Come and See

John 1:35-39

What I love in this text is the seeming non sequiturs of the dialog between Jesus and Andrew. The would-be disciple asked what could be an utterly basic question—Where are you staying?—that Jesus answers in such a way that you are forced to see something deeper happening—Come and see.

That Come and see is an invitation to more than a house. It is an existential response that calls into question one’s existence at every level. Yes, we stay at home—we have a physical address. But we also abide in a state of mind. We have an outlook that shapes our interaction with the world. We have a set of beliefs by which we govern our decisions and choices. We abide in a state of heart. How we feel shapes how we engage. How we feel forms our reactions and responses to the human beings around us. How feel influences deeply what we think about the world and us within it. In a sense, Jesus’ response is an invitation to explore exactly how we are keeping the Great Commandment to love God with our heart, self, and mind. Come and see. 

As a faith community, such issues are at the core of who we are and how we interact with the world around us. We believe that, first, we accepted Jesus’ invitation. We further believe that we know where Jesus stays on all of the existential levels named. We believe that we now have something to share with the world—the same invitation that brought us together.

Yet, how we struggle to find our own ability to offer Jesus’ Come and see.

Too often we reply to a question about who and what we are with a thesis of some sort. We will outline our theology. We will discuss the requirements of membership. We will list the Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith. We will review the laws of discipleship—the behaviors and mores—of our community, asking for a commitment to them. 

Notice that Jesus does none of that.

Instead, what Jesus does is to offer an invitation to an experience.

Come and see.

The experience of Jesus will answer all of those other questions—the ones we assume are the most important—keeping them in their proper place as supporting players to the real action—the life of faith.

Before I begin to unravel what sort of experience Jesus invites the would-be disciples to have, let’s go back to those would-be disciples.

We know they are seeking something. They first aligned themselves with John the Baptist. We know John the Baptist offered something of an alternative to the expected religious practice of his time and place. He was unaffiliated. He was in the wilderness in every sense of the word. He offered only a chance to reconsider, reconvene, and reorient one’s spiritual journey—the central meaning of his basic sermon, Repent! He really filled in no other blanks. He always kept before him that a stop with him was just a rest stop. The real goal of the journey was still to come. There was another, the Lamb of God, who would be the actual source of answers to all that drove the quest in the first place. So, Andrew and his friend go where John points.

Stop and think about that for a moment. Would any of us at church this morning actually do what John did? Tell a would-be member that, no, this really isn’t the place, but the church down the street actually has something to offer? Yet, there it is—we do not hold the Gospel; the Gospel holds us—it is not our good news, but Jesus’—therefore, point to Christ, allowing for the real possibility that folks will form their own response to him, maybe like us, but maybe not, so be it.

Anyway, Andrew and his friend go to Jesus, but still unconvinced he is who John said he was, they ask the most basic question, Where are you staying? We want to be with you. We want to get to know you. And one of the most basic ways we begin to shape an opinion of someone is to see where and how they live. Our homes tell a story—who we are, who lives there, how they live there—opinions will form based on what people see. So, we spend a lot of time keeping our church house in order—or try to. Visitors will make snap judgments about us based on the appearances. In seminary, one professor seriously taught us “bathroom evangelism”—make sure the rest rooms were in good working order because people will choose whether or not to return for a second visit based on that experience. For good or ill, they will form an opinion of who we are and how we are.

Well, Jesus seemingly skips right past my professor’s counsel.

But in actuality, he simply takes it deeper. Yeah, yeah—keep the bathroom clean—but realize the bathroom will only represent how we feel about the real temple—the residence of God within and with us.

Jesus’ Come and see is the invitation to look at how seriously we actually take our walk with God. That will determine all else about us. If we truly value the presence of God, take it existentially seriously, then everything about us will reflect that.

Experience us. That is our real and true evangelistic call. People will only take our claims about Christ as seriously as we do. If everything about us seems tired and rote, then why would anyone want to be part of that? If, though, there is a fire and energy about us; if our words are lived in our actions; then we actually might get someone else as excited as we are about Jesus.

So—step one—how are we doing? Do we really believe Jesus is the most important person we ever heard of in our lives? Do our actions match our claims? Are we living Christ’s transformative and transcendent compassion? Do we live as though that compassion really is the hope for the world?

I hear this thinking all the time in my work. Outsiders want to see us live our gospel. They want to see embodiment of our faith because all too often there is a lot of talk, but not much living, of the faith. So, engage the world. Care for the homeless. Welcome the refugee. Visit the sick. Work for the Least of These. Show the love of Jesus in love lived.

Then, follow the Baptist, making the revisions, reformations, and renewals we all need most of the time. None of us is perfect. We believe as Presbyterians in the tenet that we are reformed and always reforming. Consider what we are doing and how to do it better. Make the adjustments. Then, refocused, live Jesus! Show the world how vitally, deeply, profoundly important Jesus is to you and yours. If you have found the wondrous transformation of your own life in his grace, mercy, and love, then share it with someone else by showing them the way, the truth, and the life that you have found.

Where are you staying?

Come and see.