“Jesus Says Come and See” John 1: 35-51

  Almost every Sunday evening I am blessed to gather with my family to share a meal, talk and laugh, and play. When I say play, I mean play in the sense that we have beautiful, energetic girls, ages five and three, who invite us to come and see. Sometimes its to come and see their dance party. Other times its to come and see their drive-thru zoo. Other times its to come and see their Lincoln log town. But here’s the thing friend - come and see, does not mean come and sit. When they invite us to come and see, they invite us to come and participate. 

The call for Jesus of his first disciples in the Gospel of John is different than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It doesn’t start with Jesus walking along the shoreline or calling out to folks to come and follow him. Not yet. Instead it starts with the cry of John the Baptist - “Look! Here is the Lamb of God!”

Remember that John has come to do what? To prepare the way for the Messiah. The Lord. The Savior. So when he tells his disciples to stop and look - to see the Lamb of God - they know exactly what he means. This is the one that they have all been waiting for. So where did Jesus’s first disciples come from according to the Gospel of John? From among those who were already with John. And John would have been glad, my friends, for he was handing them over to be true followers of the pine who he had been doing to. 

But these first disciples are so similar to the way that the disciples are described in the rest of the Gospels. What is the first thing that they ask Jesus - Where are you staying? Which is their response to the question Jesus asked them - what are you looking for? 

Now a generous reading of this text would be that they wanted to know that Jesus was provided for, but more realistically they probably wanted to know where Jesus was staying so they would know where they were staying. 

To be a disciple of a great rabbi or teacher in Jesus’s day, wasn’t just coming to learn from that person from 9-5. No you went everywhere with them. You ate what they ate. You slept where they slept. You traveled the roads that they traveled. One of my favorite descriptions of a disciple comes from Rob Bell who stated that a disciple was one who would be covered with the dirt of the feet of the one they were following. It’s this powerful image of just how close disciples were every. single. day. 

So Jesus, knowing what they were asking was just as much about their provision as it is about his, says something powerful in return - come and see.

The first call of the disciples then wasn’t to follow, as important as that will become, but it is to come and see. To come and see what Jesus and the Kingdom of God are all about. To come and sit at his feet and learn, not for your own sake, but so you can be sent into the world. 

Friends, is that not what discipleship is at its very core? Coming and see. Coming to the feet of Jesus and then being sent forth in the world. If their is a core message to the Gospel of John, which we are going to be journeying through slowly, together over the next several months it is this - it is God who provides. It is God who calls. And it is God who sends. So simple to say, but so hard to claim to live into with our daily lives.

Because when those first disciples actually went with Jesus when he invited them to come and see, well, that was an act of trust. And by doing so they start to catch glimpses of what Jesus is all about - the one who yes, invites them to see, but then sends them out to give testimony about what they have seen. 

Which is exactly what they do! It is not too much later that Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, comes to him and says Peter! We’ve found him! That one that John has been teaching us about! He’s right here. Come and see the Anointed one!

Philip was just as excited when he went to Nathanael, crying out we’ve found the one that Moses told us about. The one written about in the law and the prophets! But Nathanael asks this question that seems rather rude - can anything good come out of Nazareth - until you remember that the law and the prophets that Philip is talking about - they never said that the Messiah would come from Nazareth. 

So Nathanael is curious but not convinced. Which leads Philip to do this absolutely genius thing. He ushers the same invasion that Jesus did just a few sentences earlier - come and see. I’m not going to try to convince you with my words or argue you into beliefs; instead I’m simply going to invite you to come and see. 

A question and a call. What are you looking for and come and see. Friends, words that we need just as much today as when the Gospel of John was spoken and penned. I’m curious, how would you answer that question of Jesus. What are you looking for? Another way to ask this questions is: what drew you here today? 

If we are honest, I think most of us have an answer and then an answer underneath that answer. What am I looking for? Why did I come here? Well because I always have. Or it is the right thing to do. Or I’ve been raised that way. But what are you really looking for? Peace? Healing? Meaning? Purpose? 

We may not know what we are really looking for, at least not right away. So we go with our surface answer. Just like the first disciples went with their surface response - where are you staying, Jesus? But underneath that they may have been looking for an adventure or new experience. We may come because of what we want to receive as well, but by showing up, by coming and seeing, friends, things start to change. All of a sudden, our priorities start to shift and we realize that we have been looking in all of the wrong places for the answer to that question. And as we shift, our identity as a disciple shifts as well. 

We are no longer the folks just coming and seeing ourselves, but we are the ones inviting others to come and see as well. Like Philip did for Nathaniel. But remember, brothers and sisters, what come and see means at its heart. For John, seeing is linked to trusting and believing. And for us in modern times, seeing isn’t about observing, its about joining in. 

Now I’m not talking about joining a committee or even becoming a church member. I’m talking about participating in the way that the Holy Spirit leads you. To come and not just receive, but to be sent out as well. 

The process of sanctification - of being changed by come and see - its different for each of us. Because as we come and see, we get to soak in the truth that this Jesus, he knows us and loves us. But its not our job to defend Jesus. It’s not our job to argue people into believing. It’s not our job to be threatened by questions they may have. Instead, as disciples, we simply invite people to come and see. Because, everyone is looking for something. And Jesus is where they can find everything they couldn’t even put words behind when it comes to what they were looking for. Amen.