We are — each living beings — created and formed from the soil that surrounds us, from the land on which we walk, by the nutrients either rich or poor in the foods we eat.
We are patterned by our DNA — our genetic make-up given to us by our family lineage. We are both male and female, short and tall, brown-eyed and green-eyed or hazel-eyed or blue-eyed. We are dark-skinned or fair-skinned, short or tall based on that DNA and the
region of the world in which we are born and raised.
We are uniquely alike and altogether different.
From the moments before our conception through the miraculous period of growth before our first breath we are surrounded by the hands of the Creator who like a master artist scooped up the mud and clay and created the first beings in the garden.
When we read the creation stories in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 there are two versions of the same story, based a lot on the characteristics ascribed to God. In the first story, God creates in an orderly fashion by “speaking” or commanding order from chaos. In the continuing story of creation in Genesis 2, God is seen to be more like the human God creates . . . More hands-on, more intimately involved in creation. It is not difficult to picture God kneeling by a riverbank and scooping the dirt and water together to shape a human form. Once formed the Spirit of God is breathed into the human body and the formless creation of mud and water becomes like us, and like God at the same time . . . A living being filled with the Spirit of God.
There is no distinction in the creation story about gender, or ethnicity, or language. The creation of humankind according to the story in Genesis 2 is a shared and common experience. We were all created in God’s image from that day forward.
We come from a shared birthplace, a shared common experience being one with God at the time of our birth. We are all made to be loved and to love.
After all of these thousands of years since creation that is, at the bottom line of our commonality, still true.
But so much has changed.
Or has it?
If we listen to the news most of us would be hard-pressed to believe that we have that much in common with those who live on other continents or even in another state or community. So much divides us. Politics, economics, race, social status, level of education.
What if we were able to acknowledge that within and without all of those things we define as statuses we have far more in common with others than we realize? What if we were to define our commonalities by our dreams and hopes for ourselves and the generations who follow — our children and grandchildren and their children? Perhaps we share more than we realize.
Yet even in today’s world many of us find it difficult to conceive our commonalities and easier to contrive our differences. In spite of the technologies that surround us that could enable us to see through the differences, we live in a media world that accentuates those differences with false statements, with words that create fear, and stories that lead us into various misconceptions of persons we have yet to meet.
Ours is not the only nor the first society among many societies that needed to bridge the gap between those we judge without knowing and those we choose to engage with in order to know.
The story for today in the Gospel of John tells of the beginning of Jesus' time as a teacher and leader of the disciples. Notice how one characteristic behavior in common to each of these potential followers led to an introduction to Jesus. That behavior is natural to most of us, particularly when we are children, although some of us never outgrow it.
The characteristic behavior is curiosity.
John the Baptist has been baptizing people in the area around the Jordan River in the area of Bethany. John looks up one day, and seeing Jesus walking toward him John says to his disciples, “Look! The Lamb of God.”
Two of John’s disciples follow Jesus as he leaves. Jesus then turns to the two and asks “What are you looking for?”
“Teacher, where are you staying?” “Come and see” Jesus replied. So they followed him there. They must have been impressed, or intrigued as one of the two, Andrew, went to get his brother Simon and said to him “We have found the one who is the Messiah.” And Andrew led Simon to Jesus.
The next day Jesus went into Galilee and Jesus saw Philip who was from Bethsaida, the home of Andrew and Simon Peter. Jesus said to Philip “Follow me.” Then Philip went and found Nathanael and told him that they had found the Messiah, this man Jesus of Nazareth.
“From Nazareth?” Nathanael scoffed. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” And then Philip said to Nathanael “Come and see.” So Nathanael also followed Jesus.
In this account of the calling of the disciples, the call to meet Jesus and to follow Jesus begins with the curiosity of one or two people who respond to their curiosity by accepting the challenge to “come and see.”
Come meet Jesus.
Come see what good can come from Nazareth.
Come and see how he teaches and heals and loves others.
There are a couple of points in this story from the Gospel that will draw us into the theme for this sermon series.
The first is how curiosity drives the story.
“Where are you staying?”
Just who IS this person Jesus?
Where is he from?
What does he teach?
“Well, come and see!”
The call from the beginning of this story is to leave the space, the place, the situation in which you are currently standing, the situation in life in which you find yourself at this time.
Come into a place and a space where you are free to ask more questions. Come away and spend time meeting and listening to this man Jesus. Come with all of your questions, your curiosity, and find in this time together, in this place a safe place to ask all of your questions. Let your curiosity, your desire to know more lead you into a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Isn’t that the way we get to know most people better? You may be in a group with a number of other people and someone will ask a question or make a comment that piques your curiosity. You want to know more about them. Sometimes because you disagree with their point of view. And it would be easy to write them off. Curiosity however will sometimes cause you to want to understand their point of view or at least to understand where they are coming from, what their life situation is that influences their opinion.
Sometimes we want to know someone better because we agree with their statement or we are grateful that they voiced their opinion when we did not find words or voice to say something similar. Curiosity and a desire to know them better may lead to a new friendship or at least an acquaintance that you can trust in the future to represent your voice.
Curiosity controls the story in this scripture and often in our lives.
The second point in this story is that curiosity is contagious. Andrew is intrigued by the description of Jesus by John the Baptist. After following Jesus Andrew calls his brother Simon Peter to come meet Jesus. When Jesus called Philip to follow him, Philip probably readily agreed because he saw Andrew and Simon who were from his hometown. Then Philip goes to get Nathanael. Even as one who might be considered a scoffer, Nathanael’s curiosity causes him to respond to the invitation to “come and see” and he becomes a follower of Jesus.
The “contagious curiosity” factor can be seen from two angles. Contagious curiosity is one of the most effective forms of evangelism that exists in today’s environment, in my opinion. I have had more people come to experience the established church through its worship services because they became curious about what happens hereafter they have experienced us in the community. More people come to church after working side-by-side with a team from the church during a week-long Habitat for Humanity team build than after years of advertising in the newspaper or on the radio. More people come to church after working together to clean up yards and repair homes in our neighborhood than ever come into the church because they came once to a “movie night.” People are not curious about what we do in our buildings, or in what our buildings look like inside the walls and doors. People are curious because they want to see what motivates us to do things for others. “Why did you take a day off work to help shingle the roof of my home?” “Why did you use your vacation to come help rebuild a home for me after the fire?” “Why do you volunteer to read to my child each week after school?”
Because I believe it is the right thing to do. Because God loves us both. “Come join me this week and see for yourself.”
We encourage curiosity by our behavior, not our words — by our works, not our worship. We engage the curious in our worship and our prayer and our studies.
The second way the “contagious curiosity” can be seen is that it moves us toward one another rather than away from others. If we remain curious enough to sit and visit with someone, to sit and engage in a two-way conversation, to really listen to someone else we open the door into new possibilities for finding the similarity in our hopes and dreams, in our despairs and in our disappointments. If we engage with others from a place of curiosity without judgment, and story sharing without competition we can take down the barriers, real or perceived that separate us from one another. Contagious curiosity can create community, commonality, and kindness where it was absent. Courageous curiosity can bridge the gaps that divide us. If the same God who created humanity from the dirt and mud of the river and breathed into us the breath of life loves us equally, can we not seek that in one another as well?
In this our first week to consider together those questions we might want to begin to ask while we make our way back into community together I ask you to reflect on these questions for just a moment.
Where do you come from? How did it form you as a child? Does it still form you today?
How can you see curiosity and kindness working together to create a stronger and better community here where you live?
Who have you been meaning to ask “where do you come from?” Pray for them this week, and for the opportunity to sit and share with one another the answer to this question