God Works Through Broken People

I was interviewed by The Citizen this week.

A 50-minute long interview from a woman by the name of Jennifer.

I think she normally publishes under the name Jennifer Jackson,

but I think that byline is going to be changed soon to Jennifer Green

because she's been recently married.

And I guess there was a bit of telephone tag,

this woman wanting to talk to me to set up an interview,

so I knew she wanted to talk to me and interview me.

My wife and I talked about it.

I was very uneasy about being interviewed by a reporter of The Citizen.

The press aren't often friends of people like myself

and many of you who hold our views on some issues of the day.

But after praying about it and discussing it with my wife,

I decided I'd do the interview.

So on Thursday morning, she said she'd like to talk to me for 20 to 30 minutes,

and she interviewed me for 50 minutes.

And she talked to me about our network membership,

about us withholding apportionment,

about a lesbian priest,

a woman married to another woman who's a priest in the Diocese of Ottawa,

and my role in an open letter about that,

about essentials.

We covered the whole gamut.

The article didn't come out on Saturday, yesterday.

That means it's, I think, coming out this coming Saturday or Sunday.

You can pray for her as she writes.

I ended up thinking that she was quite fair-minded,

and so just pray that as she thinks this week

about how she's going to write that article,

that she will be fair-minded about how she portrays us.

One of the reasons, as you know, I'd be nervous about interviews,

because once you're interviewed,

I mean, you're just complete,

we're completely helpless.

I'm helpless.

You know, she can make me look really bad

or make me look good or somewhere in between.

But, you know, I can't replay for you the entire interview,

not that I could remember it,

but early on in the interview, I said to her,

I said, you know, if there was a verse

which really described my heart,

where my heart is,

and where I'd like my heart to grow more and more,

and I think it describes the heart of this congregation,

it is these words of Jesus,

Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle and lowly of heart,

and you will find rest for your souls,

for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

And I said, that's my heart,

and that's the heart of this congregation.

And before I could start to explain it,

she said to me, she said,

that's beautiful.

Where is it from?

And so I told you,

I told her Matthew 11, 28 to 30,

it's the words of Jesus,

and I said, you know,

we're a broken people.

We at St. Albans don't view ourselves as being the pure,

the holy, the mighty, the strong,

the good, the blessed,

or any of these types of things.

We are ones who are born broken,

and we need a savior,

and we need to come to Jesus,

and we need to take his yoke upon us.

That's what we need.

That's what everybody needs.

And I said to her,

I said, you know,

it's far more important to me

that people come to Jesus,

and start to learn to take his yoke upon them

than they deal even with their sexuality.

It's always more important to come first to Jesus.

That's my heart.

And then as we were talking as well later on,

I said, you know,

at the heart of this dispute

and this crisis in the church,

it can be talked about as a crisis of authority,

but really it's ultimately about

whether the Bible is the Bible,

whether the Bible has authority in our lives.

You see, it's really about

two completely and utterly different views

as to what the Christian faith is.

Is the Christian faith the story

and the invitation of how God

has broken from outside the created order

and broken into our created order,

reaching down to us human beings

to bring salvation to us,

and we, in a sense,

are to open our arms and to receive it?

Or is the Christian faith

about human beings' attempts

to image God,

frame God,

reach out to God,

create God?

Is it all about ultimately

us human beings reaching up to God,

or is it all about God

reaching down to us?

And I said,

they're completely and utterly different faiths,

and I believe,

and the people at St. Albans believe,

that Christianity is about God

reaching down to us

and us receiving that

which only God can do.

This is not just some clever idea of mine.

This is, in fact,

what Jesus teaches us

in the Gospel today.

And so if you turn in your Bibles

to page 919,

page 919,

Luke,

sorry, Luke,

if you turn to Luke,

it'll be wrong.

John chapter 1,

John 1:43–51

verses 43 to 51.

I know some people bring their own Bibles,

don't use the Pew Bibles,

and that's good.

John 1,

43 to 51.

And the story goes,

you know,

continues like this.

The following day,

Jesus wanted to go to Galilee,

and he found Philip

and said to him,

follow me.

Now Philip was from Bethsaida,

the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael

and said to him,

we have found him

of whom Moses in the law

and also the prophets wrote,

Jesus of Nazareth,

the son of Joseph.

