When Holy Doesn’t feel Holy By Ralen Robinson

When Holy Doesn’t feel Holy By: Ralen Robinson

Sermon

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 of whom Moses in the Torah and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

P: this is the word of the lord

C: Thanks be to God

Three years ago, I packed up my suitcases, said goodbye to my family and hopped on a 16-hour plane ride to the Middle East. I traveled to Jerusalem with Young Adults in Global Mission to accompany the Palestinian people. I wanted to walk with the marginalized and see the birthplace of Jesus. To stand where my favorite Biblical stories took place and have them come alive.  Yet upon my arrival, I found that the holy land isn’t so holy. That's where the biblical people grappled with their faith, rejoiced in Christ and was healed by Jesus now lied a land divided, groups of people fighting under occupation and this place riddled with pain, death, and sorrow. I found that the ideology of the haves and have nots, the discrimination, racism, and prejudice does not solely reside back here at home but is deeply embedded in one of the holiest of places.

I stood on that cobblestone road, in the midst of it all, looking at the Israeli soldiers strapped with their military assault rifles. I saw a little old Palestinian woman sitting on the side of the road selling their herbs to support their family. I saw young Palestinian boys hackled and told to assume the position while their Jewish counterparts walked freely to their destination. For a year, I saw the juxtaposition of what I read in the biblical text and my lived reality. My lived reality was riddled with checkpoints, the sweet aroma of coffee, the faint sting of tear gas and hospitality so great that the saying, Ahlan wa Sahlan (meaning: welcome) always echoed in the background.

For a year, I walked alongside my Palestinian brothers and sisters and saw a small glimpse into their lives. I saw the clashes that broke out due to Palestinians being tired and exhausted that they lashed out in anger. I sat with them as we got stopped at checkpoints. I worked the land that harvested their olives, and I sat on hot days listening to their stories partaking in tea with lemon.

I was in the holy land and yet it did not feel holy.

I thought holiness was a sacred place. A place filled to the brim with righteousness and godliness. I believed holiness was a feeling and connection that was indescribable, that you couldn’t simply see it but you had to feel it. Yet when you saw it- it was draped in bright lights. So much so that it hurts your eyes when you looked at it and made you feel so full that you were bursting at the seams. Holiness so bright that you had to shield your eyes like Moses on the top of the mountain when God revealed only a small part because God was too grand that mere eyes weren’t able to take it. To me, holiness should have been at every turn in that place, but I felt, saw and experienced none of it. I wanted to walk alongside the holy Abraham, to hold hands with the holy Noah, who built the ark, to ask questions to the most holy Moses. I wanted to sit in the presence of the holy, like John the Baptist, and be renewed. I wanted to find shade in the holy temples.

I was in the holy city, but holiness wasn’t there. So, I had to relearn what it meant to be holy because my understanding of holiness fell short. I had to see that holiness was there all the time it was just inside the shell of the people, in the lingering pain of the clashes, and the brokenness. Once I knew where the sacred spaces were, I then saw the holy land in new eyes.  I saw through death, destruction, pain, and sorrow -holiness was there. It did not take away from the sacredness, but made it so that you had to seek it out because anyone and anything can be holy.

This is especially true in the Gospel we hear today. In the book of John, we see Nathanael ask Phillip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” and Philips simple response is, “Come and see.” We see this simple question and answer is anything but simple. My friends, let us remember what Nazareth is.

•    Nazareth is the city where Jesus was raised

•    Nazareth is a city riddled with poverty, crime, abandoned homes, needles stuck in the cracked pavements

•    Nazareth is a city full of despair.

•    Nazareth is a place of privilege for certain people

•    Nazareth is a place of patriarchy 

•    Nazareth is a place where the schoolhouses have more bars on the window than books.

•    Nazareth is a place filled with food deserts and empty stomachs

•    Nazareth is a place where homes are filled with multiple generations raised by the wrinkled hands of grandmothers.

•    Nazareth is the crack epidemic in the 90s

•    Nazareth is mass incarceration for black and brown bodies

•    Nazareth is North Philadelphia before the gentrification

•    Nazareth is down da bottom before it was named University City

•    Nazareth is any inner-city neighborhood deemed the ghetto.

Thus, we reach the conundrum of the text – this place is horrible, disgraceful and you are saying Jesus is from there and the answer is yes. This is the place the king of kings, the messiah, Jesus! was raised. Jesus is the product of this city. So, when Nathaniel asks Phillip does anything good come out of Nazareth, the answer is yes because we look to the promise of the Messiah. Just as I had to look closely for the promise of Nazareth, I had to look closely for the promise of Jerusalem.

There is not only ONE Nazareth, but there are many.

•    Nazareth is the United States of America

•    Nazareth is driving while Black

•    Nazareth is racism

•    Nazareth is sexism

•    Nazareth is crooked Politicians

•    Nazareth is unequal education

Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nothing good was supposed to come out of Nazareth. Yet, we have Jesus coming out of that dark, broken, traumatized environment. Jesus the lord of lords, the king of kings, the way maker, the peace giver, the deliverer, the prophecy fulfilled the way, the truth, and the light. The holiest of holy’s:

•    Can anything holy come out of Jerusalem

•    Can anything holy come out of injustices

•    Can anything holy come out of North Philly

•    Can anything holy come out of Strawberry mansion

•    Can anything holy come out of South Philadelphia

•    Can anything holy come out of da bottom

Holiness was in the hugs of my host mother in Jerusalem, holiness was in the brewed coffee given to me from the produce man I passed on my way to work and holiness was in the countless homes opened to me as I traveled throughout the year.

Holiness is those fighting to be the light in the darkness, holiness is those that survive living under an occupation, holiness is those that fight to change these unequal crocked laws, holiness is the first black female bishop elected to the 98%, holiness is this little black girl who went from the pavement to the pulpit. Holiness is each and every one of you that have been broken down, left on the side of the road and feel forgotten.

I ask again, can anything holy come out of Nazareth?

Yes, my brothers and sisters!!! And each of you is a living, breathing testament of that. Jesus was born and raised in environments that many of us have experienced today and that was not a coincidence. It was through the grace of God that we are here. Jesus being raised in Nazareth is a reminder that we can overcome any ism, any social injustice, any inequality, and any obstacle if we connect ourselves to the king. 

Nazareth may be where we start, but it does not have to be where we finish. Jesus is calling us out of Nazareth. Will you answer the call? Will you come and see the holiest of holy’s?

Amen!!!