January 15, 2006

Epiphany 2

            Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks once did a skit called "The 2013 Year-old Man".  At one point, Reiner asks the old man (Brooks), "Did you always worship the Lord?"  Brooks replied: "No.  We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him."  Reiner: "You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?"  Brooks: "Because he was big and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!" Reiner:  "So when did you start worshiping the Lord?" Brooks: "Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a lightning bolt hit Phil.  We gathered around and saw that he was dead.  We said to one another, "There's somethin' bigger than Phil!"

Yeah, Phil might have been strong, but there is something bigger than him, alright.  Have you seen things in life that impress you?  Powerful people.  Awesome places like Niagara Falls.  Tall buildings like the CN Tower.  Amazing technological inventions like HDTV or video iPod.  Beautiful art.  Moving music.  These things draw our attention and earn our praise.  But there is something bigger.  Something more powerful.  You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!

Look at our story from the Gospel of John.  As Jesus is traveling to Galilee, He calls Philip to follow Him, and Philip is excited about it!  Because the first thing he does is go and tell his friend Nathanael, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  It seems that Philip and Nathanael had previously discussed the Old Testament scriptures and how they would be fulfilled.  And Philip was telling his friend, “Hey!  He’s here!”

But Nathanael responds:  “Nazareth!  Can anything good come from there?”  Now, Nathanael wasn’t knocking Nazareth.  He was simply pointing out that there weren’t any prophecies that connected the Messiah with Nazareth.  Nathanael knew his scriptures.  He was a believer.  He was waiting for the Messiah.  In fact, minutes earlier, he was probably studying the Word as he sat under a fig tree.  But how could the Messiah come from this humble little town?

Philip said:  “Come and see.”  Let Jesus speak for Himself.  Let his words change your heart.  And they did, before Jesus was even formally introduced!  As Nathanael walked toward Him, Jesus called out, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”  In other words, Nathanael was a true believer in the promise of a Messiah coming.  He wasn’t a “false” Israelite, who was one only by physical descent.  He believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The God we believe in.  Jesus put Nathanael’s faith on display.  And He was right.

This got Nathanael thinking:  “How do you know me?”  Then came the powerful words of Jesus that knocked Nathanael to his knees.  “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”  Jesus let a little bit of his heavenly power shine through his earthly presence.  He used powers only God could possess – being all-knowing and all-seeing.  And these powerful words were enough to convince Nathanael that Jesus was the Son of God and the true King of Israel.  The Messiah!  Nathanael believed that he was looking at Him face to face.

Jesus then tells him, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree.  You shall see greater things than that.”  You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!  You saw this tiny little speck of my divine power because I knew where you were sitting.  You saw one drop of mist from Niagara Falls and were amazed by it.  You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!  You’re going to see the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the storm stilled, and the hungry fed.  You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!  You are going to see the dead raised, and even then, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!

Friends, what are some of the amazing things you have seen in your life?  What are some things you have seen that have convinced you that God is real?  That Jesus is really the Saviour?  The birth of a child?  Miraculous recoveries?  The power of prayer?  People coming to faith?  Blessings in this little church as it grows?  People changing?  You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!

A doctor from Denver was driving home, stuck in traffic, when his car began to sputter and die.  He barely managed to coast into a gas station.  The car wouldn’t even turn over.  Before he could call for a tow, he saw a woman walking out of the store, and she slipped on the ice and fell into a gas pump.  He got out to see if she was OK.  When he got to her, it seemed like she was more overcome by her sobbing than the fact that she had fallen.  She looked like she had been through a lot.  And that’s when he realized the situation she was in.

She was crying.  Her ancient Suburban was crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back.  The gas pump read $4.95.  He asked her if she needed help, and she just kept saying, “I don’t want my kids to see me crying.”  She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her now.  So he asked her, “And you were praying?”  She looked at him a bit warily, but he assured her he wasn’t a crazy person, and said, “He heard you, and sent me.”  He took out his card and swiped it through on the gas pump so she could fill up her car completely.  While it was fueling, he went next door to McDonald’s and bought 2 big bags of food, and some gift certificates for more.  She gave the food to the kids in the car who attacked it like wolves.

They stood by the pump for a while, eating fries, and talking.  She said she came from Kansas City.  Her boyfriend left 2 months ago, and she had not been able to make ends meet.  Finally, in desperation, she called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in 5 years.  They said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.  So she packed up everything she owned in the car, and told her kids they were going to California for Christmas.  He gave her his gloves, a little hug, and had a prayer with her for her family’s safety, then bid her farewell.  And you may have guessed what happened next.  He went back to his car, and tried starting it.  It started right away.  Got him home with no problem.  He took it in to the mechanic the next day to have it checked, but as he suspected, the mechanic found nothing wrong.  Amazing, isn’t it?  Is there any doubt that God worked an incredible miracle there?  Powerful!  And yet, as powerful as that is, friends, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!

