March 8, 2004	Read John 1: 45-46
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
COME AND SEE The Philip and Nathanael story speaks boldly about faith and love.  First, Philip had the faith to follow Jesus, whom he accepted as the Son of God.  Jesus asked Philip to “follow him,” which he did.  Then, Philip demonstrated his love for another, a reluctant Nathanael, by asking him to “come and see” the Son of God.  Nathanael in the later verses of this biblical account saw and spoke with Jesus.  He, like Philip, truly discovered that Jesus son of Joseph was the Son of God who came from such an unexpected place as Nazareth. As followers of Christ, we need to be like Philip and share our faith and love with others by proclaiming the Good News that Jesus is the Son of God.  In this secular world, we often times are reluctant about practicing our faith in the midst of  society.  Last fall, Tom Schaefer of the Wichita Eagle wrote an article in the Faith and Values section of the newspaper about why people do not pray before meals in restaurants.  Various reasons and excuses were given in response to Schaefer’s inquiry.  Philip candidly reminds and challenges each one of us that in our daily lives we must, by what we say and do, spread the Good News that Christ, the Son of God, lives within us. This public act of faith and love requires courage.  Let this Lenten Season be one in which we all, with God’s help, become more Christ-like by living and practicing our faith and love for one another each and every hour of every day of our lives. Gracious Father, allow your Holy Spirit to dwell within us that we might be more Christ-like in all we say and do. LARRY D. EHRLICH

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