Come And See

Jesus invites us to come and check him out.

 

John 1:38-46  Jesus looked around and saw them following. "What do you want?" He asked them. They replied, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are You staying?"  39  "Come and see," He said. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when they went with Him to the place where He was staying, and they remained with Him the rest of the day.

40  Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus.  41  Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means "Christ").

42  Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, "Your name is Simon, son of John--but you will be called Cephas" (which means "Peter").

43  The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Come, follow Me."  44  Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter's hometown.

45  Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, "We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth."  46  "Nazareth!" exclaimed Nathanael. "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

"Come and see for yourself," Philip replied.

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Two men took the initiative and start following Jesus and it doesn't take long for him to realize that he has company. Have you ever been followed by a couple of rough looking men that you don't know? Would you walk faster and try and get away?

Jesus is a very kind and inviting person and he decides to break the ice with these two guys by asking a question. In the previous post we looked at the question that Jesus asked. The disciples make it clear that they are anxious to spend time with Jesus and they want more than just a few minutes on the road with him. (What Do You Want From Jesus?)

"Come and see" is the invitation that Andrew and John received from Jesus. The offer is the same one that we have today. He doesn't force himself of us but if we take a step toward him he will invite us to come closer and check him out and make an informed decision about who he is. His response to the disciples revealed nothing and it didn't promise anything, it only invited an opportunity to begin a relationship. Do you desire to be in the presence of God?

It didn't take long for Andrew to be fully convinced that he had found the Messiah and he wanted to share the awesome news with his brother Simon. That's the same response that most new followers of Christ have, they cannot keep it to themselves and hide it under a bushel, they seek to tell their family and friends so they may be brought to the Saviour. That is the thrust of mission work today. We do not wait for them to come to us, but we go for them and seek them out, and tell them that a Saviour is found.

Jesus invites Philip to "come follow me," Philip must have made up his mind about Jesus very quickly. We see another immediate reaction reaction, Philip's reaction was the same as Andrew's, he wants to find his brother right away and share the good news."

"Come and see," is the reply that Philip gives when Nathanael shows that he is skeptical that somebody that comes from the region of Galilee or the town of Nazareth could possibly be the Messiah. Philip didn't try to convince him, he didn't give him any apologetics or try to reason with Nathanael, he just wanted to show him Jesus.

So we should beg the people around us to lay aside their prejudices against religion, since there are so many definitions for the term Christian, we should be cautious about asking them to be one. We should just ask them to "come and see" Jesus for themselves.

John 7:52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself, no prophet ever comes from Galilee!"

"Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Nathanael may have been skeptical or prejudiced but he certainly was not proud like the religious leaders that couldn't believe that the Messiah would come from Nazareth or from the region of Galilee. As soon as Jesus met  Nathanael he confirmed that Nathanael was a man of good character.

Jesus knows each one of us but do we know him? Do we know more about our definition of a Christian than we know about Jesus? A Muslim, a Jehovahs Witness, a Mormon or any other religious group, don't need to be convinced to become a Christian. They need to be shown Jesus for who he really is.

If we seek to know him then we will have a better chance of becoming like him. If we show Jesus to the people around us then we will overcome the prejudice that people have toward Christianity. After all of the history of messing things up, they can easily say, "Christian, can anything good come from that?"

Philippians 3:8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

We don't need to show anybody a lot of knowledge or doctrine. We need to invite the people around us to learn about Jesus by inviting the to "Come and see."