Second Sunday after the Epiphany - January 18

Being Known
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
John 1:43-51

Come and see… Philip says to Nathanael. Come and see Jesus.

Do you ever wonder what it was like to actually see Jesus? To physically be in the presence of Jesus?

We know Jesus, of course, in our lives today. As the collect for today says, we meet him and come to know him in Word and Sacrament. We meet and know Jesus in the lives and witness of other Christians. And we meet Jesus as he is revealed to us in our own prayers and meditation.

But what was it like to sit at table with him? To hear his voice first hand as he taught… to hear the passion and authority of his voice? What was it like to literally feel the blessing and healing of his touch? What was it like for Philip and Nathanael?

In one sense we have an advantage over people of Jesus’ own day. We know what to look for, what to expect. But when Nathanael looked at Jesus, what did he see? What did he experience?

There are lots of wonderful answers to that, mostly speculative. But this morning’s Gospel tells us one piece of what it was like to be with Jesus. In this passage, when Nathanael looked at Jesus he saw someone who knew him….Nathanael. As far as we know they had never met. Nathanael was skeptical, at best, that Jesus had anything to offer. But Nathanael was known by Jesus. The physical experience of being with Jesus is the experience of being with someone who knows you.

The Psalm appointed for today is a portion of Psalm 139. Many, including myself, would list it among our favorites. It speaks of being known by God. “You have searched me out and known me… You know my sitting down and my rising up… You know my journeys and my resting places.” God knows me. Most people find this very comforting. To be known, individually, by God. It is a sign of God’s deep caring. God knows us because God cares deeply about each one of us.

Perhaps that is what Nathanael felt… that Jesus cherished and cared for him enough to know him.

To care for others is also part of the church’s witness. We are the Body of Christ today and, as the collect says, we are called to make Christ known in the world. One way we do that is by being people who care enough about other people to know them. We have to work at it. Unlike Jesus, to whom, as God’s Son, all hearts are open, all desires are known and from whom no secrets are hid. It takes effort for us to know others. But the church should be a place to be known. In an anonymous world and depersonalizing world.

The Body of Christ can be a place where our deep fears are known and there are others to face them with us. Just as Jesus walks with us through the darkest times of our lives. When Jesus met people, he knew their needs, and he met them. The Body of Christ is a place where our needs are known, and, as best we are able, met. It is a place where one person’s joy becomes a great chorus of thanksgiving. A place where individual hopes are known and many voices pray for their fulfillment.

This work goes on within the parish… caring enough to know one another. But it is also the work of Christians in the world. To care enough to get to know one another across the many things that divide us: race, religion, gender, sexual orientation. The world desperately needs this work. In contrast to generalization, demonization of a whole group, which is a way to avoid knowing them, we are called to do the work to get to know one another.

A lot of this already happens here within this parish. I hope you know that. This is one of the great and particular blessings of this parish. But there is always more to do. Start at coffee hour. You don’t have to ask each other about your deepest fears or needs. Start with the question: “What is important to you?” Then try it at home, or with other people you encounter. “What is important to you?” I care enough about you I want to know you. Then go to one of the Martin Luther King events tomorrow and go up to someone you’ve never met and say, “My Pastor asked me to ask you what is important to you.”

Nathanael’s life was monumentally changed because Jesus knew him. Jesus cared deeply for him. Jesus knows you, each of you. Jesus cares deeply for each of you. And we have the glorious opportunity to share that caring for one another with all of God’s beloved children whom we encounter.