Come and See

Jan. 18, 2015                                                                                                

John 1:43-51

Story: Moses, Jesus and an old man went golfing. Moses teed off, and his ball went down a waterway, the water parted, and the ball rolled across within four inches of the cup.

Jesus then teed off, and the ball hit near the water, skipped across on top of it and came within two inches of the cup.

The old man teed off next, and the ball went crooked, hit a tree and bounced. A squirrel picked it up and ran with it across the green. An eagle swooped down, caught the squirrel, flew high up into a thunderstorm and got struck by lighting, which made him drop the squirrel. The squirrel dropped the ball, which hit a terrapin and rolled into the cup.

Jesus said, 'Nice shot, Dad.'

--Loyal Jones and Billy Edd Wheeler, eds., Hometown Humor, USA. Over 300 Jokes and Stories From the Porch Swings, Barber Shops, Corner Cafes, and Beauty Parlors of America (Little Rock, Ark.: August House, 1991), 128.

Prayer

This is going to be a 2 part sermon. There are a few instances in our lectionary that lend themselves to a series or multiple parts. This is one of those instances.

So… today is Part 1 and it is the Invitation…. “Come and See”

Next week….and I hope you come back… is the Commitment… “Come with Me”

As I’ve said previously about the stories in John’s gospel… they seem to be about regular people encountering the real Jesus. Meaning… these are real stories of just regular people. And these encounters really make us think about how we perceive the real Jesus.

They’re stories of real people who encounter the real Jesus on their own terms and these people aren’t the sort of people we would normally associate Jesus with. They’re just average people living life and trying to do the right thing. Yet… Jesus seems to time and again invite them to come and see.

To come and see what he is all about.

To come and see if indeed he is the real Messiah.

           To come and see if their lives can be different.

Have you ever tried to win an argument?  Sure we all have… Often it rarely works out like we think. Even when we know we are right… even with all the facts on our side… we’ve still have not won. Oh… maybe for the moment… but all to often while we’ve won… we’ve lost by harming the relationship we’ve had with the other person all in the glory of being right.

Much like our story today with Philip… Philip had all the facts he knew Jesus was the one… the Messiah. Philip knew he had the trump card and could trump Nathanael’s snarkey remark. Rather than doing all of that… Philip just invites Nathanael to “Come and See.” There was no coercing… no threats… no facts… no eternal banishment. Just an invitation to “Come and See.”

Former ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson in his January 2003, “The Lutheran” magazine article says,

“ Come and see. How joyfully and spontaneously a child interrupts a parent with the urgent invitation to come and see. With delight, we go and see the child’s creation — a drawing, sand castle, Lego house. With words of praise, we see their latest accomplishment — balancing on a skateboard, mastering a piano piece, pouring their own juice ....

Come and see. Why does that simple, clear invitation become so disturbing, so difficult to extend? The invitation to see Jesus has an urgency about it that many of us find uncomfortable, if not impossible, to convey. 

Come and see Jesus. It’s not an invitation to observe Jesus from afar. Rather, it’s the call to share in his sufferings, to entrust one’s whole life to the promise that this one is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Come and see Jesus is the invitation to live by faith and to be turned toward our neighbor. It’s the invitation to come and die, to lay down one’s life for the sake of the gospel and the neighbor.”

-—Mark S. Hanson, “Come and see Jesus.” Reprinted with permission from The Lutheran, January 2003 issue, copyright 2003, Augsburg Fortress.

We Lutheran’s need to awaken the grace DNA in us and invite others to “Come and See,” and experience the difference Jesus makes in our lives. This is the gift of the church… not because we need to improve the building… or programs… or the bottom line. We need to invite because of the need to be healed and freed by the grace of God.

CLOSING:

I would like to leave you with 2 questions to consider.

What is your favorite thing about Cana and the life we share here

What is it that draws you here and why you stay?

What’s so fantastic about this place that brings you back week after wk?

Would you be willing to invite someone to Come and See this favorite thing about Cana?

We do this all the time… we share with excitement the things we love. My favorite seafood restaurant is the Sun Set Café on Cocoa Beach. They have to die for crab legs. They are the largest, sweetest, and you get a lot of them for a small price. We always share what we love because we want people to know about it… and we readily share. Remember… it’s only an invitation… you don’t have to sell it… that’s not your job… leave that to the Holy Spirit.

My friends… the invitation to Come and See is the future of the faith community, and it rests on our willingness to invite others to share and experience what we’ve already found…. That being Jesus.

Not our buildings… as wonderful as they are.

Not our programs… and

Not the bottom line.

We need to invite because people need to experience the grace and love of Jesus.

That was the spirit in which inspired Philip and Andrew to invite Peter and Nathanael to Come and See…

It’s the same Spirit that will empower all of us to invite others to Come and See too.