John 1:29-42
January 19, 2014
No
travel writer has made me want to get up and go more than Rick Steves. His show on PBS, Europe Through the Backdoor, not only offers his viewers glimpses
of the most famous travel sites in Europe, but you also see the places that
don’t always make the tour maps. Steves,
in his sweet, nerdy way, shows that it’s possible to not only visit a place,
but when you visit Europe through the backdoor you are able experience the real
people and their real lives.
In
one episode Rick and his crew, his producer and his cameraman, were in
Portugal. They left Lisbon and drove
north up the coast to a town called Nazare.
Nazare is a beach town and during the summer, it is packed with tourists
from all over Portugal and all over Europe.
But Rick is traveling in the off season, so tourist business is
down. Women of the town who have rooms
to rent in their homes stand along the main thoroughfare into the town and hold
up signs that are written in five different languages, advertising their open
rooms. Rick stops and speaks with one
woman who assures him that she has good rooms, and then she beckons him to
follow her home. Come and see.
So
Rick and his crew in their car follow this woman who is on foot through the narrow
streets of Nazare. It seems that they
follow this woman for a long time, but she just keeps laughing and beckoning
them to follow her, come and see.
When
they finally reach her home, she shows them the room and it’s absolutely
lovely. It’s spacious, clean and
probably a lot homier than any hotel they might have stayed in. This is what I love about Rick Steves. He’s a seasoned traveler, but he’s not afraid
to try something most of us would never dare.
He was willing to take a chance when this woman invited him to come and
see the rooms she had for rent. Come and
see.
To
me it is the “come and see” aspect of this first passage that makes it so
interesting. John’s gospel always
manages to surprise me in its distinct differences from the synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels all record
Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. But John’s gospel does not give that
account. Instead we read John the
Baptists’ testimony to Jesus and to his identity.
If
we were to read this chapter in full, we’d see that it takes place over a few
days. Our part of the passage starts on
the second day. John sees Jesus coming
toward him and declares “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world!” The day before John was
questioned by religious leaders who wanted to know who he, John, was. They wanted to know the full scope of John’s
identity. But John tells them about
another one. John tells them that he is
not the Messiah, but there is one who is the Messiah they’ve been waiting
for.
Knowing
a little more about what happens on the first day explains more fully John’s
remarks on this second day. John says,
“Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Then he goes on to say, this is the one I was
telling you about yesterday. He may be
coming after me, but he ranks far ahead of me.
I didn’t know him, but this is why I’ve been baptizing. And I saw the Spirit descend on him and
remain there. The one who told me to
baptize told me that this is how I would recognize the Messiah. This is the Son of God.
We
move to the third day. This day John is
standing with two of his disciples.
Jesus walks by, and as he does, John proclaims, “Look, here is the Lamb of
God!” When John’s two disciples hear
this, they leave John to follow Jesus.
Now
we come to the crux, the heart of this passage.
Jesus sees them following him, and he asks them, “What are you looking
for?” They call him “Rabbi” which the
gospel writer translates for us readers as “teacher.” They ask him am unexpected question, at least
for a moment and a meeting like this.
The men ask, “Where are you staying?”
Jesus responds not by giving them directions or details. He just says, “Come and see.” And he leads them from that point on. Just like that woman from Nazare who leads
Rick to her home with “Come and see,” Jesus leads these new disciples with
“Come and see.”
What
we have to understand about John’s gospel is that it is a gospel of many layers
of meaning. Every question in John’s
gospel means more than what it seems.
When John’s disciples ask Jesus “where are you staying?” they’re not
just asking him about his place of residence.
They’re not looking for a house tour or a place to hang out for a few
days. They want to know about his
relationship with God. It’s almost as if
they’re saying to Jesus, “Look our teacher, John, has proclaimed you to be the
Lamb of God, so we want to know for ourselves.
If you are indeed the Lamb of God, the rabbi, the teacher we’ve been
looking for, then what is your relationship to God? Are you in intimate relationship with
him? Are you staying with God? Teacher, where are you staying?”
Now
think about the other call narratives in the first three gospels. Jesus goes to his earliest disciples and
calls them away from their work, their previous lives, even their
families. He gives them a hint as to
what they will do as disciples. But in
this narrative, the first disciples hear John’s testimony and follow. When Jesus asks them about this, their
response is to ask a question about his relationship to God. Jesus doesn’t give them definitive
answers. He just invites them to come
and see.
Discipleship
is something that you will have to experience for yourself. You will have to follow me to witness and
know my relationship with the Father.
You will have to follow me to experience who I am and what I have come
to do. If you want to be a disciple, you
will have to follow me and experience it for yourselves. If you want to be a disciple, you must come
and see.
So
that’s what these new disciples did.
John’s witness has done what it was meant to do. It has pointed them in the new direction God
is taking. They leave John and follow
Jesus. They go and see. And from there other disciples join
them. At the end of the passage we have
before us today, Andrew tells his brother Simon, “We have found the
Messiah.” Simon comes to Jesus and Jesus
gives him a new name. “You are to be
called Cephas, which the passage explains is translated ‘rock’.”
And
if we were to keep reading till the end of the chapter, we would also learn
that Philip and Nathanael join Jesus as well.
All of these disciples decide to come and see Jesus for themselves. They follow him so that they can witness and
experience for themselves who this man is, this Lamb of God, this Son of God,
this Rabbi, this Messiah. Nathanael
pronounces him both Son of God and King of Israel.
Come
and see. Jesus beckons us to follow and
see for ourselves what discipleship is all about. I find it interesting that in this passage
Jesus is called by a variety of names. In
the first chapter of John’s gospel he is called by at least eight different
names or titles. That’s just the first
chapter alone. Jesus acknowledges them
all. We know that none of these names
fully reveal or define the fullness of who Jesus is. They cannot convey the glory of Jesus and
what he will do. But each person sees
Jesus and recognizes Jesus in the way they most need. John sees him as the Lamb of God, the one who
takes away the sins of the world. John
has been baptizing people in preparation for this Lamb. The disciples, wanting to learn, wanting to
understand, see him as Rabbi, then as Messiah.
Nathanael, who is startled by how Jesus knows him, exclaims that he is
the Son of God, the King of Israel. They
all name him in the way they understand him.
And Jesus is all of these names and more.
His
invitation to come and see invites people to experience him and understand him
in the way they need the most. I often
hear the expression that Jesus meets us where we are. This passage exemplifies that statement. Jesus meets all of these early disciples
where they are. Their names for him
reflect their understanding of him. I
have a picture in my head of Jesus accepting each name they give him, extending
his hand and inviting them to “come and see.”
Today
and tomorrow, many of us will observe the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Today as I picture Jesus extending his hand
to the disciples with the invitation to come and see, I can’t help but think of
Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in August,
1963. The power of that speech comes not
only from his substantive message and his call for justice, but for the picture
he paints with his words; a picture of an America we still have not
achieved.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and
tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American
dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal.
Come and
see.
I
have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character.
Come
and see.
I
have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked
places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all flesh shall see it together."
Come and see.
With
this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of
hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of
our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will
be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one
day.[1]
Come
and see.
[1]
“I Have a Dream” Speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963, Lincoln
Memorial, Washington, D.C.
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