Did you hear about the preschooler who came home from her first time at Sunday School. Her Mom wanted to know how things had gone and what the little girl thought about the experience.

She was hoping that the little girl liked it and would want to continue going. So, her Mom asked, “How was it?”

The little girl replied, “Oh, it was fine and it was fun. But I think my teacher was Jesus’ grandma!”

Her Mom looked surprised and asked, “Why do you say that?”

The little girl replied, “Well, because she kept showing us pictures of the baby Jesus. And He’s all she talked about.”

This morning we read about a guy who was almost as excited about telling his friend about Jesus as that Sunday School teacher was. And that guy was Philip. Philip was from the same hometown as Andrew and Peter, Bethsaida.

Philip, somehow, had heard about Jesus. Tradition says that he was a fisherman just like Peter, Andrew, James and John – the first four disciples.

He may have even been a part of the same fishing company that all of these brothers and cousins were a part of. So most probably he had heard of Jesus from them.

Regardless, there was something about Philip that Jesus liked, so one day Jesus went to Philip and said, “Follow me.” And he did.

Now comes the interesting part. According to John, no sooner than he was called, Philip took off to tell a friend about Jesus.

We don’t know what the relationship between Philip and Nathanael was. But we do know that Philip thought enough of Nathanael to tell him the best news that he had ever heard: They had found the Messiah.

At first, Nathanael’s reaction was less than enthusiastic. Now we can understand Nathanael’s skepticism. Look at what Phillip is asking him to believe.

He tells him, “I have found the one that Moses wrote about in the Law, and the one the Prophets foretold.” He is talking about – THE PROMISED MESAIH!  What would be your reaction if someone came up to you with that kind of news?

Well, it sounded a little too fantastic for Nathanael.  Not only was the news unbelievable, but when he found out that Jesus was from Nazareth, a back water, two bit town in the middle of nowhere … he was even more skeptical, commenting: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

That comment ranks right up there with other famous last words, doesn’t it?

Like: “I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.” Believe it or not, that’s what Gary Cooper said on his decision not to take the leading role in “Gone with the Wind.”

Or … “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” Decca Recording Company, rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

It’s a good thing Philip was persistent. He told Nathanael, “Come and see.” And to Nathanael’s credit, he did, most likely reluctantly … but Jesus wasn’t reluctant.

Right away Jesus recognizes Nathanael’s doubt, doesn’t chastise him for it, but transforms him. “I saw you while you were under the fig tree BEFORE Phillip called you,” Jesus says.

And a miracle happens – Nathanael’s eyes are opened. “Rabbi,” he says, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”

I can almost hear Jesus laughing as he turns to Nathanael and says, “You believe because I told you I saw you under a fig tree? Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”  And boy, was that ever an understatement.

Jesus was saying, “Come and see Nathanael. That’s all I ask, just come and see, and you will learn that something good can come from Nazareth!”

Just like Nathanael, we too, at one point in our lives, were invited by someone else to, “Come and see.” And when we did, we found that there was something worth sticking around for.

And yet, as we sit here this morning, admittedly at various stages of faith, belief, and its resulting thankfulness … I fear we have become somewhat complacent.  We have all the blessings of being a part of a loving, caring community of faith – of basking in the love of Christ … And we are keeping it all to ourselves.

You see, even though it was through the efforts of some friend, family member, or maybe even a stranger, that ultimately helped us to come to faith – often it is hard for us to return the favor.

I like the story of the two robins sitting in a tree. “I’m really hungry,” said the first one.

“Me too,” said the second one. “Let’s fly down and find some lunch.” 

They flew to the ground and found a nice plot of plowed ground full of worms. They ate and ate and ate and ate ‘til they could eat no more.

“I’m so full I don’t think I can fly back up to the tree,” said the one.

“Me either.” said the second. “Let’s just lay here and bask in the warm sun.”

“O.K.,” said the first robin. They plopped down, basking in the sun.

No sooner had they fallen asleep than a big fat cat snuck up and gobbled them up. As he sat washing his face after his meal, he thought, “I love baskin’ robins.” 

