Come and See

Read John 1:43-51
Tell me if you ever do this, you’re hungry and want something to eat so you go to the fridge, open the door and look in. You don’t really know what you want, so you just stand there with the door open and look. What’s really bad is when we do this and don’t see anything we want so we go to the cupboards and do the same thing and when we can’t find anything in the cupboard, we go back to the fridge and think, well maybe I missed something the first time. Maybe this time when I open the door I’ll see whatever it is I’m looking for. I know there are times I have looked in the fridge 4 or 5 times in just a few minutes thinking that somehow I must have missed something that’s in there and so if I look just one more time I’ll find it. Do you ever do this? Do your children ever do this? I know it used to drive my Mom crazy when we would stand there with the door open and just look in. The problem, of course, is that while we know we are hungry, we don’t always know what we want, so we just look and hope something appeals to us.

What’s sad is that we don’t just do this with food, we do this with all of life. We feel empty or we know there’s something missing or we know we want more, but we aren’t sure what it is, so we just stand with the door open and look. Sometimes I think life is just a constant search for something, anything that will bring us fulfillment. We search for meaning and purpose. We want more peace and stability, we are looking for relationship & belonging, we know we want something more in life, but aren’t sure what it is, or where to turn or how to get it. What are we looking for? Is it a deeper sense of meaning or purpose? Are we looking for family or a close circle of friends that will help us feel connected or like we belong? Are we looking for wealth, or truth, or significance? What are we looking for? It’s a fundament question and it’s an important question in life and it is the first question, really the first recorded words of Jesus in the gospel of John. Look at John 1:35-37.

John the Baptist had been teaching and calling people to repent and be baptized, and as he did this he drew quite a following. After Jesus had been baptized by John, John said to some of his followers, see that man Jesus – he is the lamb of God, the Messiah. 2 of John’s disciples hear him say this and they are so interested and intrigued that they begin to follow Jesus who turns to them and says, What are you looking for? Now what I love here is the response of the 2 disciples, who we assume are Andrew and John. They answer Jesus by saying, where are you staying. Now here’s the thing, they really didn’t want to know what house Jesus was staying at, they really didn’t care where Jesus was staying, my sense is they didn’t know what they were looking for, they just knew that they wanted something more, even something more than the new life and new direction that John was giving them, and they thought that maybe Jesus had it & could offer it to them.

If God were to ask us what we are looking for today, I’m not sure many of us wouldn’t have a good answer. We may not know what we are looking for in life or in the depths of our spirit, we just know that we are hungry and want something more. What’s so wonderful is that even if we can’t articulate the answer or the needs that we have, God accepts us just as we are today & like Andrew and John, God invites us to simply come with him and see what it is he has to offer.

Come and see, that is the response or the invitation that Jesus offers to Andrew and John, and Jesus doesn’t mean come and see where I am staying, Jesus means, come and see what I have to offer. Come and see the kingdom and the power and the love of God in action. Come and see everything that you are looking for and everything that will fill your life until it overflows with peace and power and joy. Come and see. What has always amazed me about this story is that whatever it is that Andrew and John saw in Jesus in the next few hours is so powerful and so profound that it radically changed their lives. It says they went with Jesus and spent the rest of the day with him. Now it was already 4 in the afternoon so it wasn’t a long period of time that they spent with Jesus, but during that time they knew they found something and someone special because not long after this Andrew goes off to find his brother to tell him that they had found the Messiah.

I would love to know what it was that Andrew and John saw when they went with Jesus, but we don’t. What we do know is that as they spent time with Jesus over the next few years they saw the lame healed and given the ability to walk. They saw the blind given back their sight. They saw sinners forgiven and offered new life. They saw children lifted up and loved. They saw lepers healed, and storms silenced. They saw the hungry fed with bread and fish that appeared out of nowhere. They saw the dead raised to life on more than one occasion and they heard a teaching that was so filled with power, purpose and love that it silenced the critics and caught on like wildfire with the people. They saw individuals from all walks of life formed into a community, the family of God. What Andrew and John and the rest of the disciples saw was the kingdom of God breaking forth into this world and they saw how this kingdom changed the hearts and lives of people and they saw how these people in turn changed their community and the culture in which they lived. But here’s the thing, they didn’t see and experience all of this by asking Jesus to go with them and enter into their lives, they saw and experienced it all because they were willing to go with Jesus.

