Christmas 2 (NL4) John B. Valentine
John 1:35-51 January 4, 2026

“RULES FOR THE ROAD”

It’s 2026! Wow! Just wow!

I’m hoping like heck that 2026 brings us more of those things which Jesus evoked and embodied than 2025 did ...

You know ... things like:

• respect for our fellow human beings ... and
• humility and forgiveness ... and
• love and joy and peace and hope ...

But based on our recent track record ... and the news of the past 36 hours ... I ain’t gonna hold my breath.

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Anyhow ... speaking of 2026 ... did any of you notice that there are some new traffic laws ... some new ‘Rules of the Road’ ... that hit the books in the Golden State as of a couple of days ago??

• So ... for instance ... there’s a new law that authorizes the removal and disposal of abandoned recreational vehicles ... but only in Alameda and LA Counties.

• Then again ... there’s a new law that mandates that classifies electric motorcycles as motorcycles ... subject to all the rules for on and off-highway vehicles.

• But ... maybe most importantly ... you’re going to start learning about a new light color on vehicles ...

— whereas white and yellow lights are used on the front of your car ...

— and red lights are used on the back of your car ....

— when you see a car with “blue-green” lights on ... on the side of the car ... that apparently indicates that that car is in autonomous driving mode ... and that you’d better watch out!

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Seriously ... can you remember when YOU first learned the rules of the road?

• Was it via some online Driver’s Ed. program like so many kids are doing nowadays?

• Was it part of some in-person Driver’s Ed. class available from a private vendor?

• Was it in Driver’s Ed and Driver Training ... when such were offered back in the day back in high school?

• Was it from your parents ... in the days before Driver's Ed and Driver Training were offered in high school?

Heck ... let’s at least see a show of hands ....

• How many of you learned how to drive in the days before Driver's Ed and Driver Training were offered in high school?

• And how many of you had to take Driver’s Ed and Driver Training when such were offered back in the day back in high school?

• And how many of you did Driver's Ed and Driver Training after that ... when Driver’s Ed. and Driver’s Training were offloaded to private vendors?

Anyhow ... HOWEVER you learned ... IF you ever learned ... somewhere’s or other along the line ... if you wanted to drive...

• You needed to not just LEARN the rules of the road ...

• You needed to TRANSLATE those rules of the road from mere ideas on paper to practical experiences ...

• And you eventually needed to INCULCATE them to the point that they somehow become second nature.

Learn them ... embrace them ... and practice them. Practice ... practice ... practice.

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Now I grant you that the traffic laws in Jesus' day were a whole lot less stringent than they are now ....

There was no such thing as an eMoto-bike back in the day ....

And horses and donkeys didn’t have to have autonomous blue-green side lights ....

In fact .... even though Jesus probably logged ten of thousands of miles on dusty roads over the course of his lifetime ... I doubt he ever got a traffic ticket ... he never honked his horn ... and he never even turned right on red.

But he did ... as he traveled the Judean countryside ... lay down some ‘Rules of the Road’ for all who followed him back then ... and all of us who would somehow strive to follow him still today.

In fact ... the story we read as our Gospel lesson today ... could well be understood to be Jesus’ basic “Rules for the Road” for his disciples.

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You see ... the text which we heard read just a few minutes ago represents the closing words of the first chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John.

The first part of that chapter was the prologue ...

And the second part of that chapter told the story of John the Baptist ...

But now ... in today’s text ... we get our first opportunity to see Jesus in action ... and to begin to get a sense for who he is ... and to get a sense for who we are called to be in relationship to him.

And some words pop out of that text that reveal something of Jesus’ “Rules of the Road” for operating our way through life!

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The first one ... “FOLLOW”

As in “They followed Jesus” ...

As in “Jesus turned as saw them following” ...

As in “He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”

This first rule is maybe the most basic rule of the road of all ...

Maybe the equivalent of something as basic as “Stay in your lane” is for automobile drivers.

Notice here that ... when Jesus calls disciples ... followers ...

• He doesn’t say “Believe in me” ...

• He doesn’t say “Consider me” ...

• He doesn’t say “Write books and sermons and songs about me” ...

• He doesn’t say “Venerate me” or “Worship me” or anything like that.

He says “Follow me”.