I just want to pause here.

There's a couple of interesting things here,

just about verse 45.

Years and years ago,

when I was in university,

decades and decades ago

when I was in university,

I tried to read a Russian novel

by myself for the first time.

I tried to read Dostoevsky's

Crime and Punishment.

And some of you may have heard this before.

I was about a third

to a halfway through the book.

I was really struggling with this book.

I was reading it

because it's supposed to be

great literature.

And I wanted to try to read

great literature

and learn and become wise

and learn it

and all of that stuff.

And I'm slogging through this

and slogging through this

and slogging through this.

And I can't remember

if it was somebody who told me

or if I finally figured it out

for myself.

But Russians

have all sorts of different names.

And so I had been thinking

there were about

12 characters in this book

when there were only four.

Because they'd keep naming

the same person

and sometimes it would be

their nickname

and sometimes it would be

the full name

and sometimes it would be

this other name.

And I kept thinking

there were all these

different characters

trying to wonder

how on earth these guys

seem to be coming in and out.

And then I finally figured that out.

And so I went back to the book

and read the book

from the beginning,

now very carefully following

the names of the characters

and keeping the same guy

straight all the way through.

Jewish people

had lots of different names,

especially Galileans

at the time of Jesus.

They'd have sort of like

more Greek sounding names

and Jewish names

and a variety of names.

So Nathaniel is Bartholomew

in case you're wondering.

In case you're looking

at some of the other

lists of the disciples

and you say,

I don't see Nathaniel

there anywhere.

Nathaniel is probably Bartholomew.

And so Philip,

who's from Bethsaida,

he comes and finds Nathaniel.

And one of the things

that Philip does here

is really cool.

It's a real encouragement for us.

He says,

we have found him

of whom Moses and the law

and also the prophets wrote,

Jesus of Nazareth,

the son of Joseph.

Now the thing which is

so neat about this

is that Philip gets

half of it wrong.

Okay, this is a real

encouragement to you and me.

Like when it comes time

to witness about Jesus,

don't ever say to yourself,

I have to wait

until I've figured out

everything perfectly

before I can witness

about Jesus.

Philip gets half of it wrong.

Jesus is not from Nazareth.

He was from Bethlehem

and he's not the son of Joseph.

He was, I mean,

in a sense,

the stepson of Joseph.

He got two of the things wrong,

but he was just full of enthusiasm

to tell Nathaniel,

his buddy Nathaniel,

about Jesus.

And so he does it.

And it's really neat

because, see,

God always honors

our hearty desire

to share Jesus.

God doesn't sort of

look down at heaven

and says,

oh, dang it,

there's George

attempting it again.

You know,

when's he going to

finally smarten up?

Like, when's he going to

start reading better books?

You know,

you know,

God takes

our faltering,

stumbling attempts

to witness to Jesus

and he just throws a party

and the angels

are singing hallelujah

and God says,

you know,

I can handle

his foolishness.

You know,

I can work through this.

And so Philip

is filled with this.

He gives sort of

two of the things,

he says some of the things wrong

and Nathaniel says to him,

and this is the other thing,

you know,

verse 46,

and Nathaniel said to him,

can anything good

come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him,

come and see.

Now,

there's sort of two

interesting things about this.

You know,

we're from Ottawa

and at least we live in Ottawa

and maybe we're not from Ottawa

but we live in Ottawa

and it's easy for urban people

to look down the nose

at rural people

and, you know,

but rural people

look down their noses

sometimes at other rural people

because, like,

from an Ottawa perspective,

rural Canada

is sort of anything

in Ontario

other than southern Ontario

and Ottawa.

Like,

the rest of it's sort of,

like,

rural or small town,

you know?

But,

you know,

with people there,

they can look down

their noses at things

just like we think

it's something special

to be from Ottawa

but Toronto knows

they're the centre

of the universe

and if you're from New York

they know that they're

really the centre

of the universe

and Paris knows

that they're really

the centre of the universe

and so you can always

find people

who look down their noses

at other people.

When I was in my rural parish

in Eganville,

I did the funeral

of this woman

and lived in Killaloo.

Now,

Killaloo

has a population

of 600 people

and people

were telling me

about this woman

and they said

that one of the things

that characterised

her life for many years

is that she looked

down her nose

at people

from Tremor.

