S. I. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases, tells a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst.
To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."
In today’s readings we receive an invitation again to be followers of Jesus and to consider what that really means… And we do it with the help of the day in the church calendar on which we celebrate Michael and All Angels… It’s not the easiest of Feast Days to think about. What we know about Michael is that he is considered to be the Chief Archangel – this great messenger and ambassador for God, and our readings invite us I think to consider our own positions as messengers and ambassadors for God…
And I’d like to think about a couple of the readings this morning. Firstly we had the reading from Genesis (28:10-17) about Jacob’s ladder. Jacob was asleep and had a dream and in it he pictured a ladder running from earth to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it and Jacob was amazed.
He’d led a bit of a chequered life of course, a life which famously included deceiving his father to receive a blessing from him which had been due to his brother Esau… But Jacob received this picture of God promising to continue to bless him, to care for him, to make open to him the promises that he’d made to Jacob’s father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham…
God, in spite of Jacob’s failings, was going to bless him and that is a wonderful thing for us to hold onto as well. In spite of our troubles, our failings, God loves us and wants to be a part of our lives….
And now I’d like to think about the gospel reading (John 1:47-51). It’s a funny little passage because it leaves out some important parts about Philip who had decided to follow Jesus and who had told Nathanael about him. Nathanael then says a pretty famous line when he hears about Jesus from Nazareth, he says, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth ?’
Philip says, ‘Come and see’…
And we then move on a bit to Jesus being approached by Nathanael but it’s Jesus who speaks first – ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit !’ Jesus is basically saying that he knows all about him and what he’s been saying and knows him to be a man who speaks his mind openly… But Jesus certainly isn’t offended or hurt and Nathanael is impressed when Jesus says he’s been watching him sitting under the fig tree – and Jesus says that Nathanael will be even more impressed if he keeps watching !
Jesus is drawing Nathanael into a closer relationship with him, inviting him to be part of his family… It’s an incredible invitation – Jesus, who knew all about Nathanael wanted him to get to know him better and that’s the invitation he continues to make to us every moment of every day – to trust him more, to receive his love more confidently and certainly, to seek his strength, wisdom and power… Jesus, who knows our innermost thoughts… Jesus, who knows why we’re here today… Jesus, who knows what we think of our neighbour that he tells us we should love… Jesus, who knows every little bit about us and still wants to get closer to us…
As Jesus speaks to Nathanael he is almost replicating the words spoken by Philip, ‘Come and see’ and they’re crucial words to us as we are drawn closer into a relationship, a life changing relationship, with him.
At the end of the passage we heard from the gospel Jesus says to Nathanael ‘‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
This is a reference to the words we heard from the reading from Genesis – heaven open and angels ascending and descending but here the angels are doing that upon Jesus – he is the link between heaven and earth, he is the knot that indelibly ties the two together… He is our link…
People are attracted to angels – people seem comforted, strengthened by the little pendants that are often sold and that’s fine, but the reminder they should offer is that God does provide angels to help us day by day. It may be in the people around us, it may be through our dreams as God speaks to us, it may be in circumstances, but God is there and God knows us and understands us…
Angels are often mentioned in hymns but perhaps a reminder of how they even touch popular culture is when they’re mentioned in pop songs and one of the most famous is by Robbie Williams and it’s the song called ‘Angels’ which was actually voted as the best song of the previous 25 years at the 2005 Brit Awards.
There’s been lots of attempts to interpret the song and even a few different official interpretations but there is one part that I want to think about which says,
‘When I’m feeling weak
And my pain walks down a 1-way street,
I look above,
And I know I’ll always be blessed with love’
I don’t think we need to explain the words but just to reflect upon them and to reflect how perfectly, deliberately or not, they speak to us of God who knows us, walks with us and love us always… ‘I know I’ll always be blessed with love…’
Philip’s life was changed as he was invited to follow Jesus and he was excited. He told Nathanael and no doubt told others as well…
Nathanael’s life too seems to have been changed – we next hear about him right at the end of John’s gospel where he is identified as one of Jesus’ disciples and it’s thought that he is the disciple also referred to as Bartholomew.
If we meet Jesus then we will be changed by him – we may not become anything like perfect overnight, but we’re called to try and we’re promised that when we seek his help and guidance and strength, God will give it to us, and so it is down to us…
Today as we think about Michael and All Angels we give thanks for those who help to bring us closer to God and we think about what it means to be a follower of Jesus today. Day by day we’re invited into a closer relationship with him, but he never forces it on us, but where else could we turn to find true peace and know perfect love ?
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