Second Sunday after EPIPHANY (Written on January 9, 2009)

For the Lectionary (what's a lectionary?) of January 18, 2009: John 1:43-51

Nathaniel said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

IN FRESNO by Larry Patten

Years ago my wife and I moved back to California because she was hired for a faculty position at Fresno State.

Fresno was familiar. I’d lived in Fresno before. We regularly visited friends here.

Her job interview spanned two days. One of the ways the university “wooed” its potential new professors was to hand them over to a local real estate agent for an area tour. (And, of course, to provide an opportunity to see housing choices.) The agent drove about Fresno, “talking up” the town. My wife remained mum about her prior Fresno experiences. Later, she told me of her adventures.

“Fresno’s a great place to live!” the agent exclaimed.

“Why’s that?” my lovely wife asked.

“Oh, it’s close to the mountains. Why, in just over an hour, you can get to Yosemite or Kings Canyon or--”

“How nice. What else?”

The agent smiled warmly and continued, “Do you like the Bay Area?”

“Oh I do,” my wife replied. “We have friends there, and San Francisco is such fun to explore.”

“Less than three hours away,” the agent enthused. “And Disneyland, it’s a different direction, but you can get there in the blink of an eye.”

Blinking, my wife wondered, “What else?”

Easily, smoothly, the agent continued her Fresno litany. Near Monterey Bay. Less than two hours to lovely Paso Robles and wine country. Las Vegas, a long day’s drive. Santa Barbara’s a hop, skip, and jump. On and on, tales of scenic drives and day trips were spun.

And finally my wife, normally one never to play tricks on others (unlike, say, her husband), brightly queried, “So what is there to do in Fresno?”

There was a hush in the car. Outside, boisterous vehicular traffic waxed and waned. Maybe a pedestrian shouted or a horn blared. But the agent? As quiet as a prisoner escaping through a back door. As still as a monk with a vow of silence.

Ah, lovely Fresno. Population-wise, it’s the sixth largest city in California. No other major city in the United States nestles near as many national parks. Our outgoing mayor, having served for eight years, was a movie star! (Yeah . . . Alan Autry—Bubba from TV’s In the Heat of the Night.) Bubba? Bottom line about Fresno? We’re the butt of many jokes. How many cities have had a really bad television movie—literally entitled Fresno—spoof them? Starring Carol Burnett, it was . . . really, really bad. Fresno gets no respect.

Hasn’t everyone lived in a place like Fresno? And so how could I not think of the disciple Nathaniel? He expressed one of the best Biblical one-liners. Upon hearing of Jesus’ zip code, he muttered, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Whoa! That’s a line better than Adam’s fruity reply to God: “The woman made me do it!” (My translation.) Or better than Moses whining with, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh?” And even better than Peter’s Pentecostal proem about people not being drunk since it was “only nine in the morning.”

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

I think Nathaniel’s one-liner did as good a job as Matthew or Luke with their Christmas accounts of Jesus’ obscure beginnings. Luke placed him in a manger. Matthew made sure Joseph and Mary were a family on the lam from Herod. Sure, those situations were based on theology, mythology, memories, and more. But they all, including Nathaniel’s remark, revealed a humble start, an unexpected hometown.

When the early church began to celebrate liturgical seasons, ways to use scripture and tradition to remember Jesus’ ministry, Epiphany was established long before Christmas. Epiphany, the Greek word for “revealing.” For something new. For something revelatory.

If a quip, a “one-liner,” truly matters it will reveal a story’s truth and a character’s depth. I think of the Terminator’s “I’ll be back” or Brett Butler’s “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” or Dorothy’s “There’s no place like home.”

Nathaniel’s quip helps us grasp Jesus’ beginnings. And yet to sense the next faithful, forceful questions . . .

What is more important? How we are born or how we live?

What is more important? Our zip code or our code of values?

What is more important? Where we come from or where we are going?

Epiphany. A revealing. Can anything good come from Nazareth? And your answer is . . . ?

in Peace,

Larry