Lesson: John 1:43-52

“Come and see.” If you heard those words in an everyday context, I’m guessing you’d be curious. You’d probably stop what you’re doing and go see.

“Come and see” is a theme throughout John’s Gospel. From the early disciples to the Pharisee named Nicodemus, to the Samaritan women at the well, to the man born blind, to Pilate and Thomas, characters in John’s Gospel see Jesus. Seeing in John’s gospel, truly seeing, is followed by believing. John’s point is that the faith of the disciples was not naïve gullibility. It was a response to what they saw and experienced. Just before this passage, Jesus speaks these words to Andrew. “Come and see.” Andrew and his brother Simon Peter do see, and they decide to follow Jesus. Jesus then comes to Galilee and bids Philip, “Follow me.” Philip not only follows, but he seeks out Nathaniel to invite him to do the same.

Nathaniel’s first response is skeptical, even insulting. Scholars think maybe his comment, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” reflects a small town rivalry between Nathaniel’s town, Cana, and Nazareth. But Philip invites him, “Come and see,” and Nathaniel’s skepticism is overcome by the actual encounter with Jesus. He goes from skeptical and sarcastic to utterly convinced. He is transformed. Jesus seems to have that effect on people.

Come and see. Many progressive Christians, and I count myself among them, shy away from evangelism, both the word and the deed. But this passage shows we’re not called to cram our faith down anyone’s throat or question their eternal destiny or threaten them with hellfire, but instead, simply to offer an invitation to come and see. Come and see what God is still doing in and through Jesus and the community of disciples who have chosen to follow him.

Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber writes about the team that put together the website for the church she served in Denver. Most churches have a “What we believe” tab on their websites, and they debated what theirs would say. They toyed with having a tab that, when you clicked on it, went straight to the Nicene Creed. Quite wisely, in my opinion, they rejected that idea. Finally, one person said, “Why don’t we just have it say, ‘If you want to know what we believe, come and see what we do.’”

“‘If you want to know what we believe, come and see what we do.’”

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is January 15. As Dr. King reminded us, “…love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity. … By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very nature, love creates and builds up. Love transforms with redemptive power.”

What might happen if congregations were able to say, “Come and see how love is transforming us. Come and see love at work, creating, building up, turning enemies into friends”?

“‘If you want to know what we believe, come and see what we do.’”

© Joanne Whitt 2024 all rights reserved.