John 1:35-51 (NRSV Updated Edition)
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
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.” 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.”
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"The willingness to look and to see stands at the center of this morning’s story... “Come and see.” ... In fact, it’s shocking to realize all the imagery in the Bible having to do with God not being able to get us to look and really see, to listen and really hear. ... The greatest of [the Hebrew] prophets was Isaiah. And it is the following passage from Isaiah which is quoted as a central piece in all four gospels (Mt. 13:14-15; Mk. 4:12; Lk. 8:10; Jn. 12:40). Isaiah tells the story of his own calling as a prophet, and says,
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.” (Isa 6:8-10 NRSV)
"Wow! Isn’t this a strange and shocking passage? It’s as if Isaiah came to see his whole ministry as one that was impossible for people to really see and hear and understand.
"Yet Jesus, too, quotes this passage in all four gospels as a way to say the same thing: that he came to give us a message from God that is nearly impossible for us to hear and see and understand. We look, but what do we see? We listen, but what do we hear? The gospels show how Jesus’ own disciples had a difficult time seeing and hearing; they wouldn’t really start to see and hear until after Jesus rose on Easter and came back to them and graciously forgive them for not hearing and seeing and understanding. Thank God for that forgiveness! And thank God that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them, or we might never have begun to understand!
"So what is it that is so hard for us to hear and see and understand? It has not only taken Jesus’ resurrection to get us disciples to hear and see, but it has continued to take the work of the Holy Spirit through the ages for a few people here and there, to help us to see and hear and understand.
"In this morning’s gospel John begins a theme that is carried throughout his gospel. Jesus says that Nathaniel will come to see even greater things. Later, Jesus will tell his disciples, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12 NRSV) Greater things than Jesus! Because Jesus also promises them the Holy Spirit."
- Paul J. Nuechterlein, from sermon delivered on January 18-19, 1997 (http://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-b/epiphany2b_1997_ser/)
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"What I wanted to bring out in this particular Gospel is the intimacy of all this, that what we have in the prologue to John's Gospel and in the feast of the Baptism are these incredibly rich and powerful signs - the Holy One of God, the Lamb of God - coming in, being present, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the presence of the Lord here, the one who is in fact going to open up the new creation. And yet, what we actually see is all that conducted in this series of very small, very intimate interpersonal relationships with named others, not very significant named others, but real human named others.
"This is not about an idea... let alone an ideology that's being talked about. This is a series of relationships that are being opened up by this presence amongst us, the Holy One of God come down to our level to bring about the fulfilment of creation. And it's at our level, the Holy Spirit has come down, and now seek the Lord while he may be found - when Jesus turns and says, "What do you seek?" [v38] - seek the Lord while he may be found, there's something of the contingency of time.
"And it's this which we're being asked to share in, in ordinary time, to realise that the Lord who may be found can be sought now, can and does speak our names to us and allow us actually to become much more than we could imagine, as we become part of his manifestation into being of the new creation."
- James Alison, from "Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk3ShKH9yRs)
[Source of link to Paul J. Nuechterlein sermon, and for discussion and reflections on all of this week's lectionary texts, see: http://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-b/epiphany2b/]
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