Grace Fox, a Christian writer, will never forget the doctor’s words to her: “Stephanie will die within a month.”  He explained that besides suffering from too much fluid on her brain, she was also born with a serious heart defect.  “If she lives until she’s two years old, we can perform open-heart surgery,” he said.  “When babies are this sick, however, they usually don’t survive that long.”  Stephanie was in the neonatal intensive care unit.  Tape and tubes covered her tiny frame.  Only two weeks old, she’d already undergone surgery to reduce pressure on her brain.  “You can take her home now, but bring her back when her heart begins to fail,” the doctor continued. “She’ll die here.”  He paused and then added, “I’m sorry.”

The room reeled for Grace.  Questions swirled in her mind.  “My baby – die in a month? How could this be happening?   That evening, she and her husband Gene began praying for Stephanie’s healing.  They activated church prayer chains.  They composed a letter for friends worldwide explaining the situation and requesting prayers.  Two months later, the same doctor examined her.  He slapped the x-rays onto the light screen, stroked his chin, and stared in silence.  Finally he spoke.  “I don’t believe it.  Her heart is normal.”  Grace and Gene grinned.  They believed it.  God performed a miracle – there was no other explanation!  Even the medical doctor had to agree.  Amazing?  Friends, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!

Jesus clued Nathanael and us in to what is coming.  He said, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  We ain’t seen nothing yet, have we?  In Isaiah 64:1, the prophet prays to our Saviour God, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.”  In Jesus Christ, God has come down to earth!

The angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man also brings to mind Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28, where angels were going up and down the stairway between earth and heaven, assuring Jacob God’s promises were true, and that He would always be with Jacob.  In Jesus, the gap between heaven and earth has been bridged perfectly and completely!  In Jesus, our sins no longer separate us from God!  Jesus is our stairway to heaven!  Through Jesus’ upcoming work that these disciples would witness, the work of bridging heaven and earth would be completed!  In Jesus, heavenly truth is brought to earth and sinners are assured of being taken to eternal glory, where there’ll be perfect, endless communion with God!

Jesus broke open the door of heaven so that He could come to earth to be our Saviour. Nathanael had seen nothin’ yet!  A modern drama asks, "What did Joseph do the day after Jesus was born?"  The play imagines that since Joseph is a carpenter, that he begins making a crib for the baby Jesus.  And as he does, he thinks about the celebration the night before, with the shepherds coming and the angels singing.  Joseph says, "If they treated Him like this when he is just a baby, how will they treat Him when they find out He is the Son of God?"  At that time in the play, the lights go off, and all you can hear is the hammer hitting against the wood. Instantly, the hearer is reminded of a wooden cross. And the nails being driven into it through the hands and feet of our Saviour.  That's why Jesus rent the heavens, opening the door and entering our world!  He came to suffer and die in our place.  (from John Huebner, Mission Counselor)

If Nathanael thought it was amazing that Jesus saw him under that fig tree, he had seen nothing compared to when he would see Jesus hanging on the cross tree.  Because the miracle of that love, and what it means to all of us, was more powerful than anything we had seen yet.  That all started with Jesus coming to earth – being born in a manger.

My father recently wrote:  “There in the manger is God's connection with the hurricanes of distressed lives, his sign that he keeps his Word, that He loves and longs for people devastated by war and terrorism and unfaithfulness and relativism. There in the manger is God's rest and relief for all who are wearied and burdened in their false and futile pursuit of foundation and meaning and security. There in the manger God unveils shallowness in the postmodern onslaught of inerrant political correctness. There is God's forgiveness, his Right for all the world's Wrongs. There is hope for the hopeless. Help for the helpless. There is a life-giving connection for disconnected lives. There is the one relationship that makes a difference in your life, the one who desires you to network with others and to make a difference in their lives. There is the great and mighty wonder of God's Incarnation, a scene to take to heart, and cherish, and celebrate. Immanuel-God is with us!”

You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!  And we have seen some AMAZING things!  Yesterday, we saw Jesus come into this world, God taking on human flesh, and being born in a manger.  We saw Him bring Philip and Nathanael to faith in Him.  We saw Him use his powers of knowing and seeing all.  And greater yet, we saw Him hanging on a tree paying for our sins.  And then, even greater than that, we saw Him walk out of that tomb alive!  Today, we see Him change lives.  Answer prayers. Give us hope and forgiveness.  But You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!  Tomorrow, we are going to see heaven open!  We are going to see angels ascending and descending on the Person who has bridged the gap between God and us – Jesus Christ!  And what is greater than that?  Friends, WE Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!  Amen.

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