One of the greatest enemies of shalom and of true biblical peace lies within our hearts. As I talk to our families in our school, one of the most grievous issues is the divisiveness and polarization in our society. Our theme this year at Grace is Seeking Shalom, and as a community, we desire to seek out and embrace the true biblical peace that Jesus promised to leave us. Whether race, politics, or countless other issues, our culture seems dangerously at odds, objectifying and stereotyping each other, vilifying and viewing others (whoever “the other” is) as an existential threat to our existence.
Yet Jesus promises shalom, which means that biblical peace is possible. Like all things worthwhile, however, shalom takes work. At this week’s CESA symposium, I heard a powerful message from Vanessa Hawkins, the Director of Community Life at Redeemer Lincoln Square in New York City. Ms. Hawkins retold the classic story of Nathaniel and Jesus to remind us that the battle to seek shalom and combat division begins within our hearts.
In the first chapter of John, Jesus is gathering his disciples. He asks Philip to follow him. Philip, excited about meeting Jesus, looks for and finds his friend Nathanael, seeking to call him also to join Jesus. Philip tells Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:45)
Philip has just shared with Nathanael the greatest news of all: that the long-awaited Messiah, the hope of the world, has been found! This should be a moment for rejoicing, wondering, or even questioning how Philip could know these things. Given the enormity of this news, Nathanael’s response is abrupt and shocking: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (v. 46)
It is estimated that Nazareth had around 2,000 inhabitants during Jesus’ time. In one fell swoop, Nathanael devalued the entire town. His statement is shockingly prejudiced, disclaiming the worthiness of an entire population based on their hometown. This prejudice was such that Nathanael felt compelled to blurt it out, even when presented with the possibility of meeting the Son of God.
Or, maybe it is shocking only until we realize that we’re guilty of this kind of prejudice and stereotyping ourselves. It might be a political party that we cannot imagine that any member could be Christian, or that ethnicity, nationality, or affinity group we do not know, however, we are certain we don’t like. We surround ourselves with echo chambers, with people who reinforce our beliefs and tell us via media that we’re right. We rarely expose our ideas to genuine testing or challenge, so there is never the opportunity to moderate our beliefs, failing to cultivate an environment where we can learn. Instead, we rehearse and rehash our prejudices.
For Nathanael, Nazarenes were worthless. All Nazarenes. Simple as that. And it almost cost him the Messiah and his salvation.
But Philip, and later Jesus, aren’t content to let Nathanael stew in his prejudice. They step into him and invite him to a better way. Their response is the lesson for all of us: to reform our hearts and capture those around us with whom we work, live, and play, maybe those living in the echo chamber with us.
Philip doesn’t engage, castigate, or challenge Nathaniel in his prejudice. Instead, he invites Nathanael to be curious. Phillip asks him to “come and see.” Being curious requires humility. It means acknowledging that we might not have all the answers and that we might be able to learn something. To Nathanael’s credit, he steps into curiosity, comes and sees, allowing himself to be challenged.
The second invitation is from Jesus, an invitation to find common ground. When Jesus sees Nathanael, he encourages him: “Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Jesus finds what he has in common with Nathanael, that they are fellow Israelites, and what in Nathanael is good—that he is a person of integrity.
Nathanael is amazed by Jesus’ approach: “How do you know me?” Jesus replies, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Jesus communicates that he saw Nathanael and knew what he was thinking. Again, instead of scolding Nathanael for his prejudice, Jesus offers belonging. He tells him, “I saw you,” meaning, “I know you.” Instead of suspicion and fear, Jesus offers welcome and hospitality.
Jesus and Philip show us a better way—how to kill the shalom killer and combat prejudice and divisiveness—by fostering curiosity and looking for commonality and belonging. Instead of focusing on what’s different and how we disagree, looking for reasons and ways to be one.
Commonality and proximity create understanding. If we’re honest, often when we stereotype and vilify whole people groups or ethnicities, it’s because we don’t actually have any friends who are of those categories. We don’t know any of the people we write off. Chances are Nathanael didn’t actually know any Nazarenes, or if he did, he was just making broad generalizations from one or two who had hurt him.
It’s pretty difficult to vilify whole groups of people when those we love are among them. That’s one of the reasons Jesus encouraged biblical hospitality, and the Church still practices it and exhorts us to it today. When we invite others into our homes and our lives, no matter who those others are, it creates proximity and fosters commonality, which paves the way to understanding and, eventually, love.
We have created and are working to foster commonality and proximity at Grace. Seven years ago, our board and leadership team were called by God to “love all the kids and families Jesus loves,” working to build a community that would reflect John’s vision in Revelation 7 of every tongue and tribe standing before Jesus and worshipping him. That’s what eternity is like, and we felt that “teaching Jesus” meant giving our students a glimpse of that vision today.
Our guiding purpose is to make disciples of Jesus, to “teach Jesus.” Fostering curiosity, creating proximity, and seeking commonality and belonging is how Jesus engaged and embraced others. Our deep hope for our students and our families is that we would be like Jesus in loving, engaging, and embracing those who aren’t like us in ways that aren’t possible without the power of the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit’s grace to do it because our hearts aren’t inclined this way, as is true in every other aspect of Jesus’ nature and character.
It’s difficult to step into curiosity, commonality, and belonging because we have to risk saying the “wrong” thing, which is simple to do when we lack understanding. We have to be patient with each other, demonstrating love. But, as Ms. Hawkins reflected the other day, “growth is on the other side of awkward.” We have to do the work to be seekers of shalom.
Last Thursday, I was at an event for another ministry when a father, mother, and daughter from our school approached me. The daughter translated for the father because the family is Columbian and Dad’s English proficiency skills are still limited. The father told me that he and his wife brought his children to Grace nearly seven years ago, when we were only beginning this journey of intentionally creating space, commonality, and belonging for families of different ethnicities than the majority of our students. The father shared that they felt like pioneers at that time, nervous and awkward, because neither they nor their children looked or sounded like the other Grace students.
The family had to struggle financially to have their children in our school. However, they persevered because they believed in Christian education for their children, and they believed our promises that someday it would be different for them. Today, he wanted to thank me on behalf of our school and its leadership because we had delivered on those promises as a community, extending hospitality, creating space, and loving and knowing his children well. His wife, whose English is better and didn’t need translation, added, “We are immigrants to this country. We wanted a new life and a Christian education for our children. You all and this community have changed everything for our family.”
When I hear stories like this, my heart soars, because this is the best of who we are, the best of Christian community, the Kingdom of Heaven coming now to a hurting world, a people seeking, and sometimes finding, shalom. But we have to be willing to be curious and hospitable, to realize that what we have in common is so much more than our differences, and to seek to make others feel they belong to us, which is so much more powerful a strategy to winning people over than prejudice, anger, and fear. We have to be committed and sold out to shalom, even at the cost of our pride.
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