Will we be people who have eaten so much of God’s good food that we sit and bask? Or, will we invite others. Will we go out of our way to say to people, “Come and see – cuz you ain’t seen nothin’  yet!”  

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if each one of us, at least once a month or if that is too threatening, maybe once a quarter, or even once a year, invited another human being to “Come and See? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if “Come and See” became a natural part of our life and relationships?

We celebrate a lot of different things in the Church. We celebrate communion. We celebrate our faith. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and milestones in life. And often we celebrate by telling someone about it so that they can share in our good news or our good fortune.

We’re so excited we can’t keep it to ourselves. We want to share it with someone else. We’re sort of like the woman who won a considerable amount of money in a contest.

She was so ecstatic she was shaking. And she was so wound up she couldn’t remember anybody’s number.

So she dialed the operator and said, “I just won $100,000. Get me anybody.”

She had good news to share. And I guess you could call this form of celebration -- Tell-abration. (Okay, go ahead and groan!) But that’s what it is. It’s Good News that is so GOOD you have to tell somebody or you’ll bust. That’s Tell-abration.

And that’s the kind of excitement we’re supposed to have about our faith. We do it with so many other things in life. We Tell-abrate almost everything, just like Philip did.

We tell them Come and See: This Beautiful rainbow. This Good movie. This Funny vignette or moment with kids, grandkids, whatever. We tell others, “You’ve  just gotta see this – cuz you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

And the same should be true of the Good News of Jesus. We are called to invite others. We’re called to Tell-abrate our faith through faithfully sharing what God has done in our lives and in our Church. But it doesn’t have to be hard or scary.

Dr. Gordon Targerson, a Baptist pastor from Worcester, Massachusetts, was crossing the Atlantic by ship some years ago. He noticed on several occasions a man sitting in a deck chair reading a Bible.

One day Dr. Targerson sat down beside him and said, “Forgive my curiosity. I’m a Baptist minister. I notice you are a faithful Bible reader. I’d like to meet you.”

After introductions, the man said, “I am Filipino. I was born into a good Catholic home. I went to the United States as a young man to study in one of your fine universities, intending to become a lawyer.

“On my first day on campus, a student dropped by to visit. He welcomed me and offered to help in any way he could. Then he asked me where I went to church. I told him I was Catholic. He explained that the Catholic Church was quite a distance away, but he sat down and drew me a map. I thanked him and he left. 

“On the following Sunday morning it was raining. I decided to just skip church. But then there was a knock on my door. There stood my new friend and he was holding two umbrellas. He said that he worried that I might not be able to read his map.

“So, he said he would escort me to the Catholic Church. I hurriedly dressed, thinking all the while what an unusually thoughtful person he was. I wondered what church he belonged to.  

“As we walked along I asked him about his church. He said that his church was just around the corner. So, I suggested that since it was raining, we go to his church this Sunday, and then to mine the following Sunday. He agreed.

“But somehow I felt so much at home in his church that I never got around to finding mine.

“After four years I felt that God was leading me into the ordained ministry rather than into law. I went to Drew University Seminary and was ordained a Methodist minister. Then I returned to the Philippines to serve in a Methodist parish.

“My name is Valencius, Bishop Valencius, Bishop of the Methodist Church in the Philippines.”

The hero of the story is not the Bishop, important though he is. The hero is that anonymous young man with two umbrellas. And whether they ended up at the Methodist or Catholic churches doesn’t really matter.

Go all the way back to the beginning of Christian history and you’ll always find them. They are behind almost every Christian convert...that unnamed man or woman with two umbrellas...that person with a winsome faith who builds a bridge of friendship with another person.

And across that bridge walks the living Christ and claims another eternal soul. You can be that person with two umbrellas.

The truth is, “We haven’t seen anything yet.” God is still working miracles in our lives everyday. God is still answering prayer and using us in wonderful ways and in ways we may never know. What we need to do is simply be faithful. We’re called to be like Philip. We’re called to tell others “Come and see.”

Just like Philip, Nathanael and all the other disciples, each of us is called to follow Jesus and then to go and tell our, brother, our neighbor, our friend, the stranger the Good News.  The Good News - that in Jesus, “We ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Amen.