Nothing Good
Have you ever been made to feel uncomfortable about your hometown or home state? Perhaps it has a questionable reputation or a funny name (I’m looking at you, Intercourse, PA) that makes it easy for people to joke about. When I was a student at Penn State, being from New Jersey often felt that way. There was a Saturday Night Live skit that was popular at the time, where Joe Piscapo would say, “I’m fruhm Joisey! Are you fruhm Joisey, too?” and I heard that a lot. Then I would be asked what Turnpike exit I lived near, as though New Jersey was just a turnpike for the real people to traverse as they traveled to more interesting places. As if!
I wonder if Jesus felt that way, being from Nazareth.
John 1 (Common English Bible)
43 The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth.”
46 Nathanael responded, “Can anything from Nazareth be good?”
Nazareth is the place where Jesus grew up, and was a small, nondescript town with a population of about 200-400 people. Nathanael’s derogatory remark reveals his own prejudice about this little nothing of a place. Nazareth was southwest of the Sea of Galilee, located north of Jerusalem, well beyond Samaria. Being so small, and not adjacent to major cities, it was the last place one would expect anything interesting to happen. I suppose that calling someone a “Nazarene” would have been like referring to them as a “bumpkin,” or even a “hillbilly.”
Nathanael’s question is pretty sarcastic. He assumes that Nazareth couldn’t produce anything of worth, let alone the Messiah.
But notice this: Philip’s response was not to rebuke Nathanael, but simply to invite.
Philip said, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here is a genuine Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are God’s Son. You are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these! 51 I assure you that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up to heaven and down to earth on the Human One.
There is much to be learned from Philip’s response. What a beautiful example of how to witness to a skeptic! He doesn’t argue, he simple invites. Being invitational when it comes to sharing the Gospel is the best way, I believe. Bible-thumping, loud proclamations, self-righteous posts, and every other presentation that excludes those who haven’t yet heard or are filled with doubt is not the way to win others to Christ.
Philip chose wisely in this conversation, and so should we. How can you be winsome and invitational in your own speech? Jesus invites us to follow him. May we invite others in the same way.
Come and see!
Come and See by Kathy Schumacher
At Water’s Edge 