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INJ
St John 1:40-51
'The Witness of Jesus'
Matins
St. Bartholomew | August 24, 2008
Dear Saints,
Today we hear the witness of three apostles about our Lord Jesus, about who Jesus is and what He has done for us. But first we need a bit of introduction.
August 24th is appointed in the church as the day to thanks God for St. Bartholomew. (You can find the list of these days on page three in the from of your red hymnal. The next festival is St Matthew on September 21st, and then St Michael and All Angels on September 29th.)
Now there was a dispute in the Reformation about the use of the saints. The Roman church had the custom of invoking the saints, praying to them and asking them to help us and pray for us. The Reformers came along and said that this practice was uncommanded, unnecessary and even dangerous. But this doesn't mean that the fathers of the church are forgotten or neglected. In fact, the Lutheran Confessions speak of three different ways the we Christians honor the saints, that is the Christians that have gone before us through death to the glories of heaven. Here is what they say:
Our Confession approves honors to the saints. For here a threefold honor is to be approved. The first is thanksgiving. For we ought to give thanks to God because He has shown examples of mercy; because He has shown that He wishes to save men; because He has given teachers or other gifts to the Church. And these gifts, as they are the greatest, should be amplified, and the saints themselves should be praised, who have faithfully used these gifts, just as Christ praises faithful businessmen, Matt. 25, 21. 23. The second service is the strengthening of our faith; when we see the denial forgiven Peter, we also are encouraged to believe the more that grace truly superabounds over sin, Rom. 5, 20. The third honor is the imitation, first, of faith, then of the other virtues, which every one should imitate according to his calling. These true honors the adversaries do not require. (They dispute only concerning invocation, which, even though it would have no danger, nevertheless is not necessary.) [Apology XXI.4-7]
It is especially the first of these honors, that of thanksgiving for the gift of a teacher to the church, because we hear the teaching of the apostle Bartholomew in the Gospel reading from John.
This text is about the calling of four of the Lord's apostles: Andrew and his brother Peter, Philip and his brother Nathanael. This is the text for St Bartholomew because Bartholomew is Nathanael's other name, they are the same fellow. But it is not just Nathanael that we want to hear from this morning. In fact, we see in this text the apostles doing what they are called to do, serve as witnesses of Jesus.
What, after all, are the apostles called by Jesus to do? To be His witnesses in all the world. And this morning we hear about who the Lord Jesus is from three of His apostles.
The first on the witness stand is Andrew. He, apparently, was a disciple of John the Baptist, and when he hears the masterful sermon of John, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” Andrew follows after Jesus. Andrew then went and found his brother Peter, and here is our first testimony of who Jesus is. Andrew says to Peter, “We have found the Messiah.”
Messiah is a Hebrew word meaning “the Anointed One.” It is one of the most important Old Testament title for Jesus, the expected One anointed by the Holy Spirit who was promised to come and save the people. It is difficult for us to understand all that is meant by that word, Messiah, especially for the faithful Israelite. Its the thing we try to get a sense of in Advent, this Man Jesus is the “hope and fears of all the years”, and now Andrew and Peter have found Him, Jesus the Messiah.
But this is just the first of the three witnesses that we hear this morning, the second comes from Philip. It's the next day, and Jesus travels north to the Galilee region and calls Philip to be a disciple. Philip goes to his brother Nathanael, Bartholomew, and tells him, “We have found Him of who Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazereth, the Son of Joseph.”
This testimony of Jesus is similar to Andrew's title: the Messiah, but gives us a fuller picture. In the Jewish mind there is none greater that Moses. He is the one by whose hand the people were rescued from the death grip of Pharaoh. Moses is the one whom God used to give the people their freedom, their land, their temple, their worship, their laws and rules and customs and Scriptures. Just about everything that is Jewish comes from Moses.
But Moses wrote of another One, the coming One, who would do even greater things than him. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” [John 1:17] When the apostle Philip talks about Jesus as the One whom Moses and the prophets wrote about, He is exalting Jesus above all people who ever lived. Jesus is the promised One, the Savior.
The third witness is our text is the reluctant apostle Nathanael. He hears his brother Philip talk about this Nazarene and says, “Can anything good come out of Nazereth?” Philip is not put off, and simply tells his brother, “Come and see.” (This, by the way, is a beautifully simple method of evangelism. When we talk to our friends and family members about the love of Jesus, and they doubt or question us, it is good to say to them, “Come and hear” and invite them to church or Bible Class.)
Nathanael comes to see this Jesus, and Jesus says of him, “Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.” Nathanael asks Jesus how He knew him, and Jesus says, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” At this Nathanael believes in Jesus and makes a great confession of who He is, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel.”
To be the Son of God is to be God, to share in His nature. This is the title that almost gets Jesus stoned by the Pharisees. “Blasphemy,” they say whenever they hear this title, “He makes Himself equal to God.” True, Jesus equal to God; very God of very God, begotten, not made. Bartholomew teaches this to us. And more, he says, “You are the King of Israel.” This is another title of the true God, and yet Bartholomew applies it to Jesus, and this is a dangerous title.
Remember that it is calling Jesus the king that resulted in the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem. It is the title “king” that the Pharisees use to charge Jesus before Pilate as an insurrectionist. And it is the title “The King of the Jews” that hangs above the Lord's head as He hangs on the cross.
It's the claim that Jesus is King, Lord, that turns the first Christians from witnesses to martyrs. The Caesar's wanted to be called Lord, but the Christians confesses with St. Bartholomew that Jesus is the king of Israel, even the King of kings and Lord of lords.
And so it is, dear saints, that we see why the church is built of the foundation of the prophets and the apostles. We have, from Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew, the clear confession that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah, the One who Moses and the prophets promised, the Son of God and the King of Israel.
And He is all of these things for us, to, dear saints. The same Jesus that called Bartholomew and the disciples has called us to be His people, and the same Jesus who is the crucified King for Andrew and Philip and Peter, is the King crucified for you and your sins.
So it is that this morning we give thanks to God for His apostles, and even more, for the Lord Jesus who they give to us in their words. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO