Passage: This Week's Second Reading

"God’s Greatest Gift"

A few years my oldest grandson got kind of hung up on the Christmas is over subject. I’m sure he questioned why his mother was taking down the Christmas tree, and I’ll bet that she told him that she was taking it down because Christmas was over. To a child of three, tree down equals Christmas over. But Mindy still had some presents for him at our house, and when she talked to Tyler on the phone, she would tell him that she wanted to see him soon, and that she had some Christmas presents for him. Tyler would quickly protest "But Christmas is over." In his mind, it was too late for any presents.

Those of you who have been Lutheran for a long time probably remember the names for the Sundays after Epiphany, these Sundays between Christmas and Lent. These Sundays were the in-between Sundays, between looking at the love of God in sending his Son to be the Savior of the world, and looking at the suffering, death, and resurrection of his Son during Lent and Easter.

Back when we used the old Blue hymnal, the one where the normal Sunday services were on page 5 or 15, we celebrated Transfiguration, Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sundays. The theme for those last three Sundays with the funny names was looking for ways to love God back in the way we live and serve him and our fellow man.

So how do we love God back? Why should we love God back? What gift is pastor talking about in the sermon title printed in the bulletin? If you haven’t fallen asleep already, you can probably think of several gifts God has given us, and you have probably already ranked them in their order of importance. In no particular order, your list might include Jesus himself, and what you might group together as the Means of Grace; Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the Gospel.

But there is one more gift that we might tend to overlook, the gift that gives meaning to all the other gifts I just listed. And that gift is that gift of God the Holy Spirit calling us through those Means of Grace to be his. Most of us probably don’t remember exactly when that happened. For most of us it was probably back at our baptisms, back when we were babies. Personally, I don’t remember anything about the day that God made me his own, through the waters of Baptism.

A couple of years ago at a circuit pastor’s conference, we discussed our calls into the ministry. I’m not even sure I can tell you exactly when I was called into the ministry. It seemed more like a series of kicks and shoves, than a voice like the one Samuel heard. There were about ten pastors there the other day, and no two of us could relate a circumstance similar to anyone else.

I have a couple of friends, a husband and wife team, who will soon be leaving to go overseas as missionaries. In the weeks before they are to leave, they were going to do a little traveling, and share their testimony. I was talking on the phone with my friend a few weeks ago, and as he was telling me about their plans, he wasn’t sure how he was going to put into words the events and circumstances that had gotten them to this point.

A call like the one Samuel heard would make it easy for us to know that God had something specific in mind. Even so, it took Samuel coming to Eli three times before Eli figured out what was happening. A fourth time, the Lord came and stood there, calling like he had before, "Samuel, Samuel." I wish my call to the ministry had been that plain. But then again, maybe it was – and I just wasn’t listening.

And who could forget the call of Isaiah? "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings, and they were calling to one another, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and the thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’" That sort of call would get anyone’s attention.

And Jeremiah remembers four things about his call; He had a strong sense of predestination to his task,

he felt like God had chosen him for this task even before he was formed in his mother’s womb, he was reluctant to respond immediately to God’s call, he was aware that he was being sent to the nations and that his mission was both the negative task of destroying and overthrowing, and the positive task of building and planting. And nobody could forget about Moses and the burning bush.

The call of Samuel was special, but unfortunately people often spend a lot of time focusing on how young Samuel was at the time. The Jewish historian Josephus says he was only twelve, and so we miss the point of the lesson. A few years before, God had spoken plainly to Moses and Joshua. But in the centuries that the twelve Judges ruled, the Word of the Lord became rare. It’s really not that surprising that Eli and Samuel didn’t recognize God’s voice.

As dramatic as those Old Testament calls were, the better story is that of Nathaniel. So let’s focus on the call of Nathaniel this morning. There are a couple of legends that surround the call of Nathaniel. One is that he was the groom in the story of the wedding at Cana – the wedding where Jesus turned the water into wine.

That legend says that Nathaniel was impressed by the love Jesus showed by saving the day and saving the groom from great embarrassment. The other legend is that Nathaniel was the disappointed suitor, the guy who lost the gal that was married in that same wedding at Cana. But he was impressed with Jesus’ love and care.

Now we can probably understand Nathaniel wanting to be an apostle. But not much is recorded about Nathaniel, and we learn almost all we know about him from the event of his call recorded in our text. "Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.’"

We can understand Jesus choosing Peter. He was strong and talented. Philip was practical. Andrew, old Andy the introducer, may have had only one talent, but he knew how to use it. Although Nathaniel was obviously a student of Scripture and a searcher for the true knowledge of God; although he had strong spiritual interests and had been faithful, diligent and honest in his devotion to the Word of God, he was also human. He obviously had certain prejudices. Those prejudices surface when Nathaniel asks if anything good can come out of Nazareth.

