Week 25: Finding The Good in the Dark

Scripture: John 1:43-46

The next day 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.”

Finding Good in the Dark

In French, the word commencement, or commencement, actually is translated as the beginning. It means that though this may seem like an end in the road, it’s actually a bend towards our new beginnings. That may be relatively difficult to digest when we are about receive our degree and go out to public service to the world. But let us think about this, all of our years of preparation is for this moment where we can literally go out to the world and become public servants to them. And we know that alongside all of what we’ve learned, there is so much more that we don’t know. But since a hint to the wise is sufficient, I have some news that you may want to know. They don’t tell you that you are now considered the biblical scholar among all the people who you know. They didn’t tell you that you need to be prepared to answer every question about the bible at any time. They don’t tell you that you are now the professional pray-er for every family function.

Another one of those things is that people are always watching you and waiting to make an opinion on you. It is a reality that people will judge you before they even get to know you. To someone: you aren’t the right race, gender, age, identify with the right sexual orientation, not a part of the right socio-economic class and therefore are deemed worthy of their judgement. It is common for people to acquire a minute piece of information about you and consider their ability to write your life’s narrative. Sometimes it can be minor like his family is from the islands, so he must love to eat goat, but in actuality I prefer a Philly cheese-steaks. That’s minor. But there are some people who judge you on a larger platform and treat you as such. People, who could’ve came to you and had conversation with you will speak at lengths about you without an anchor for their information. This is exactly what is happening in this text.

Now, we all know, that Jesus had just completed his time of study at the Lutheran Seminary of Galilee and was preparing to fulfill his call to work as a mission developer.  He is building an elite team of disciples who will aid in the developing of this mission. He reaches out to Philip and Philip is excited. He comes to Nathaniel and tells him that we have found the one who they’ve been prophesying about. But Nathaniel is not impressed. So as Jesus found himself at the beginning of his public ministry, and as he prepares to step into his ministry, someone judges him based off where he comes from. Have you ever been judged based on your past? It doesn’t matter if it was last week or 20 years ago, but the pain of your past can still cause pain in your future. It could have been because of all of the rumored messiahs who had come before Jesus but it’s still painful to hear. Jesus hasn’t even had the opportunity to speak on his own behalf yet and he is being judged. Nathaniel says “Can anything Good come out of Nazareth”?

Nazareth is a dark place that doesn’t have its priorities in order. It is a city that has a dilapidated school system with state of the art prisons. It is a city filled with condemned homes but is still filled with people experiencing homelessness. It is a city filled with people struggling with opioid-addiction, but has forgotten the weight of the mal-practicing prescribers. It is a city without a hope for a future. It is a city filled with the indictment of barrenness and restraints of productivity. There is no a Love there. There is no Joy there. There is no Peace there. There is no Patience there. There is no Kindness there. There is no Goodness here. There is no Faithfulness here. There is no Gentleness there. There is no Self-control there. There is nothing but lack there. This not the place you want to vacation in. No, this isn’t the place where you desire to pop the question. This is not where you send your kids after their graduation because this place is not luxurious or kingly. How could you say that the one who we’ve longed for and the king that God has promised us is from there? Surely, the residue of this environment would have rubbed off on him and tainted him. Even if he was who we expected, by now, after living in Nazareth, surely he has been corrupted. As if this couldn’t seemingly get worse, my siblings in Christ, I want you to know that I know another Nazareth.

This Nazareth is a place where people of diverse contexts, traditions and understandings come together for the purpose of preaching a living gospel to a changing and evolving world. This Nazareth is a place where Public Theology is taught but in the times of trouble Private collusion is practiced. This is a place that Preaches Grace and Forgiveness but still falls short of the Glory and Honor of God. This place puts a magnifying glass on things from 20 years ago but disregards the things happening this year. This Nazareth will slay it’s God appointed prophets and pray to God to render us another. Don’t you know that Nazareth? That Nazareth is in our DNA and will follow us for the rest of our lives. People will hear our faith journeys and ask “Can anything good come out of Nazareth? We carry the weight of this statement into our various calls of ministry but the blessing of it all is still in this text.

In the text, I’ve found that without any words from Jesus, there is a response. Philip responds to Nathaniel to offer him insight by a mere suggestion of coming into the proximity of the promise. Philip bids Nathaniel to come and see. Our generation needs to find that good amid this dark and barren time. Let us begin to look because:

·         When we find the Good in the dark, there will be peace in the middle of the storm

·         When we find the Good in the dark, justice will roll down like a river and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

·         When we find the Good in the dark; the hungry are fed and the thirsty are given drink

·         When we find the Good in the dark; the naked are clothed, the sick are cared for and those in prison are visited.

·         When we find the Good in the dark, the wicked will cease from troubling and the weary shall be at rest.

·         When we find the Good in the dark, the church will do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.

Philip seemingly say, “I know you know the root of Nazareth but the fruit is ripe and ready for harvest”. So I say with confidence, if there is anything good in Nazareth, my friends it’s you! If there is a promise for the hope of the future, it’s you. If there are a group of people who will hold on to the horns of the altar and begin to drive the church to where it needs to be, I’m sure it’s you. But there still is a need to reveal the Good hidden within you because the world will be a better place when we have found it. The truth of the matter is that we can’t afford to wait too much longer for you. So, I can stand like Philip and respond to those who speak ill of you and bid them to come and see. I bid You, my friends, to go and show them. Because you are the Good in the dark!