Come and See (2)
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John 1:43-51
January 17, 2021
Many people who have read the Bible or been in church for a while have a “favorite Gospel”. They may like Matthew and his telling of the fulfillment of prophecy in the Jewish tradition. Mark’s short, to the point narrative with lots of fast action might appeal to others. Luke’s writing that is a balm to the poor and afflicted is often cited as the ‘best’ Gospel. But if one were to ask people from which of the Gospels they received the most comfort, many would say the Gospel according to John. Here we find stories that resonate with who we believe Jesus to be and how we believe Jesus should appear as God. It is a Gospel that is both theological and philosophical. But according to John, the main purpose for why it was written was “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)” In this gospel there is much of what is called Christology, or the answering of the questions ‘Who is Jesus?’ and ‘What is the significance and nature of what he did?’ John works very hard to let us all know the answers to these questions.
In the first verses of John’s gospel we are told that Jesus is the Word (capital W) and was always with God. There are stories throughout that we really like (the wedding at Cana, the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, the telling of the coming of the Holy Spirit, etc.) and that most of us can remember well. And of course, there is the most famous bible verse in the world, one seen at sporting events, on bookmarks, bumper stickers, in fact, anywhere one can put a verse of scripture one can find….John 3:16.
But today we are looking at a story that is not as familiar as some of the others in John. It is a story of the calling of the disciples by Jesus. Now this is a different calling than in the other three gospels because there seems to be no calling of Peter and the others from their boats on the lakeside. There are the words of John the Baptist who claims that this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Disciples are going out and finding others to bring to Jesus. In fact, Jesus is getting some of his disciples from John the Baptist’s followers! Andrew is a disciple of John who, along with an unnamed disciple, asks Jesus where he is staying after hearing John announce that Jesus was the Lamb of God and that one of whom John was preceding. The question is asked in the sense of “we want to find out more about you”. Jesus’ answer is a rather cryptic “Come and see”. They do and the next day Andrew goes and finds his brother Peter and tells him he has found the Messiah and Peter becomes a disciple (notice the difference from the other three Gospels?).
Which leads us to today’s text. Here we find Jesus wanting to go back where he came from-Galilee. He was staying in Bethany where John was baptizing, which is near Jerusalem. Now an idea of the geography would be to think of going from Salisbury north to Pilot Mountain, a distance of about 65 miles, give or take. Galilee was in the north and was a rather….’rustic’ area. But that was where Jesus was from and he was returning to there.
On the way he sees Philip (who is from the same town as Andrew and Peter, Bethsaida, a fishing village in Galilee a short distance from Nazareth) and calls him to follow. We are not told explicitly, but it is very clear that Philip does follow by what he does next: He goes and finds Nathaniel (another Galilean, from Cana) and tells him about Jesus using Christological language. “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote” is what Philip says. The son of Joseph the carpenter from Nazareth. One can hear the excitement in Philip’s voice as he tells of this great news, that the one on whom all their hopes and expectations were built was finally here and they knew who he was.
Nathanael’s reply to this revelation is not, shall we say, enthusiastic. His words are more sarcastic than anything else. “Really? Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Can anything good come from podunkville? It may have been that coming from a different village Nathaniel would have felt a sense of rivalry with Nazareth. We have all heard something along those lines whether it be from the high school one attended, the town in which one lived, or even the state where one was born. I have heard the joke of “Do you wear shoes all the time or only on special occasions?” when I have said that I am from WV more times than I care to count. Or it could be that the question he asks is one from his study of the Hebrew scriptures and the teachings that he had heard in the synagogues. The one whom Moses and the prophets wrote about is the Messiah. He is to come from Bethlehem, David’s town, in Judah in the south. Not from some town that is never mentioned in the Scriptures or in any texts that were taught. It would be like saying the one to lead the state of North Carolina, instead of coming from the Triangle area and having earned a PhD with honors from one of the big three universities, was instead a plumber coming from Pilot Mountain, having attended (but never graduating from) East Surry High School. Please. Can something good come from out of those mountains?
