Redeemer East Falls Blog

It is early in the Epiphany season, time to hear once again the story of how the disciple Nathanael came to follow Christ. In short the story goes like this:

Philip finds his friend Nathanael and tells him he his found the Messiah in the man known as Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael responds, "Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Philip answers, "Come and see!"

Nathanael's knee-jerk indictment of a whole community is something we at Redeemer in East Falls know very well. We hear it in the attitude of virtually the entire synod and it has spread into the entire church. "Can anything good come out of Redeemer?"

We know our reputation in the ELCA raises eyebrows among the contentedly ill-informed. Can anything good come out of that church?, they seem to ask as they chortle at the mention of our name. Sadly, they do not take the time to hear the answer.

Frequently there is no answer for this kind of smart alec question. The question is the answer. Minds are made up. Why bother looking deeper?

But that's what sets the disciple Nathanael apart. He didn't rest in the smug assurance that his doubts were necessarily the truth. Nathanael resisted arrogance -- a trait Jesus recognized in him before he met him. "Truly, here is an Israelite within whom there is no deceit," Jesus says upon meeting him.

Philip tugged at Nathanael's arm. "Come and see," he said. Nathanael set aside his prejudice, he went, he saw and he changed his mind.

If only Redeemer could find a Nathanael within the ELCA. Their arrogance asks only the question, "Can anything good come out of that bunch of renegades?" They do not see any answers. They do not want any answers.