Come and See

Come and See

³⁸ Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, ‘Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), where are You staying?”  ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and see.”  They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).  ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated the Christ). ⁴² And brought him to Jesus.  Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the Son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).

Since the author of John’s gospel refuses to identify himself, it is believed the other disciple of John’s that followed Jesus was John the beloved disciple.  When Jesus saw that they were following He asked them a question, “What are you seeking?” Andrew and John ask of Jesus, “Where are you staying.”

They were unsure if they should follow this man who so recently was baptized by John the Baptizer, but they did desire to have a conversation with Jesus, therefore they accepted Jesus invitation to come and see.

In Jesus times, all was judged on Roman usage of time and so in Palestine, the light part of the day was divided into 12 hours, for the author to mention it was the tenth hour, which would be 4 o’clock in the afternoon.  This exact time places John as an eye witness to the events and is the reason for John’s vivid memory of what hour it was.  This is not the only time in his gospel in which the exactness of time is noted and scholars believe the exactness is to tell his readers that he was an eye witness to the events.

At the invitation to come and see, John and Andrew followed Jesus.  They desired to know more about this statement made by John the Baptizer of this man who stood before them to “Be the Lamb of God.”

Notice, the response of Andrew who is wanting to form a relationship with Jesus by desiring to talk with Him and learn more about Him.  Andrew stepped out in faith and immediately found Simon his brother and invited Him to come see the One called the Messiah.

Often when we come to the Lord we get this desire to save others, instead of forming a lasting relationship with Jesus. We really need to form this relationship with Christ and then immediately bring before our own family the things that we have learned.  Peter responded, because there was a hunger within him to know the Messiah.  Within our own family, there are many that are longing for a relationship with the messiah, but we never present the Messiah to them, thinking they will reject our invitation to learn about the Gospel Message.

Our invitation to others concerning Christ should be the same as Christ gave to his disciples, “Come and see!”  This is an invitation given to all that we might come and see and experience the love of God as shown to us through the life and teachings of Jesus.  Jesus invitation to His disciples was to “Come and see” and this is the same invitation that he gives to each one of us.  “Come and see what I have to offer.  See for yourself that what I am offering is better than what you have.  There will be no force, no pressure, no promise of great reward, no extorsion to get you to accept God.  Instead through Christ, God desires to show his great love toward us and he hopes we will see and understand His wondrous love, and this love, this overwhelming love will cause us to choose Him.

But when we accept this invitation to “Come and see” it will also be necessary to set aside our preconceived ideas and concepts of God so that we can really, truly begin to understand God’s character as lived out through the life of Christ.  So, I invite you to “Come and see!” what God has in store for you!