January 20, 2008 Message

Come and See!
John 1:29-42

Last week we concluded God’s voice could be heard. It was God’s voice, wasn’t it, Jesus heard at his baptism? It was God’s voice claiming him as God’s own; God’s voice telling him God was pleased with him; and God’s voice saying God had great plans for him. God’s voice is heard at our baptism as well if we are listening carefully enough. God claims us. God commends us. God welcome us. And in so doing, God makes us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to the whole world. Some of us may have even heard God’s voice last week as we reaffirmed our baptism and imagined what might lie ahead on our journey of faith.

In today’s reading from the gospel of John, Jesus turns to two men who are thinking of following him, and says, “What are you looking for?” Jesus doesn’t just receive them. He actively confronts them and initiates them into discipleship by asking a question, a question all followers of Christ find they must, sooner or later, deal with – what are you looking for?

What are the things we are looking for? Is it a place to belong, to feel successful, and to be loved? Or are we searching for answers, to know more than we do now, or for meaning to our lives? What is it we want - to be freed from whatever binds us, to rid ourselves of our aches and pains, our anxiety, and lift us from the depths of hopelessness? What is we hope to find - a code of behavior, a better way to live, or a longer life? What is it we’re looking for?

Andrew and the other disciple were probably looking for something as well. They were on a journey, a quest - a mission to expand and to grow their soul. Why is it we are here today following along behind Jesus? What are we looking for?

At first the two men’s response, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” seems strange and somehow lacking – even simple-minded. Yet maybe it is a good answer - especially if they were just looking for a “rabbi” or teacher - and not the Messiah. Maybe all they wanted was to “transfer” their discipleship from John the Baptist to Jesus the Lamb of God. I doubt they had any idea of the portent of what they were saying. They surely weren’t ready to go where Jesus was at, or would be going, and if they had any idea, they probably wouldn’t have asked. They wouldn’t have had a clue then. Only after their time with him would they truly understand.

So Jesus says, “Come and See.” Last week I shared with you something that bears repeating again today. It is what Kathleen Norris says about Jesus’ response, which is perhaps key to understanding what faith really requires of us. “Faith,” she says, “is not so much a certain way of thinking as doing – and not doing so much as being.” That’s huge, really! It will be in our following him – in our living with him, up close and personal – in our being, that we are able to understand “where Jesus comes from.” Only by coming into his presence and ‘seeing for ourselves’ can we truly understand, can we really know what he is all about.

Just come and see! You’ve heard those words somewhere before, right? Grandpa, just come and see! Grandchildren are so excited to show you something they have done – just like their Moms and Dads were before them. Whether it’s a drawing a Christmas tree and its colored ornaments or a new dance with body twirling and arms uplifted or reading a new book big, words and all, or giving a tour of a newly created Sim town, introducing of course all the people who live there or playing old Rock classics on Guitar Hero, they jump at the chance to show those who will ‘come and see.’ And they want you come right now. There is immediacy to their request that is sometimes hard to deal with. The invitation to see Jesus has the same urgency about it.

Come and see is an invitation to observe Jesus from up close and personal – and to do it right away, not after a while. It’s buying in today, not tomorrow. It’s connecting now, not later.

The Reverend Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also suggests that this invitation is “a call to share in his sufferings, to entrust one’s whole life to the promise that this one is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Come and see Jesus is the invitation to live by faith and to be (transformed). It’s the invitation to come and die, to lay down one’s life for the sake of the gospel...” (Mark S. Hanson, “Come and See Jesus.” January 2003 issue, copyright 2003, Augsburg Fortress)

By coming and seeing, the life and ministry of Jesus then becomes the center of our own faith. Of course, this puts pressure on us as Christians to live a life worthy of the name. We are called to follow Jesus as a student follows a master; to become like Christ by imitating him. That’s what a good teacher does. He teaches by example, by explanation, and by passing on the skills and knowledge needed. A good student then listens, watches, and imitates. Even the apostle Paul considered himself a student as he taught others: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1) and “be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1).

Living a Christian life involves imitating Christ, placing God at its center as Jesus did. Paul says, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). To get the mind of Christ, imitate Christ; learn to think like Christ, learn to act with love and compassion like Christ, learn to do what he did, live the life he did, and trust God like he did. That’s what it means if we accept the invitation of Jesus to come to the place where he is staying. And then others can come to Christ through us, as we share with them, “Come and see!”.

I am here because God has called me here - to come and see - to listen, to watch, and to be like Christ. God also invites you. So, imitate Christ; think like him, act like him, and live the life he did. But most importantly, trust God like he did.

We are after all a people of new beginnings, a people of new songs, a people of new life. God’s grace makes it all possible for me, for you, and for all who sit in darkness and yearn for the Light. Jesus has told us to take the gospel into the world, to turn the night into day, to make it possible for others to hear the voice of God speaking to them: “You are my son, my daughter.”

It’s important for us to envision God’s kingdom, ever expanding, ever growing because our imagining it happening is a small but necessary step to making it real. It’s been said, “What cannot be imagined will surely not come to pass.” This is why it is so important to keep telling the story of how the light did come to those who where in the darkness. If it happened once, it can happen again and again and again – as often as we need it to happen - because God’s love for God’s creation is that great.

It started with a few, willing to come and see. There numbers grew in the next three years as more and more were invited to come and see. They learned where God could be found. They discovered a life worth living. They were transformed into the likeness of Christ and became like him, centering their whole life on God. They came to see… and they became God’s own.

Let us all now come and see!