He didn’t say that from what he knew about Scripture that the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem. He could have argued that the Messiah was supposed to be identified with Jerusalem, since he was going to reign in Jerusalem. The depth of his prejudice is obvious in his words; "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

Nazareth was a back hills town in Galilee. Nothing as important as the Messiah could come from there. Philip responds to Nathaniel’s skepticism with one sentence, three words; both in Greek or in English – "Come and see."

Not many people have ever been argued into Christianity. Often, argument does more harm than good. You can love a person into Christianity. You can instruct a person into Christianity. But you can’t argue them there. Fortunately for Nathaniel, he went to meet Jesus and became an apostle. The best way to convince someone about Jesus is to confront them with Christ himself.

Because Nathaniel’s heart was sincere and his faith was real, he overcame his prejudice. His response to Jesus and the narrative that follows reveals his true character. At first, he was amazed that Jesus knew anything about him. Nathaniel wants to know "How do you know me?"

We have to assume that Nathaniel was still questioning whether this Man could truly be the Messiah. It was not so much that he was questioning Philips judgment, Philip was his friend. It certainly wasn’t that he was questioning Scripture or that he was prone to skepticism. It was just that this Man, Jesus from Nazareth, did not seem to fit the pre-conceived picture of the Messiah in Nathaniel’s mind.

Jesus was the son of a carpenter, a no-name, from a nondescript town that had no connection to any prophecy. Nazareth didn’t even exist in Old Testament times. And now Jesus had spoken to him

as if he knew all about him and could even see inside his heart.

What’s more, Jesus’ response to Nathaniel’s question "How do you know me?" showed that Jesus knew even more than just the condition of his heart. Jesus’ answer showed something that Nathaniel wasn’t ready for. Jesus was omniscient.

They say a man without guile is a man who loves, worships, and gives thanks. Guile, by the way, is being cunning, devious, tricky, or deceitful. Jesus said Nathaniel was a man without guile. He may not have been the greatest apostle, but you know why Jesus wanted him as a disciple? Jesus wanted him because of the way he loved.

Nathanial listened to Jesus and responded to Jesus. Both of those things are vital in our relationship with God. God doesn’t always use the sound of a voice to call us into his service. He doesn’t just give us a vocal answer when we have some pressing question. He speaks to us through Holy Spirit and through the Scriptures. To receive his message, we must be ready to listen. Then we will be empowered to serve.

God’s blessings to us will become a source of blessing to others. If we joyfully praise God and tell others of his righteousness, the earth will yield a rich harvest of souls won for Christ and eternal life.

When Nathanial met Jesus, he was quite amazed that the Lord knew him, even saw him under the fig tree, without ever having seen him face-to face. (Which sort of shoots down those legends I told you about) Jesus promised that Nathaniel would see more amazing things than that. Through the words of Scripture, through the voice of our Lord available to and speaking to us all, we’ve seen the most amazing gift God has ever given.

Early church records suggest that Nathaniel ministered in Persia and India and took the Gospel as far as Armenia. There is no reliable record as to how he died. One tradition says he was tied up in a sack and thrown into the sea. Another says that he was crucified. By all accounts, he was martyred like all the other apostles except John.

In Romans 5, Paul speaks of the relation between God and humanity in relation to the atonement. On one hand, humanity is portrayed as sinners and enemies of God. On the other hand, God gives to humanity the greatest of all gift; his Son who dies as a sacrifice on the cross for the justification of all humanity. In this, Paul emphasizes the ‘giving’ of the gift.

It’s one thing to give a gift to a friend, or even possibly a stranger. But giving the greatest of gifts to an enemy is unheard of. In fact, it never happens, except in the Gospel. And the Gospel is this; God gives the greatest gift to an unworthy and often unappreciative humanity.

So, how do we love God back? Why should we love God back? Because God sought each of us out and gave us the greatest gift of all. God gave the gift that would crush the head of the serpent. In spite of our sin, God didn’t take back or withhold his greatest gift.

On that dark Friday a couple of thousand years ago, the serpent bit the heel of Jesus, and Jesus bled and died and was buried. On that following Saturday, Jesus descended into hell and stepped on the head of that serpent, and crushed it, and on Easter Sunday He rose up out of the grave from death to life.

And through our Baptism, through the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Meal, we receive the greatest gift, the remission of our sins. Through faith we receive the peace and comfort that comes with that forgiveness. Through that forgiveness, we receive the gift of eternal life.

We may not be the greatest of believers, the greatest of the followers of Christ, but we can love our neighbor. We can love them enough to introduce them to Christ Jesus. We can love them enough to give them a gift, even though Christmas is over. Remember, Nathaniel owed his introduction to Jesus to a friend.

Have you introduced others to Jesus? Have you told someone else what Jesus did for them on the cross? When God is gracious to us and blesses us, we are empowered to share his word with others. Our praise of God will lead others to praise him. Amen.