Now,

Tremor,

there's nothing

in Tremor.

It's a bend

and a road

with an old school

and a church.

That's Tremor

and people

from Tremor,

often now

people who go

to that church

are from expensive

cottages

on Round Lake

but years and years

ago,

I guess,

this woman

thought that people,

she lived in a town

of 600 people

and she thought,

well,

the people

who live

and who go

to Tremor,

they're hillbillies

but I live

in the village

of Killaloo.

So,

here's Nathaniel

from Bethsaida

like a little hole

in the wall

saying,

can anything good

come from Nazareth?

You know,

like they have

the wrong accent,

they're not very

well educated

and,

you know,

the fact of the matter

is that often

in this world

we have to deal

with prejudice

and one of the prejudices

that Nathaniel had

was just literally

he was so big

on thinking

that being from

this little hole

in the wall

Bethsaida is important.

Nathaniel's,

I mean,

in Nazareth

there's a smaller

hole in the wall

so they could look

down their noses

on Nazarite

and people

from Nazareth

and that,

at first,

that sort of

just honest prejudice

comes out

and it's so neat

because Philip

doesn't,

in a sense,

deal with the prejudice

he said,

just come and see him.

Just come and see him.

And,

you know,

one of the things

that we can do

is,

because often

when we're trying

to share the gospel

or talk about

the Christian faith

is we can be,

people can be filled

with prejudice

about the Christian faith,

they can be filled

with prejudice

maybe about Christians

or even you

or the people

who would come

to this church

or some other church

and the thing is,

is in a sense

not to be deflected

from it,

to be conscious of it,

but just say,

yeah,

come and see.

Like,

why don't you come

and read the Bible

with me?

Like,

why don't you come

and meet some

of the people

who love Jesus?

Like,

just come and see.

Like,

a brilliant response

to it.

So the story continues.

Nathaniel said to him,

can anything good

come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him,

come and see.

Now,

Jesus saw Nathaniel

coming toward him

and said of him,

behold,

an Israelite indeed

in whom is no guile.

It was a bit prejudiced,

but there's no hypocrisy

in him.

He's no guile.

And Nathaniel said to him,

how do you know me?

Jesus answered

and said to him,

before Philip called you

when you were under

the fig tree,

I saw you.

Nathaniel answered

and said to him,

Rabbi,

you are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel.

Now,

this sounds a little bit

incommensurate

of a response to us

from a very simple

observation of Jesus.

This is a simple miracle

that Jesus performs.

And John,

as we're going to see

in a moment,

not in a moment,

but next week,

John has organized

his gospel

around a series

of significant miracles

and John draws out

the significance

of the miracle

for who Jesus is

and our deepest human needs.

And here we see

John just sharing

a simple miracle

of Jesus

but making no comment

about it whatsoever.

And this is the miracle.

This is why,

like it wasn't as if,

you know,

Jesus is walking

down the aisle

and he turns to the left

and he sees one of you

sitting to his left

and then later on

he says,

well,

I noticed you

when you were sitting.

It's not like that at all.

Nathaniel was somewhere

where,

humanly speaking,

Jesus could not

possibly have seen him.

And so,

Jesus begins

by making an observation

about Nathaniel's character.

He meets Nathaniel

for the first time

and he says something

about the soul

and the mind

and the heart

and the will

of Nathaniel.

And it is probably

something that Nathaniel

has been really

maybe deeply praying about

and deeply working on

and as soon as he says it

about,

as soon as he says this

about Nathaniel,

Nathaniel says in a sense,

like,

how on earth do you know

that about me?

And Jesus says,

I saw you under the fig tree.

And maybe that was a time

when Nathaniel

was maybe deep in prayer

asking God

to have less guile

and hypocrisy

in his life

and more wholehearted

pursuit of the truth.

Maybe that was what

he was doing

in that private moment

under the fig tree.

But Jesus says something

that humanly speaking,

physically speaking,

there's no way

that Jesus could possibly

have seen Nathaniel.

And Nathaniel recognizes

that if Jesus is able

to do this miracle

of sight,

that it's in fact

connected somehow

or another

to the miracle

of Jesus piercing

beneath the facade

of Nathaniel

and seen into Nathaniel's heart.

