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"Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (Jn 1:43ff), Jesus says to Nathanael in the Gospel lesson for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany.
Nathanael believed that Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel simply because Jesus called him by name and complimented him on one of his good traits, his guilelessness, saying that He saw him under a fig tree before Philip ever spoke to him of Jesus the Messiah. He would see greater things than these, Jesus assured him.
When Jacob saw the celestial ladder resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending on it, and the Lord Himself standing above it, addressing him, he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it" (Gn 28:16).
Do you reckon Jacob also saw greater things than these? Do you reckon he saw Jesus as Jacob's Ladder, with His feet planted firmly on the earth and His head reaching to heaven? Do you suppose Jacob recognized that it was Jesus upon whom the angels were ascending and descending, and with whom the Father was standing, for whose sake God made His covenant with Jacob and his offspring?
Do you reckon Jacob realized on whose account God gave him and his descendants the Promised Land and caused them to flourish, and in whose name all peoples on earth would be blessed through him and his lineage, in whom God Himself would watch over them, and through whom He would go with them until He fulfilled all His promises to them?
I reckon he did. I reckon that's why Jacob said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. . . .How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven" (vv 15-17).
St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, saw a similar epiphany of God or theophany when he was about to undergo an even greater transition than Jacob--moving not just from one earthly home to another but from his earthly to his heavenly home.
For, while the Jews would not abide his words, true as they were, and believe and repent and be saved; while, furious with Stephen, they gnashed their teeth at him and took up stones to stone him, Stephen, we're told, "full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 'Look,' he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'" (Acts 7:55-56).
Whereas the Jews could not rid themselves of this menace fast enough, but covered their ears and, screaming at the top of their lungs to drown him out, rushed at Stephen with one accord, dragged him out of the city and started stoning him, Stephen, on the other hand, prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (v 59), and, accepting Jesus as his Intercessor, his Ladder to heaven and Link with the Almighty, interceded for his destroyers as his Savior interceded for him, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (v60).
No wonder King David, stirred by similar visitations, brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the most holy God with great rejoicing. No wonder he sacrificed an ox and a fatling every six paces all along the parade route of the Ark's procession to Jerusalem. No wonder, along with the whole house of Israel, David danced before the Lord with all his might, girded only with a linen ephod, leaping and dancing all the way.
No wonder, after the healing by Peter in the name of Jesus, the man crippled from birth came into the same precincts "walking and jumping, and praising God" (Acts 3:8). Did not Isaiah prophesy of this great day of the Lord's visitation, "Then will the lame leap like a deer" (Is 35:6a)?
Did not Malachi foretell of that Day when the Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His wings, "You will go out and leap like calves released from the stall" (Mal 4:2b), speaking of those who revere God's name and look for healing from Him? Did Jesus not say of that great day of the coming of the Lord, "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven" (Lk 6: 23a)?
No wonder David vowed, "I will make merry before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this". David wasn't afraid to make a fool of himself before the almighty Lord.
He wasn't afraid to appear foolish even in the eyes of Michal his wife who despised him in her heart of hearts when she saw him acting like a fool before all Israel, and when she sarcastically ridiculed him, "How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' maids, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"
Neither does the Apostle Paul care about appearing foolish in the eyes of the worldly wise. He confesses, "We are fools for Christ" (1Cor 4:10a). And why fools? Because he and we are so foolish as to share the message of the cross, which is foolishness to those who are perishing, to those who spitefully reject it, those who will not repent and believe the Good News, who will not be converted, not under any circumstances.
But to those who believe, it is the power of God unto salvation whereby God makes foolish the wisdom of the world precisely through the foolishness of what is preached, namely, "Christ crucified: A stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews" and Gentiles, "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom" (1Cor 1:23-25) wherein God chooses "the foolish things of the world to shame the wise" (v 27), that is, the weak and beggarly inconspicuous nobodies, like us. It is because of this foolishness of God that we fools for Christ are in Christ Jesus our Lord, "who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption" (v 30).
So, don't you be afraid to be a fool for Christ, either! Amen.
- Pastor Erickson