Philip’s reply is unlike what ours might have been in this situation. Most would be indignant at this looking down the nose at someone from the same area but from a different town. One can hear the defense, “Nazareth is lovely in the fall/spring/summer. The people are friendly and there are many cute little shops. Plus the downtown area is just like one imagines a downtown to be. You really need to give it a chance.” No, Philip does not feel the need to defend or try to make a case for Nazareth or even for Jesus. Instead he says one thing: “Come and see.”
As I said before there must have been a great deal of excitement in Philip when he speaks with Nathanael because Nathanael stops whatever he was doing under the tree (whether reading, praying, meditating, we are never told) and goes to find this character about whom Philip is all excited. And then he meets Jesus. He is told what Jesus knows all about him and that Jesus saw him under a fig tree before he ever met him. Astounded at this knowledge that only one from God would able to have, Nathanael uses Christological language to describe him saying: Rabbi,’… ‘you are the Son of God; you are king of Israel.’[1] Jesus chides him a bit for this, though I would think he had a smile on his face when he says, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?” Nathanael, for all his doubt when he speaks with Philip, is clearly now all in. Jesus tells him: You will see greater things than that.’[2] or more colloquially, “If you think that is impressive, just wait. You haven’t seen anything yet.”
When Jesus next speaks it is to all the disciples gathered around. The you in the text here is a plural you. It is addressed to those listening and to those who are reading the story. Now they will see the angels coming and going from heaven to earth onto the Son of Man.
Now what this is saying is a reference to Jacob’s dream in Genesis where he sees the angels going up and down the stairs or ladder from earth to heaven. This is where Jacob says that God is truly in that place and he names it Bethel, or the House of God. Now Jesus is saying that the time has come when God has come down to be with humanity in the one called the Son of Man. The one before them is the one on whom the angels come and go to heaven. The Son of Man has come to humanity and sought out those who were before him and those reading these words. Truly God is here at this place. Come and see.
Years ago I was told that we were to witness to people and invite them to church. That was one of the callings of all Christians. When we asked how to do that, we were never told, just to go and do it. You can imagine how that went. As teenagers we did not want to be seen as weird and what if, God forbid, someone asked us “Why should I come to church?” or “What good will going to church do? What is in there that I cannot find out here?” I’m sure we would have been told to have a list of reasons why someone should come. But what about Philip’s reply to Nathanael? And what about Jesus’ reply to Andrew? Come and see. Doesn’t seem like much of an argument does it? But when you think about it, do you really need another? If we were to ask someone to come to church, saying “come and see”, what would they see? Would they see enough of the excitement in us that they would want to come and find out what is causing this excitement? Would they want to know who this person we say is the one for whom we have been waiting? Come and see.
When Jesus came to Galilee the disciples found him. Or was it the other way around? Jesus told Andrew and his companion to “Come and see”. He called Philip to follow him. He told Nathanael all that he knew about him at the time that he was called. According to John, Philip’s invitation to Nathanael was short and to the point, “Come and see.” And based on that invitation, Nathanael went. His life was never the same after he met the one who showed that heaven had come to earth and that God was truly with us in the messiness of this world. Come and see.
What was it that the disciples were told to come and see? Was it a specific doctrine or a following of the law in a new way? No, it was a person. A person who was everything that they had been told to look for in the one who was to come. Karl Barth has this to say about what the disciples came to see: “…on a closer examination there can be no mistaking the fact that in this coming of the disciples to Jesus the decisive acting Subject both in His own sight and theirs is Jesus Himself. [3]” Jesus was the one who was calling and finding. He was the one who first said “come and see” and those who came were compelled to tell others to come and see. Our lives are to be changed by Jesus in such a way that there will be something that causes people to find what we have. All we have to tell them is “come and see”. Amen.
[1] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print.
[2] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print.
[3] Barth, Karl, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Thomas F. Torrance. Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Reconciliation, Part 3.2. Vol. 4. London; New York: T&T Clark, 2004. Print.