You see ... to be a disciple of Jesus is necessarily about leaving the route that you were on ... a route of your own devising ... and taking the route that Jesus takes.

Being a disciple of Jesus means:

• following him even when the road gets narrow ...
• following when the road takes an unexpected turn ...
• following when nobody else is going that way ...
• following even when it doesn’t seem ‘reasonable’ or ‘wise’.

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You know ... or maybe you don’t know ...

A number of years ago I had opportunity to travel to Israel and set my eyes on some of the same hills and valleys that Jesus set his eyes on during his own lifetime.

And ... of all the things I learned and saw on that trip ... I think the one that MOST changed my understanding of the Bible was the afternoon during which we went and visited this thing called “The Jesus Boat”.

You see ... back in 1986 there was this drought in the Near East the dropped the water level of the Sea of Galilee to a record low ...

And a couple of local fishermen stumbled across the remains of a boat that was buried in a mud flat in the northwest corner of that inland sea.

And they quick enough discovered ... based on artifacts that were found with it ... that it was dated between 50 BC and AD 50.

And after a twelve year long preservation process ... the kibbutz on which the boat was found was able to put it on display.

Now there’s nothing that ... in any way ... links this particular boat with Jesus or any of his disciples ...

But is DOES reveal what boats were like on the Sea of Galilee back in Jesus’ day ...

And the quality of the construction of that boat makes it very clear that the only people who could afford such things were businessfolk with at least a middle-class income.

Which is all a way of saying that ... when Jesus says “Follow me” to Peter and Andrew and James and John and the like ...

He isn’t saying “Follow me if you have nothing better to do” ...

He IS saying “Follow me in spite of all the other things that you have to do ... because while you’ve got a whole lot of ‘urgent’ things on your to-do list ... THIS is an ‘important’ thing.”

For this whole “Following Jesus” thing is not something to be taken lightly.

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But “Follow me” isn’t the only “Rule of the Road” which Jesus lays down for his first friends and followers.

No ... there’s also an invitation in there to “COME” ... is there not??

• As in the “Come and see” which Jesus himself says to Andrew and another unnamed disciple ...

• As in the “Come and see” which Philip says to Nathanael just a day later.

• “Come” ... as in “You’re invited”.

• “Come” ... as in “Your friends and loved ones are invited”.

• “Come” ... as in “You’re an inviter as well!”

Now ... I KNOW that we live in an age wherein invitations to discipleship are looked at askance.

We’re supposed to be respectful of people as they are for who they are.

We’re supposed to assume everyone knows best for themselves.

And we’re definitely NOT supposed to impose our value systems on our neighbors.

But Luther’s explanation of evangelism as simply “one beggar telling another beggar where to find food” is a reminder that we DO have something to offer ... something to share ...

And that invitation may take the shape of a simple “Come and see”.

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Speaking of “SEE” ... isn’t that the third of Jesus’ simple “Rules of the Road” ... or maybe better “Rules FOR the Road”???

It’s an invitation for others to witness for themselves what Jesus is saying and doing.

When Philip reports to Nathanael that Jesus is the one “about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote” ... Nathanael throws up a huge Stop Sign.

That snarky “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

But Philip doesn’t try to argue with him.

He doesn’t try to coerce him.

He doesn’t try to explain it all to him.

He simply says “Come and see for yourself!”

And ... after seeing for himself ... Jesus says to Nathanael that he ain’t seen nothing yet!

And ... at the end of the day ... by the end of John’s Gospel ...

Nathanael will have come to see healings and exorcisms ... signs and wonders ... a transfiguration and a resurrection ...

And he’ll have come experience a journey that will change his life forever.

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You see ... a little bit ago ... at KidTalk ... I asked our kids if they had any New Year’s Resolutions that they were going to try to keep in the year that we’ve just begun ...

But maybe I should ask the question of all of you ... and of me myself.

What resolutions ARE we going to take on in the year that lies ahead???

If you haven’t completed your list just yet ... might I get you to add “Become a better driver on the road that is life!” by following Jesus’ ‘Rules for the Road’.

They’re not that hard to remember ...

• “FOLLOW” ...
• “COME” ... and
• “SEE”.

And I guarantee that they’ll change your life’s journey ... for the better!