Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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“Come and see.”
These words that Jesus speaks remind me of those times where we take a look before making a decision: on-site job interviews, finding a church home, and trying to find the right education program to attend.
I spent most of my undergraduate years working for the admissions office at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, so I got very familiar with our own version of “come and see” with prospective students.
At St. John’s, though, this campus visit had a bit of a twist. St. John’s is a discussion based school where all of the classes involve conversations on whatever text had been assigned for that day. This is true whether you are reading philosophy, literature, math, science, or music. You do the reading and have a discussion.
Prospective students, however, were not allowed to take part in the discussion. They were present purely as observers and guests, even for classes where prospectives were encouraged to do the readings.
Unfortunately, once in a while a prospective would break the rules. Speaking out in a class was a guaranteed way to make certain you weren’t accepted.
That may seem harsh, but it’s really not. There is, in fact, great wisdom in this approach. You can’t know something until you have actually observed it, and you can’t begin to be in a conversation until you have learned to listen.
Jesus’ invitation to John the Baptist’s disciples isn’t to immediately join Him or to begin ministry yet. The invitation in response to their question about where he was staying is that they “come and see.” It’s an invitation to observe. It is an invitation to see. It’s an invitation to remain with Jesus for a time in a personal and intimate setting, as the Gospel according to John shows us.
Before these disciples of John the Baptist could make that next step, before they could even know who Jesus truly was, they had to see Him. They had to be present in His life and get to know Him. Before they could go out and speak to who Jesus was, just as John the Baptist did at the beginning of this section, these disciples had to take the time to listen and observe for themselves.
They didn’t rush into anything head first. They weren’t focused on what their upcoming agenda had to be. They were just present with Jesus in the moment. Before anything else, they had to “come and see.”
Life is often a very busy thing. There are parties and planing, as there was in the Advent and Christmas seasons. There is catching up on all the work that happened while we were away. There are elections and meetings, conventions and visitations. The temptation is to dive in headfirst without thinking, just to get it all done.
We are called, however, to take a more contemplative approach. We are called to “come and see.” The call is not to immediately dive in, but to take time to observe why it is that we actually do all these things. The answer in this case, of course, is always Jesus.
Jesus isn’t just some man with an agenda and a 10-12 point plan to carry it out. Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is the Son of God. He is the one on whom the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and remained with Him. Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed, who the world has been long expecting. Jesus is the real deal.
Before we get to work, Jesus has invited us to get to know Him first. To do that we have to stop what we are doing. We have to be present with Jesus, being truly in the moment. Before we can start, we first have to listen.
My hope is that each and everyone of you can take some time from your very busy lives to do that: to listen to Jesus. When we stop and listen, we can see who it is that Jesus really is. When we see who Jesus is, we can know who it is that we really serve. When we know who we serve, we can know who we are, or at the very least who we are supposed to be.
Take the time. Stop, listen, and be with Jesus.