see. Nathanael goes to see, and although scholarship is unsure of the meaning of the fig tree, it is obvious that Jesus knows something about Nathanael that no one but God incarnate could know. Jesus had identified Nathanael before Philip had spoken to him when he was under the fig tree. God knows who and what we are. Our Lord also knows that we can accomplish great things for the Kingdom. God called each of us in our own unique way so as to serve him by doing what he has called us to do. And i guess by now we all know that it is to make a difference for Him

In the Old Testament lesson, God called Samuel, and Samuel is confused until Eli finally perceives that God is calling Samuel. And then, Samuel responds with the familiar, here I am. God gives Samuel some difficult information. Samuel tells Eli what God has planned, and Eli accepts his fate. The point is that God calls, we listen, and then do what we are called to do.

The tasks we are called to do are all difficult because of our frailty as humans, but they are not beyond our capabilities. What we are called to do might be unpleasant for us, but they are done for the love of God. think about Medical doctors, they are called to relieve the suffering of humans. But part of their call is also to inform family members that a loved one has died, or has terminal cancer, or will never walk again. We do not have to understand what we are called for, in fact, there is no way we can understand because we are not God. We have to trust that God will make all things right in the end. We have to trust that God knows, not just what is best for us as individuals, but what is best for all in the Kingdom of God. What we do know for sure is that we are all mortal. Our flesh will die, but we get the chance to live on by the acceptance of our Lord, and the acceptance of what we are called to do.

Tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day, It can only be imagined that Martin Luther King felt much like the Apostle Paul in his call to spread the Good News. Paul was harassed, beaten, persecuted, and probably executed for his belief in spreading the Gospel of our Lord. Violence was not acceptable for either man as a way to spread the Word. Both men wrote letters while jailed. Dr. King’s most famous letter is probably his letter written from the Birmingham jail. The letter is addressed to eight clergymen in Birmingham who had suggested that King needed to wait to pursue his cause. The timing was not correct, King should wait on political leaders to change and let the process change the abuses and denial of rights being inflicted on Blacks. The eight men consisted of a Presbyterian pastor, Southern Baptist minister, Jewish Rabbi, Roman Catholic bishop, two Methodist bishops, and two Episcopal Bishops; a fairly ecumenical group.

Dr. King heard the call of our Lord. He was given his instructions, and he knew that his difficult information had to be given to the leaders of this country. He knew that the status quo had to change, and waiting was no longer an option. But, he also knew that any form of violence corrupted the message. In order to follow his call, the message he sent had to be one of change through non-violent means. He knew that the message of Jesus to love God, and love your neighbor as yourself applied to all persons, friend and enemy.

Jesus knows us before he calls us. He knows what we are all capable of, and he knows that the instructions we receive in our call will probably be difficult for us. But, we can all do it. We can all follow and serve the Lord. As long as we are alive, we can answer the call of our Lord. We are disciples. Discipleship is an active engagement with Jesus. It is also an active engagement in the world in which we live.

Hopefully, it is not necessary for any of us to risk our freedom or our lives in order to answer our individual calls. But it may take us out of our comfort zone, and cause us more than a little discomfort. It might even cause us discomfort to think that our Lord knows all that we do, and all that we can do. We can take the instruction of the eight clergymen in Birmingham, and wait for the system to set things right. Or we can accept the call of our Lord. We can acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, and follow him. We can do what is unpleasant in this broken world to ease the suffering and injustice that exists. We do not have to fix it all. As individuals, we do our part, and hope that others are answering the call and doing their part. We are changed by God to make a difference for Him. Here I am Lord, speak for your servant is listening.

In the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.