“Beats and Beatitudes”
9. “On the Road—Under the Fig Tree”
John 1:43-51
Matthew 5:8
First Presbyterian Church
Rev. Donald Ray
August 17, 2008
I’ve been mistaken for
God. I have. In my presence, little
girls in hushed wonder have asked their Mommies---“Is that God?” There
have been little boys who have looked up at me, eyes wide, and asked: “Are you
God?” I know it’s just the
beard. It lends itself to that
grandfatherly image in which God is often pictured in children’s storybooks. But
it gives pause to realize that children do actually expect that they might see
God—that they are watching all about them to catch a glimpse. Does
adulthood rob something from us in that lost sense of awe that in God we live
and move and have our being and that actually might be evident.
The Beatitudes are treasured because most taken at face
value offer blessings—heaven and earth as inheritance, comfort for sadness,
hunger satisfied, mercy…The Beatitude for today’s exploration may not be so
favored. Purity of heart is seen as
demanding. “Thou shalt not” we
can handle, at least when someone is watching. We
are not so confident that we can live from the core of our being with character
and integrity in love, which I think may be a fair definition of a pure heart. To
see God would imply that God “sees” us and because of an image of God
perpetrated in religious circles, that is perceived more as a frightening threat
than a vision. So we go through life
devoid of any vision of God, and perhaps even preferring it that way. I
have offered care to persons whose bodies wracked with disease, in the final
hours of life have been agitated, brow contorted in anguish, unable to let go
because they fear the face to face meeting with God’s judgment they have been
convinced comes at death.
Matthew’s beatitude collection is a package. Meekness,
hungering for the right, merciful, peacemaking are all admirable qualities. But
the core is in this one: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see
God.” (Matthew 5:8) The pursuit of
values and character in life, no matter how worthy is fraught with risk. John
Edwards, one time candidate for president of the
For a long time, I did not take seriously this early
narrative about Jesus and Nathanael in John’s Gospel. Nathaniel
was but a name among the inner circle of disciples. Besides,
the “under the fig tree” reference, while puzzling, seemed insignificant.
Then it occurred to me as it has to others that under the fig tree was
Nathanael’s place for meditation. It
was where he read the Law and the Prophets and sought the presence of God. When
Jesus says, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael
exclaims, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God.” In
Nathanael’s quest to see God, he recognizes a kindred spirit, Jesus. (John 1:
48-49) Jesus says, (I’m loosely
paraphrasing) believe that and I’ll show you much more. Come
on the road with me.
In the Gospel accounts, it is evident that Jesus makes less
claim for his own status than others make about him. Addressed,
“Good Teacher,” Jesus responded; “Why do you call me good? No
one is good but God alone.” (Luke 18:18-19)
While some called Jesus “good,” others charged him with infractions
against Sabbath laws; they criticized him for eating and drinking with the low
life. And so he did. It
would seem no venue was off limits for the quest to see God.
If you have read Jack
Kerouac’s “On the Road,” you likely wouldn’t associate his character,
Dean Moriarty, with ‘pure in
heart.’ Dean is the reckless,
drunken instigator, car thief, womanizer often characterized as gone mad. ‘Pure
in Heart” is traditionally linked with goodness of character, kindness,
morality. Kerouac called “On the
Road” a search for the inherent goodness in American man. In
the book’s most widely quoted line, Sal Paradise, trailing Carlo and Dean
dancing down the streets, exclaims: “the only people for me are the mad ones,
the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of
everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing,
but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles…”
John Leland in his analysis of Kerouac draws the comparison
to Johann Goethe. In Goethe’s
“Faust” the hero is on a quest for knowledge and revelation. Despairing
in his quest, on the verge of suicide, the devil, Mephistopheles offers him aid.
The condition being that if Faust
ever becomes so content that he wants to remain in the present moment, the devil
gets his soul. For a road novel, the
message is clear: Keep moving, because satisfaction is hell. When
at the end of his life of yearning for the impossible, weary Faust slips finally
into contentment. But just as
Mephistopheles is about to sweep him to hell, angels intervene, declaring that
Faust’s struggles have served a higher purpose. “Whoever
strives in ceaseless toil,” they sing, “him we may grant redemption.” With
Goethe’s play as model, Kerouac’s road leads ultimately to grace, however
wayward the path. (1) If
not in grace, where is God seen.
Jesus’ collection of disciples came from walks of life
one would not consider holy, even respectable. Not
likely is it that their life style changed with the call to follow. In
deed, the narrative reveals their wayward steps on the road. But,
with Jesus, they were on a quest—a walk with God. This
beatitude I think is so intertwined that pure in heart and seeing God are melded
together. It is in the purity of our
heart that we see God and seeing God brings purity in the core of our being.
I keep discovering that I am more akin to the beat
generation than I ever realized or would have wanted to admit. I
do better with meditation “on the road” than under the fig tree. “Under
the fig tree” is not to be depreciated. Especially
in the chapel, within the faith community, there is that vision of God when we
come expectant. But it’s my nature
that my best meditation seems to happen on the road—a refreshing walk, a
sojourn with creation, in the company of kindred pilgrims. That
vision of God comes in the struggles of life when I seek that inherent good out
of the waywardness of life.
Paul wrote to the Romans that God is gracious but that does
not mean we continue in sin that grace may abound. (Romans 6:1) However,
expending all our efforts to refrain from wrong may lead to doing nothing at
all. In John’s Revelation, the
message to the faith community at
Christ may meet us under the fig tree, but the call of God
is to be on the road. Living as who
we are may take us beyond the bonds of conventionality and tradition. Often
those bonds need be superseded. It
may take us into regrettable ways. But
true to the core of our being; pure in heart, we see God and we find grace and
healing. We find gratification of
our hunger and thirst for righteousness; we find meekness, mercy, and peace as
we live true to that vision of God. We
live our life on the road.
In this hour, this day, we are under the fig tree. If
our quest is for that inherent goodness that is at the purity of our heart, we
will see God. Do we here expect that
vision? Will we recognize it?
In the hours and hours ahead, on the road, if our quest is for the
inherent goodness that is the purity of our heart, we will see God. Will
we there expect that vision? Will we
recognize it?
Amen.
(1) “Why Kerouac Matters” by John Leland p. 51
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