SERMON       Sunday  24th August        8am and 10am

John 1:45-51                      St Bartholomew's Day

              If I were walking down the main street of Croydon and I suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky, nothing much would happen.  People walking nearby would just go about their business.  Maybe one or two would see me looking up into the sky, and they would say "Oh there's that strange vicar from the church, he would be looking up into the sky wouldn't he!"

              If two of you were with me, in the main street, and the three of us suddenly stopped and looked up into the sky, some people would momentarily turn around and look at us, but then they would probably continue on their way.   But if there were five of us, or six of us,  looking up into the sky, probably by then a crowd would have gathered around us -- and what would that crowd be doing ?   Looking up into the sky with us.

              The "tipping point" would be when there were four of us or five of us, or maybe it would require six of us to be looking up into the sky before everybody around us is looking up into the sky.  It wouldn't happen it there were only one or two. It would happen if there were four or five or six of us.

              What I am talking about here is the concept of a "tipping point":   it is the "existence of sufficient momentum in a system that  then becomes self-sustaining, and fuels further growth".

              In science, in physics, in sociology, this phenomenon is sometimes called "the critical mass":  How big has a group got to be before it has sufficient momentum to keep going.  How big has a group of people on a street, looking up into the sky, got to be before everybody will be there looking up into the sky.   The tipping point.

              This issue of the "tipping point" or the "critical mass" is  very much with us when we are talking about children and youth in the church.  I used to go to church, to Sunday School, as a child, because there were lots of children there. If there'd been 20 children there I would have gone.  If there'd been only 8 or 10 I might have still gone.  If there had been only 2 or 3 ..... no.    The critical mass point, the tipping point had to be more than that.

              The "tipping point".  Sometimes a person has a tipping point experience in their attitude to Jesus Christ: there's something that happens to them that gets them over the barrier, as it were, and they are sold on the idea that Jesus is the One to follow.

              I believe we hear about such a person today, in our gospel reading.  His name was Nathanael.  Or was his name Bartholomew ?  The Christian church, for centuries, has celebrated August 24th as St Bartholomew's Day. Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles, but he is one of the lesser important ones, in that we hear virtually nothing about him, other than that he was one of the 12.  There is a tradition that he was martyred for his faith -- and that's why we have the red vestments today, to commemorate a martyred saint.

So you have this person called Bartholomew.

              But the scholars say that this man was also known as Nathanael. They say that Nathanael was his first name and Bartholomew was his surname. The surname means "Son of Tolmai" -- Nathanael Son of Tolmai, or as the Hebrews would put it, Nathanael Bartholomew.   Bartholomew was a surname in those days, not a first name.  He seems to be coupled with the apostle Philip on a number of occasions, in the scriptures, which adds to the theory that Nathanael and Bartholomew are really the same person.

              So let's assume they are ... and what I am saying is that this Nathanael is a man who had a "tipping point" experience in his relationship with Jesus.

              He started off not knowing Jesus at all, but he had "al ot going for him", in two areas:   First,  we take it that Nathanael was someone who spent time thinking about the things of God.   He was someone who was a good Jew, who devoted time each day to meditating on his faith.  We can say this about him because when Our Lord does meet him, Jesus says to Nathanael "I saw you under the fig tree".  Now, we might think that that's a strange thing for Jesus to say, but it is code language.   What it refers to is a phrase that means "I saw you doing what a good devout Jew would do -- namely, sitting down in a special place, thinking about God".  A big fig tree in a village was the place where the devout Jews would gather for their meditations.

              So this Nathanael (Nathanael Bartholomew, to give him his full name) was a someone who was habitually focusing on God, and no doubt was hoping that one day God would send to the Jews, a prophet like Moses, to teach them more about God, to lead them out of the pitiful situation they were in -- not exactly slaves of the Romans, as Moses had led the people out of slavery in Egypt, but to restore to the Jews some sense of pride, after the humiliation of being a subject people of the Romans.  Yes, Nathanael had that "going for him".

              The other thing he had going for him, as Jesus pointed out when He finally met him, was that Nathanael was a thoroughly good man, an upright person,  without any guile.   He might have been an Israelite, and therefore descended from Jacob -- who was a deceitful, cunnning nasty piece of work in many ways ... and you might remember we were thinking about Jacob a few weeks ago.... Nathanael might be an Israelite, but he was one without guile, without deceit. He was a good man.   When  Jesus eventually met him, He could tell that about him.

              But neither of those 2 points made Nathanael a follower of Jesus. Nathanael was someone, yes, who thought alot about God and about spiritual things.  He was a good man, yes, ethically speaking.   But that didn't make him a  Christian.

              Now, even today, being someone who is "spiritual", being someone who thinks alot about religion, who knows alot about religion, who studies it .... does not make you a Christian.

              And, by the same token, just being a good person, even being a person "without guile", "in whom there is no deceit" ... does not make you a Christian. There are many good people around,  there are many who think about the things of God, but that does not automatically make them true followers of Christ.

              But Nathanael had those two things in his favour, we must admit.  He was deeply concerned about the things of God, and he was a good, decent, upright man.

              What he didn't have going for him, though, was that he was someone who put limits on what God could do.  Why do I say that ?   Well, in the scripture passage we heard, Philip comes to Nathanael.   Philip has become a follower of Jesus.  And Philip comes to Nathanael and tells hm that this Jesus is the very One the Jews have been waiting for.  He is the One from God.  Philip also adds that this Jesus comes from the town of Nazareth.  When Nathanael hears this, his hackles rise. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" , he exclaims.

              It appears that Nathanael comes from the town of Cana, and there was rivalry and jealousy between Cana and Nazareth.  A bit like the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne. (Can anything good come out of Sydney? ... don't answer that!).

              But that little comment, that spiteful comment, that prejudicial comment,  from Nathanael, betrays the fact that he doesn't think God can work through something, someone, who comes from a particular place.  He is limiting what God can do.  Nathanael might be man who thinks alot about God, he might a good man, but he is setting firm limits to the power of God.

              Do we ever set limits on what God can do -- in our personal lives, in the lives of those we love ?   Do we ever set limits  on what God can achieve in this parish ?

              But then comes the tipping point .... for Nathanael.

              Philip says to him, in effect, "You might have those prejudices about Jesus, who you haven't met as yet  -- but 'come and see'".   And Nathanael does 'come and see'.  He goes beyond his meditations, his musings about God.   He goes beyond his mere good behaviour.  He overcomes his prejudice.   He believes the testimony of another person concerning Jesus.  He comes to see for himself.   The tipping point has come, and Nathanael says, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God".   And Our Lord recognises something, someone immensely valuable, in this man Nathanael Bartholomew.

              This man is then told that, yes, Jesus is the one who is the gate of heaven -- and Our Lord uses the imagery of Jacob's dream of the angels coming and going, and He uses the imagery of Daniel's dream of the heavenly Son of Man. Our Lord affirms to Nathanael that his previous spiritual musings and meditations and his good, decent life now have their fulfilment.   And this man goes on to become one of the founders of the Christian community -- in the imagery of the Book of Revelation, he becomes, with the other apostles, a foundation stone of the heavenly city.

              We know no more about him.   But that story does remind us that, while thinking about God might put us in good stead, while being a good person, morally and ethically, mght be very admirable, what really matters is our overcoming of any idea that limits God's power.   We can then go through that "tipping point"  and put our complete trust in Jesus Christ, from Nazareth, the very Son of God.