And because of

the miracle of sight,

Nathaniel recognizes

that Jesus is one

who can see into heart

and he goes,

you are the true teacher.

You are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel.

You know,

the son of God,

one of the things

that we'll see

as we read the gospels

is that often people

speak of Jesus

more than they know.

And the word son of God

is one of those words

that it can have

a double meaning.

And in some context

it can just mean

like the Messiah

and in other contexts

it can mean

something ontological,

something about

the actual being.

and Nathaniel maybe

is just thinking of it

as a messianic thing.

He doesn't realize

that he says

more than he knows,

that he picks a word,

a phrase,

that speaks not only

of Jesus being the Messiah

but also of him

being ontologically

God's son.

He could not possibly

have made that leap

but it's just funny

how those things

happen,

this double meaning

of this single word.

and so

Jesus is able

to see

what cannot

humanly be seen

and that means

he can see

right into the heart

of Nathaniel.

He can see

into your heart

and mine.

He can see us

when nobody else

can see us.

In fact,

you know,

one of the things

which is so important

for us to recognize

as we come here

to worship

is that we are coming

into the presence

of the living God

and we are coming

into the presence

of Jesus

who is the Savior

and his eyes

have been upon you

all week.

His eyes are upon you

right now

and as he looks

upon you

and looks deep

within you

he only looks

with eyes of love.

He only looks

with eyes of love

and every time

we come to worship,

every time we come

to be in the presence

of Jesus

we can come

confident

that God

is not going

to shame us

but only desires

to bring us healing

by drawing us

closer to himself.

Ultimately,

he wants to bring

you salvation

and we can come

expecting

to meet with God

and have

God touch us

and pray

as you come here

that your heart

and that my heart

that our hearts

will be open

to the presence

and the touch

of the God

who loves us.

But then Jesus

continues.

I mean,

Nathaniel has been

blown away

by this simple miracle

that it's in a sense

a miracle

so insignificant

that in the gospel

John is not going

to even in a sense

spend any time

reflecting upon it

but in verse 50

Jesus answered

and said to him

because I said to you

I saw you under

the fig tree

do you believe?

You will see

greater things

than these.

And Jesus said to him

and here we see

this verily, verily.

It's the first time

it comes in

John's gospel.

As David talked

about a bit

last week

any time you see

in this version

I'm using

it's most assuredly

if you use

the King James

version of the Bible

it's verily, verily

it means

amen, amen

so be it, so be it.