In his book Real followers, pastor Mike Slaughter says, we tend to develop busy complicated and over committed lives. Then along comes Jesus. We like him, we believe in him, we come to church, we sing about him, but nothing in our lives really changes. We pray things like, “Lord help me get that promotion.” But we haven’t changed anything because we’re merely bringing Jesus along with us on our quest to help us reach our goals our dreams and our wish list. Being a Christian isn’t taking Jesus into our lives & asking Jesus to go with us it’s going with Jesus into his life & adopting his lifestyle. Come & See implies that we go with and follow Jesus. It means we go where he goes, we stay where he stays. We walk with him. We take time to be with him & really get to know him. Come and see isn’t us inviting Jesus into our lives it is Jesus saying to us, come and enter into my life, enter into a relationship with me and when you do, you will see and experience the kingdom of God.

Now this isn’t just the invitation given to Andrew and John, it’s also the invitation given to Nathanael who we hear about in the rest of John 1. This really is a great story. While we don’t know much about Nathanael, we do know that he spent some time sitting under a fig tree. That’s what Jesus says, I saw you sitting under the fig tree. Now that might not seem like much, but actually sitting under a fig tree tells us quite a bit. Fig trees are symbolic of the nation of Israel & so they became the holy places where people would go to reflect & study the scriptures. In 1 Kings 4:25 & Micah 4:4 it talks about people sitting under fig trees & experiencing the peace & blessing of God’s kingdom. Over time, people sitting under fig trees were seen as people who were sincerely searching for or longing for the Messiah & the kingdom God. So Nathanael wasn’t just sitting under the fig tree having lunch or taking a nap, he was there intentionally reflecting on the kingdom of god. He was there longing for the Messiah to come. He was sitting under the fig tree perhaps searching God’s word to gain a better understanding of who the Messiah might be & when & where & how the Messiah might come. Nathanael, like Andrew and John, was a deeply spiritual man who was looking for more in his life and his faith – he was looking for the Kingdom of God and he was looking for the Messiah who would bring us the kingdom of God.

What’s interesting about Nathanael is that while Andrew and John seem very open to Jesus, Nathanael is more skeptical. When Philip tells him that they have found the Messiah and his name is Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael’s response is, can anything good come from Nazareth? Nathanael is not very open at first, but notice Philip’s response – Come and see. The disciples of Jesus are already learning the language of Jesus. That’s what happens when we go with Jesus, we begin to think like Jesus and reason like Jesus and even talk like Jesus.

So Philip invites Nathanael to come and see for himself, not just if anything good can come from Nazareth, but if Jesus can really be the Messiah. And what I like about Nathanael is that even with all his doubts and uncertainty – he is willing to go. Look at John 1:47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him. Nathanael was willing to get up and go. He didn’t wait for Jesus to come to him, he didn’t invite Jesus to sit with him under the fig tree and explain it all to him, Nathanael was willing to take a chance and see who Jesus was and what Jesus had to offer and because he was willing to go – he found Jesus. Again, like the other disciples, very quickly Nathanael is convinced Jesus is the Christ and his response is Rabbi you are the son of God! You are the King of Israel. And Jesus response is, Nathanael – you ain’t seen nothing yet. The invitation of Jesus is for us to go with him and to see and experience for ourselves the kingdom of God and when we are willing to take that step – we not only will find what we are looking for – we will find so much more.

I get the sense today that there are many of us that are feeling like Andrew or John or even Nathanael. We know we are hungry, we know we are looking for something more in life, we may even be like Nathanael and we know that what we want is to experience the fullness of God’s power and presence and kingdom, but we aren’t sure where to turn. If that’s where you are today – Jesus is saying – come and see. It’s not an invitation for us to take Jesus into our lives, it is an invitation for us to enter into the life and the kingdom of Jesus and that begins with prayer and a commitment on our part to be willing to simply go in our hearts and minds and lives where Jesus calls us to go.

Going with Jesus means being willing to enter into worship with a different heart or attitude. It means seeking out those who can pray with us and share with us and help us understand more of Jesus. It means making the commitment to read through the gospels so we can see for ourselves where Jesus goes and what he does and experiencing it all again, or for the first time. Going with Jesus to see and experience all he has to offer means stepping out into an uncomfortable and maybe uncertain place and just allowing the feelings and emotions of our faith to take us where God wants us to go. Andrew, John and Nathanael didn’t know what to expect when they went with Jesus, they just knew they wanted something more and they believed Jesus had more to offer them. We may not know where the Holy Spirit is going to lead us – but can we trust that Spirit of God has more to offer us today. The invitation of Jesus still calls out to us –Come and See. Come with me and experience all the power and love of God.