John 1:43-51 2025/03/09 Osaka Church
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
In today’s Gospel, Andrew and his friends met Jesus. They talked with Jesus all night. They are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. They then brought Andrew’s brother, Peter, to the Lord. The next day, Philip met the Lord. The Lord saw the deep thirst in Philip’s heart. And He commanded him, “Follow me.” Unable to contain the joy that overflowed in his heart, Philip rushed to Nathanael. “I have met the Savior that Moses and the prophets foretold. It is Jesus of Nazareth.” Nathanael, who had been deeply immersed in the Scripture until then, did not believe it. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that the Savior will appear in Nazareth.” Philip pulled Nathanael to the Lord saying, “Stop talking nonsense, come and see for yourself.” The Lord correctly guessed that Nathanael had been thinking about the coming of the Savior under the fig tree. Nathanael cried out, “You are the Son of God, the King of Israel.”
This story of a fast-paced encounter, in which you can almost see the sparkle in the young men’s eyes and the glistening sweat as they run to their friend, culminates with the cry, “You are the Son of God, the King of Israel.”
As this cry, “You are the Son of God, the King of Israel,” makes it clear that what the young men, indeed the Jewish people, had been waiting for and what they believed they saw in Jesus was the Liberator of Israel. He was a hero who would liberate God’s people, the chosen people of Israel, from foreign rule and the injustice and oppression imposed by social authority.
However, as Jesus’ death on the cross made clear, they had misjudged in what sense Jesus was a “Savior.” No, they could only imagine the long-awaited “Savior” in line with their expectations . It was inevitable after a long time of submitting to the rule of other countries. Just as when we hear the words “heaven” and “happiness,” we can only imagine a life of luxury and leisure, free from the ties and worries of the workplace, company, and this world. However, in reality, what we are really seeking under the guise of such earthly desires is something completely different; we just do not know the words to express it.
Jesus hits this point home.
“You will see greater things than these…Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
“The heavens opened”? What is this! The angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (Jesus Himself)? What mysterious words. This surprise is important. Our hearts must first be captured by the exciting images there.
When we think of happiness, we think of money, and at best, the safety of our families; and when we think of heaven, we only imagine beautiful music and flowers in full bloom. But Christ strikes at our imaginations, which are fixed only in what we can see, touch, hear, and know, with words we have never heard before.
This is because what Christ is beginning is something entirely new that will never be contained in the old spirit, old words, or old imagination.
We entered Great Lent last week. Just like the young disciples before they met Jesus, we are now on a journey deepening our “thirst for life.” At the end of this journey, when our “thirst for life” reaches its peak, we too will die to our old selves in the thirst of our souls, just like the Lord who murmured “I thirst” on the cross. And in the glorious celebration of Pascha (Easter), together with the Lord, we too begin to live as new selves. The heavens truly open. The breath of God (the grace of the Holy Spirit) blows down from the open heavens. Accompanied by Christ, together with the soaring angels, we are promised a new and true freedom to spread the wings of our hearts and rise endlessly toward God in this breath, this wind of God. Let us believe in this promise and ride the wind.