Come, See for Yourself
35-36 The
next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were
watching. He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is,
God’s Passover Lamb.”
37-38 The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.”
They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.
40-42 Andrew,
Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and
followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived
was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah”
(that is, “Christ”). He immediately led him to Jesus.
Jesus took one look up and said, “You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas” (or Peter, which means “Rock”).
43-44 The
next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran
across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was
Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
45-46 Philip
went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote
of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”
But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”
47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
48 Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51 Jesus
said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day
sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this
is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to
the Son of Man and ascending again.”
What is our first response to Jesus? Do we even respond to Him at all? When I read this chapter I saw a pattern of behavior as people had an encounter with Christ. When they encounter Christ, they go and find someone to tell about it. Jesus is not kept a secret. His transforming power and presence had to be shared. They were compelled by their experience to find someone and tell them about the Messiah. This wasn't an option and they didn't give it a second thought. Their first response... find someone I love and tell them the Messiah has come!
I wonder. Do we act the same way? When we encounter Christ through scripture, prayer, and by having a personal relationship; are we so amazed by Him that we can't contain it we must go and tell others about who He is and what He has done for us? Do we invite others to see His power and express the transformation He brings through His saving grace? Or, do we shy away from an invitation and never verbally give life to His transforming power by telling others about what He has done for us. Even worse, do we not even acknowledge or see Him ourselves, so we do not really understand what Jesus has done because we have not ever experienced the transforming power He brings.
You see my friends, Jesus is not in the business of begging people to come to Him or ignoring the power only He can bring. Jesus invites, but the choice is up to us. Jesus shows who He is, but the choice is up to us to believe in what He can do.
So today I celebrate my Jesus and His plan to choose His church to save mankind. I celebrate how precious of a gift He is and when we encounter Him, we are compelled to share Him with others. I celebrate I don't need to know everything, I just need to know what He did for me. There is power in my testimony and I'm thankful for the dark times of life because Light shines brightest in the darkest moments. I celebrate He was there in the beginning and Jesus will be there to stand in my place in the end.
"Come follow me," He says. Come, and see for yourself...
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