It means that

something important

is coming up

so Jesus is trying

to get our attention

by speaking louder

in capital letters

or something

and we should listen up

because something

important is about

to be said

and this is what he says

verily, verily

most assuredly

I say to you

hereafter

you shall see

heaven open

and the angels

of God

ascending

and descending

upon the

Son of Man

verily, verily

I say to you

hereafter

you shall see

heaven open

and the angels

of God

ascending

and descending

upon the

Son of Man

this

this is that

John has written

his gospel

in such a way

that this is

in a sense

the end of the

introduction

and in John

John 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

the book

is going

to change

we're going

to be launched

into a series

of significant

miracles of Jesus

which John

probes beyond

the reality

of the miracle

to what the miracle

points to

about who Jesus

is and who we

as human beings

are and who God

is and what

our need is

and what we are

called to do

and then after that

there is to be

the long

description

of the

last supper

and Jesus

with his disciples

and then the

crucifixion

and John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

this is in a sense

the end of the

introduction

and Jesus

and John

ends the end

of the introduction

with this statement

of Jesus

this true statement

of Jesus

verily

verily

and he says

that there are

two things

that Nathaniel

is going to see

and the first

thing he says

he's going to see

heaven opened

and that is

in a sense

a coded way

of Jesus saying

I have come

to bring salvation

heaven is closed

to us

as human beings

and

we are

broken people

we are fallen

people

we are people

who fall short

of the glory

of God

all have sinned

and fall short

of the glory

of God

and heaven

is far off

God is far off

and we are

alienated

and separate

from him

and we cannot

open the gate

of heaven

ourselves

we cannot reach

up to God

ourselves

we cannot

know God

truly by ourselves

none is righteous

no not one

and I have

come to

open heaven

so that you

can come in

I have come

from God

to bring salvation

I have come

from God

to do that

which no human

being can do

by themselves

or in and of

themselves

they are neither

worthy of it

nor do they

have the power

I have come

to open heaven

and secondly

I have come

and you will see

the angels

of God

ascending

and descending

upon the

son of man

and we will

look at what

the son of man

means more

in the coming

weeks

it is Jesus

title about

himself

but what we

see here

is that he

has come

to bring

true knowledge

of God

he has come

to bring

so that

in a sense

the angels

can ascend

and descend

that there

is true

knowledge

that comes

from God

through Jesus

to us human

beings

and that our

true knowledge

of God

himself

in a sense

us going

back up

towards God

that that

can ascend

and as there's

the knowledge

of God

that descends

and our

heartfelt prayer

and our

conversation

and our

hearts

and our

minds

and our

longings

and our

yearnings

and even

our bodies

being able

to ascend

through Jesus

to God

himself

true words

of God

that descend

and our

true need

to talk

to God

that can

ascend

Jesus

is the

one

who will

bring

revelation

remember

earlier on

I said

that at

the heart

of the

difference

in this

continuing

crisis

that it

faces the

Anglican

Church of

Canada

it's not

over

people who

experience

same-sex

attraction

I mean

friends

every single

one of us

here is

sexually

broken

every single

one of us

here is

in need

of grace

the crisis

is over

whether this

statement

of Jesus

is true

or not

is it

true

or is it

not

is in fact

Jesus

the one

who has

come from

God

breaking

into our

human order

to open

the gate

and the

door of

heaven

so that

we might

enter

in other

words

is he

the one

who brings

a salvation

from God

that only

God can

offer

and only

God

can bring

and that

we must

receive

or is

salvation

something

that through

our own

effort

our own

cleverness

our own

definition

our own

power

that we

somehow

achieve

and create

is

Jesus

the one

who brings

true knowledge

of God

and the one

that allows

us to

truly speak

to God

and

communicate

with God

or is he

just one

who brings

us some

more

metaphors

some more

similes

some more

allegories

some more

little pieces

of the puzzle

for us to

put together

ourselves

Jesus

says he

is the

one who

has come

to open

heaven

and to

bring true

revelation

of God

to us

fallen

human

beings

and this

means

that what

he has

come is

not just

something

which is a

curious fact

that can be

put in the

news of the

world or

national inquire

or people

magazine

oh by the

way do you

know that

there's somebody

who's come

who can

open heaven

and bring

revelation

it's not

just some

idle fact

to tickle

our curiosity

we are to

come to him

we are to

come to him

and since he

comes from God

and brings that

which only God

can do

and that we

are powerless

in and of

ourselves to do

it means that

the words of

Jesus come

unto me all

who labor

and are heavy

laden

I will give

you rest

take my

yoke upon

you and learn

from me

for I am

gentle and

lowly of heart

and you will

find rest

for your soul

for my yoke

is easy

and my

burden is

light

it means that

we are come

to Jesus

to know

salvation

we are come

to come

to Jesus

to know

God

and that

when we

come to

Jesus

he takes

us upon

him

he takes

us to

himself

and he

places

his yoke

upon us

so that

we can be

made whole

and we

can be

made free

and

we can

be fit

for heaven

let's bow

our heads

in prayer

Jesus

we thank

and praise

you that

you are

so patient

with us

and so

loving

we thank

and praise

you that

we are all

Nathaniels here

and you

see us

as we

walk

and sleep

and go

about our

24-7 day

and you

see us

perfectly

and you

see right

into the

depths of

who we

are perfectly

and still

you love

us

and still

you desire

us to

come to

yourself

that you

desire us

to come

to you

to know

you

and to

have your

yoke upon

us

that you

desire

seeing us

as we

really are

not to

condemn us

but to

grant us

true rest

for our

souls

Jesus

we invite

and give

you

permission

to reach

out

even now

in this

place

to reach

out and

touch us

and draw

us closer

to yourself

Jesus

we invite

and give

you permission

to pour

out your

Holy Spirit

the very

love

and life

and health

and of

God

himself

God

himself

pour out

your Holy

Spirit

upon us

draw us

to yourself

and through

yourself

bring us

to the

Father

this we

ask in

your name

alone

Jesus

Amen