God's Last Words

LEVEL GROUND
John 1: 43-51 NRSV

Two apples up in a tree were looking down on the world. The first apple said, "Look at all those people fighting, robbing, rioting -- no one seems willing to get along with his fellow man. Someday we apples will be the only ones left. Then we'll rule the world."

Replied the second apple, "Which of us -- the reds, yellows, or the greens?"

This story appeared in an Our Daily Bread Meditation: In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India.

So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he go worship with his own people.

Sadly, Gandhi left the church and never returned. "If Christians have caste differences also," he said, "I might as well remain a Hindu." That usher's prejudice not only betrayed Jesus but also turned a person away from trusting Him as Savior.

Some prejudices are hidden by humor and stereotype. They exist in the stories and jokes we tell. We understand that the subtle meanings of our words speak those things we can’t say directly, and are counting on those who hear to know that.

A prejudice is defined as “an act or state of holding an unreasonable preconceived notion, judgment, or conviction toward a person, organization, group of people, or certain behavior based on having an adverse judgment or opinion formed unfairly or without knowledge of the facts: it can be due to believing an irrational suspicion, fear, or hatred of a particular social group, such as a race or a religion.”

We usually try to cover-up our prejudices and hide them in subtle ways.

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."

Nathanael, believed to be the disciple Bartholomew, experienced a tough first meeting with Jesus. When Phillip called him to come and meet the Messiah, Nathanael was skeptically prejudiced, but he followed along anyway.

Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” What’s is so interesting about this prejudicial statement is that Nathanael, is from the area around Nazareth, and was speaking about himself as well: It is if Margaret or Joan  said, “The National Pike, can anything good come from the National Pike?”

As Philip introduced him to Jesus, the Lord declared, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." Immediately Nathanael wanted to know, "How do you know me?"

Jesus got his attention when he answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Well, that stopped Nathanael in his tracks. In his surprise he said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Scholars believe that Nathanael was studying and reading from the Book of Genesis, chapter 28, about Jacob’s ladder when Jesus saw him.

In the story, Jacob is fleeing from his brother after stealing his birthright from him, and is on his way to his relative's house at Haran, Jacob lays down for the night near Luz. As he was dreaming, he had a vision of a ladder, or stairway, between Heaven and earth. God's Angels were on it, ascending and descending to earth.

Jacob saw God standing above the ladder. God repeated the promise of support he had made to Abraham and Isaac. He told Jacob his offspring would be many, blessing all the families of the earth. God then said: "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Remember God’s promise of a kinsman redeemer that He told Eve would come?

Nathanael realizes that Jesus is the Messiah sent from God in that second because of all the things Jesus has said and done.

In fact, Nathanael recognizes Jesus as a metaphorical form of Jacobs’ ladder, because He will provide access to Heaven, as well. All of the things he believes, real or imagined, prejudiced or not, are instantly wiped away. And Nathanael is now free from human guile and deceit.

Nathanael garnered only a few lines in the Gospels, but in that instant he became a loyal follower of Jesus Christ.  Larry D. Wright once wrote: “Given half a chance, people often crawl out of the boxes into which we've relegated them.” I think Nathanael would agree.

There is a short drama entitled “The Long Silence” that says it all:

At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God’s throne.Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them.

But some groups near the front talked angrily, – not with cringing shame, but with belligerence, “Can God judge us? How can he know about suffering?” snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror … beatings … torture … death!”

In another group an African-American boy lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. “Lynched … for being black!”

Far out across the plain there were hundreds of such groups.

Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he permitted in his world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, an African-American, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the center of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was really rather clever.

Before God could be qualified to be their judge, they told Him He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth – as a man!

“Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it.

Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge.

Let him be tortured.At last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone.

Then let him die. Let him die so that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.”

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence.

No-one uttered another word. No-one moved. For suddenly everyone realized that God had already served his sentence. “For God so loved the world…”

Each of the people gathered there suddenly realized that in there pride and human pain they had rejected God and would now be judged fairly by a righteous God.

Titus 2: 11 reads: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”

The only distinction and prejudice that will remain, and be justified is whether there is repentance or not, deceit or not.

Romans 5: 12 says: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

Nathanael recognized that everything he knew or thought he knew must change if he were to trust and believe in Jesus.

In Romans 1: 16 it is written: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

General Robert E. Lee was a devout follower of Jesus Christ. It is said that soon after the end of the American Civil War, he visited a church in Washington, D.C.

During the communion service he knelt beside a black man. An onlooker said to him later, "How could you do that?" Lee replied, "My friend, all ground is level beneath the cross."

Friends, we are all equal on the level ground before the Cross of Christ. We are all in equal need of salvation regardless of who we are: no matter what our color, creed, national origin, “supposed sexual identity or preference,” or familial status.

This the lesson Jesus teaches Nathanael and us. In the final judgment there will be one great distinction made - believer or deceiver. 

 We are to seek him out, speak truth in God, and reject all things that are false and evil in His eyes. If we are to remain prejudiced in anything it must be against those who would compromise the beautiful truth of God and hide it from others. From them we must flee. Amen.