Come and See

John 1:35-42, CEB

The next day John was standing again with two of his disciples.  When he saw Jesus walking along he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!”  The two disciples heard what he said, and they followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he asked, “What are you looking for?”

They said, “Rabbi (which is translated Teacher), where are you staying?”

He replied, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

One of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.  He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Christ ).  He led him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

                The accounts of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) have different details concerning how Jesus called his core disciples, but these details are not the important part.  The value of four accounts of the same story gives us the gift of seeing different emphases in the varied accounts.  The first two disciples in John were disciples of John the Baptist first.  John has just stated in the previous passage that the One who is coming is much greater, so when John points Jesus out the next day, the two disciples leave John and start following Jesus.

                When Jesus notices them following he asks, “What are you looking for?”  It is curious that they reply to Jesus’s question with a question; “Where are you staying?”  Jesus seems unfazed and answers with a phrase that we should all hear as an invitation for Jesus.

 “Come and see,” is Jesus’s invitation.

                The disciples, unlike the Pharisees’ fact-finding task force, don’t come with specific expectations about what they will experience with Jesus.  They just know that they want to follow Him.  They want to “come and see.”  The implication in the phrase, “they remained with him that day,” is that they spent some time with Jesus.  The time must have been profoundly revealing to them, because they immediately go to others and exclaim, “we have found the Messiah.”  They came. They saw.  They became disciples.

Questions:  What did “coming and seeing” look like for you in your journey to Jesus? If, at this point, you aren’t a disciple of Jesus, what is stopping you from coming and seeing now?

Prayer:  Lord, your invitation to come and see still stands and for that I’m grateful.  I will forever be learning more about what it means to follow you.  I praise You for that. Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for new followers of Jesus today.

Song:  Come and See – Jeremy Rosado