And then God speaks: “Come, follow Me”
1 Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 139:1-6; 13-18; John 1:43-51
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
Here, let me explain. You have been handed Epiphany’s Invite, that is, like the 3 Wise Men who followed the star at its rising to find the baby in Bethlehem, you are asked to not simply believe, but to follow. Jesus that is. This is not so much an encounter with doctrine, but with the very human, historical person named Jesus of Nazareth, Son of the Living God. Can anything good come out of Nazareth you might ask? An insignificant village of a few hundred folk, dependent on the bigger city of Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee. 75 miles north of Jerusalem. Not even mentioned in the prophetic words of the First Testament. You would think the Messiah would come from a better known place!
It was not uncommon for students to pursue a particular rabbi for study. There were many prestigious yeshivas throughout Galilee. To gain authority and therefore power, you wanted to align yourself with the ones whose star is rising. But Jesus doesn’t have His own school with Torah scrolls and commentaries shelved by decade. Rather, He calls His disciples to follow Him. To get up and walk in His way. This first step the action of belief, called into relationships.
A peculiar way to gather a community. And He doesn’t call the proud and the haughty, those of only high regard, the rich or the famous. He honors ordinary people, like you and me, from out of the way places whenever He says, “Come, follow Me.” Jesus’ discourses with thieves, prostitutes, tax collectors, Samaritans, women, centurions, fishermen, all point to Epiphany’s Invite - there is something going on with this man which is different, both holy and woven together in whole cloth.
“Where did you get to know me?” We might ask of Jesus. Ah yes, the psalmist answers:
“You know me. In my rising and my falling
You know my loves and my hates
You know my plans and my schemes
You know my competence and my conniving
You know my mastery and my manipulating
You know my sobriety’s and my addictions
You know my loves and my hates
You know my resentment and my forgiveness
You know my fear and my peace.
You know me.
Jesus notices you. He sees you under your fig tree, taking shade or picking figs. He doesn’t need facial recognition, He already knows you. The Book of Common Prayer puts it, “...all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid...”. Jesus knows you. He calls your name and says, “follow Me.” He doesn’t take a measure of your worthiness or what you have accomplished, on a scale of 1 to 10 how great is your success. His eyes filled with love and forgiveness, He looks directly at you and speaks.
Let’s just sit with this for a moment. (Pause)
Do you sense resistance rising? To the structure of this thought - you are known - for all of us are aware how complex it is to know someone fully. Ask anyone who has been married a long time - healthy relationships are a cartography of discovery over a lifetime. Even to know oneself is a matter of intentional reflection. Yet the claim of the Psalmist is God knows us, whether we know God or not. To accept God’s knowledge of us does not mean we set aside the incredulity of head-shaking as I like to call it. Really. Ok, God knows us. Ok then. Hmm.
I can tell you as a pastor who has sat at the bedside of many dying people, this notion, this psalm, brings enormous comfort. No one argues with its premise at that moment, they simply rest in the comfort - “I’ve come to the end. Redemption is near complete. All are at rest. Jesus, the First, the Last, the Holy One, is enthroned forever. We are saved. God knows us, names us, loves us forever. No one can take it away. “. It's usually with a very deep sigh, a breath of knowledge when someone takes in this truth.
I've been thinking deeply about how to craft a sermon or a series of sermons that would convince you. I find, at this moment, intellectual argument is not going to prove fruitful. Rather, I am going to witness to the moment in my life when I finally surrendered to the presence of God everywhere, before me, behind me, above me, below me.
At the end of the worst season of my entire life, after the betrayal and divorce, after moving from Iowa back to Seattle leaving my then 18 year old son, Isaac in the Mid-West, I was out for a walk, praying, pondering, not knowing what was coming next. This call was not even on the horizon at the moment. I came to the end and realized I had a choice - to follow Jesus, live in the mystery of not knowing, and simply say yes to the Holy Presence. Or not. It was that clear. (pause) I said ok, out loud, I'm in, all the way. No dramatic scene, no angels coming forth, only a sigh. This is it.
There is another, more powerful testimony I want you to listen to today: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last speech, the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. One of his followers, then a 19 year old sanitation worker, named Lorraine Palmer, recently said on NPR: "he gave his own eulogy that night". Dr. King knows what it means to follow Jesus, all the way to his own cross.
IBW21 "Ive Been To The Mountaintop"