What Do You Expect?

Focus Scripture: John 1:43-51

January 14, 2024 – 2^nd Sunday After Epiphany & Human Relations Day

What Do You Expect?

Among the many things we can say about Jesus is that he was full of surprises. From where he was born to how he conducted himself, Jesus was not a conformist. Today’s episode concerning his interaction with Nathanael is no exception.

When I read this gospel passage, I visualize Jesus smiling, maybe even chuckling, when he spoke with Nathanael. As we have seen so many times, Jesus could see a person’s heart and verbalized his observations often. From the rich young man who loved his money too much to the Roman centurion who had greater faith than anyone else, Jesus knew the hearts of those he encountered.

Who among us cannot relate to Nathanael and his reaction when first learning of Jesus? We do it all the time. When hearing of Jesus’s hometown, he famously remarked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Just this week, there was a story that came out about a professional soccer team and a proposal for a new stadium in Bridgeport where they would play. The comments that people shared on social media about it display an abundance of skepticism. After all, can anything good come out of Bridgeport? Of course, it can! If we listen to these people only, there will be nothing but negativity in our lives. Nothing – nothing – will ever get done.

In Jesus’s exchange with Nathanael, we see God’s grace in full effect. Rather than attacking him for his comment, Jesus says, to put it in current terms, “Dude, you have no filter!” Nathanael says exactly what he thinks, and his enthusiasm is evident. Again, Jesus is having a fun conversation with him. “Oh, if you think that was special, you haven’t seen anything yet.” Can’t you just picture it.

Jesus’s promise to Nathanael is clear to us: You will be surprised by what you see and experience. All who stayed with Jesus came to experience this promise fulfilled.

What do you expect? Prepare to have your expectations surpassed.

In our nation’s history, the civil rights movement also shattered expectations. When the Reverand Doctor Martin Luther King Junior began his work to make the world more just, there were plenty of skeptics. There were those who were supportive, but not hopeful, concerning his unshakable strategy of nonviolent activism. And there were those who were beyond hostile, from governors to cowardly, concealed Klan members willing to do whatever it took to maintain the status quo of segregation, so-called Jim Crow laws, redlining, and other acts of overt discrimination.

What did people expect in the Fifties and Sixties? Many expected things to remain as they were. After all, it was nearly a hundred years from Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to King’s work to knock down the barriers that kept Black people from equity and justice. Nothing had changed before, so why would it now?

As God worked to set the world in a new direction 2,000 years ago through Jesus’s ministry, death, and resurrection, God was working through King and continues to work through the Church universal, as well as through many others outside the church, to continue to dismantle the barriers to equity and human dignity. God’s work is far from done, and our work to advance God’s mission to restore the world to justice is equally distant from completion. But that does not mean we are without hope.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus is continually challenging people to pay attention. “Let those with ears to hear and eyes to see” is a common refrain. Those who were paying attention, especially those who were disadvantaged, marginalized, and harassed by the system, were certainly paying attention. They showed up by the thousands to hear Jesus preach and maybe, just maybe, touch or be touched by him to be healed.

They expected amazing things. What do you expect?

What do we expect now? How do we expect God to present opportunities for us to help others? Will these opportunities roll into the parking lot on a Sunday morning during those 90 minutes or so that we are together for worship and hospitality? Or do we need to do more?

Jesus did not stay home and let people find him. When he sent the 70, they weren’t just “working from home.” It was not virtual presence; it was a real, embodied, side-by-side presence. Nor was King’s work virtual. He was in the streets and spent his nights in jails across the South. Those who work to make a difference today are also hands-on, in-person, far from virtual.

Today is a special day in Shelton. It is a day when we welcome new members and celebrate Holy Communion. Both liturgies call on us to get out into the world in ministry. What we do here is not a secret to not be shared, nor is ministry something that happens within the walls of the building alone. We are called to do more.

God is out there, everywhere, inside and alongside people. And as Jesus made so abundantly clear, we are to be out there, too, feeding, clothing, visiting, and welcoming God’s people. Whether you do that financially through our Special Sunday or in a hands-on way, you and I are all called to be in active ministry.

On the sabbath, we worship, recharge, and celebrate. We encourage each other and lift each other up. We learn about the needs of and pray for others in their struggles. We celebrate accomplishments and happy times. That’s what a community does. And we work.

What do you expect? You and I should be expecting God to call on us, maybe to catch us lounging under a fig tree, to do more. As we have been shown grace, we should be expecting to show it to others. Keep your eyes and ears open, for the call will come. May it be so.

###

You are welcome to join the congregation of First United Methodist Church of Shelton (CT) in person or online at 10 AM Eastern Time any and every Sunday. Services are streamed live, and past services are recorded. The church's web address is www.UMCShelton.org.

###

Questions? Comments? Feel free to post your thoughts. Please keep it civil. Peace to you, and thanks for reading. - Bill Florin