Come and See, and Stay

Don Friesen
January 18, 2009
Ottawa Mennonite Church

www.ottawamennonite.ca

Jesus began his ministry by gathering a group of student-followers who were interested in learning from him and helping him. Early on he caught the attention of a man named Andrew (1:40), who in turn found his brother and brought him – Simon, soon to be re-named Peter – to Jesus. In another town Jesus engaged a man named Philip, who knew Andrew and Peter – they were from the same town – and Philip, in turn, recruited someone called Nathanael. Nathanael was sceptical about Jesus, especially when he discovered Jesus was from Nazareth, a nondescript backwater town that had produced no one of note to date. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" he asked. Philip didn't argue with him, simply and wisely choosing to invite Nathanael to "come and see." (1:47) Nathanael did so and was sufficiently intrigued that he too became a disciple of Jesus.

The invitation to "come and see" occurs more than once in the Gospel of John. (John 1:39; 1:47; 4:29; 11:34) The Samaritan woman invited her neighbours to "come and see" the One who invited her to drink from the waters of life. John also places emphasis upon "what we have seen" (John 3:11, 32; 8:38; 19:35), and a special blessing is pronounced at the end of the Gospel on "those who have not seen and yet ...believe." (John 20:29)

What Compels us to Take Notice?

I like the open-ended nature of the invitation to "come and see," but it also assumes that having seen, we will be captivated by what we are seeing! What manner of things compel us to take notice? Some things have great drawing power. For example, if one of our children, who lives thousands of miles away, has a baby, and it's our first grandchild, and they call to ask us when we will be able to come and see this beautiful and intelligent child, we're there tomorrow! Of course we'll come and see this special baby.

Foreign countries make many of us want to come and see them. We like to travel. Others may tell us about the glories of Greece, but we like to come and see for ourselves! We want to see Europe ourselves, and we're willing to put out mega-bucks and enlarge our environmental footprint because it's important to us to see things firsthand.

What else compels us to take notice? Important events do, but often we don't know they'll be important until after they've taken place. In 1963 250,000 people converged on Washington, D.C. to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. Many people told other people to come and see this Baptist preacher from Alabama. Come and see, and hear this man talk about freedom! They did, and it was well worth the effort, for King's "I Have A Dream" speech sent shivers down their spines and gave hope to their dreams.

People – Canadians included – are exhibiting the same eagerness to come and see Barack Obama inaugurated as the forty-forth President of the United States this week. Millions will converge on Washington to see and to be a part of this historic event.

Can Anything Good Come out of the Church?

I wish the Church had such drawing power, but I fear that more often than not people echo Nathanael's question: "Can anything good come out of the Church?" Can anything good come out of a group of comfortable suburbanites who give lip-service to justice, love, and peace? Can anything good come out of a group of hypocrites? This is usually heard from those who haven't bothered to come and see what we're about, but it has a grain of truth; we're human beings trying to learn to live Christ-like lives and sometimes we don't do so well.

Anne Lamott, a writer and political activist living in the San Francisco Bay Area, found her way into a church during a tough time in her life and by her own admission was loved into staying. Faith and church are at the centre of her life, and she wants the same thing for her son – although her son is often of another opinion. Asked why she makes her son go to church, she replied, "I make him because I can. I outweigh him by nearly seventy-five pounds." Then she adds, in a more serious tone, "I want to give him what I found, ...a path and a little light to see by. Most of the people I know who have what I want – which is to say, purpose, heart, balance, gratitude, joy – are people with a deep sense of spirituality. They are people in community, who pray, or practice their faith...." (Lamott, Travelling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, 2000, page 89)

Only a ‘Manner of Life' Worthy of Jesus Will Draw People to Him

The Church can employ all manner of words, slogans, and cute marketing techniques, but unless it has love – with all the vulnerabilities that that implies – it is but a "noisy gong," a clanging cymbal". (1 Corinthians 1:1) "Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ," says the New Testament. (Philippians 1:27, RSV) Words may impress us, but an exemplary life is compelling. Mark Twain (1835-1910) gave back-handed testimony to the power of example when he said, "Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." (Pudd'nhead Wilson)

One day Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) invited a young monk to join him on a preaching trip. Honoured to receive the invitation, the young fellow accepted. All day long he and Francis walked through the streets, rubbing shoulders with hundreds of people. At day's end they headed home, but not once had Francis addressed a crowd or talked to anyone about the gospel. The young monk was disappointed; he said to Francis, "I thought we were going into town to preach?" And Francis replied, "My son, we have preached. We were preaching while we were walking. We were seen by many and our behaviour was closely watched. It is of no use to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere as we walk!"

Come and See, and Stay

When the first disciples were invited to come and see Jesus, it was an invitation to check things out. Check Jesus out and you just may discover that your idle curiosity becomes a costly commitment. Diana Butler Bass, a scholar of church and religion and a co-blogger with Jim Wallace, of the Sojourners community, has suggested that Christian seekers should graduate from the tourist class to the pilgrim class. She tells of a woman who came to her church as a "tourist" and wound up being a "pilgrim," walking through the seasons of the congregation's life, celebrating each of its festivals, living through its ordinary times, and suffering the community's dark moments. Initially it was hard for her to imagine settling into a community, but the "quirky beauty and quiet passions of the congregation caught her imagination. She knew she could never really understand Christianity unless she lived it." She is one of many whose lives have been transformed by embarking upon Christian pilgrimage. "By settling in, they (went) on a different kind of journey, one they would never have experienced had they remained tourists, one that became increasingly less self-directed and increasingly aimed toward God's love and shalom." (Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighbourhood Church is Transforming the Faith, 2007)

Philip's invitation to come and see is our invitation, the Church's invitation. Come and see, and stay. Come and see what this Jesus is all about. You might catch a glimpse of his beauty and grace in our midst, our human flaws notwithstanding. Come and meet people you might never otherwise meet. You may not even want to meet them, but come and see what happens when God's Spirit moves among a strange assortment of people. Come and mingle with fellow seekers of different backgrounds, but who come together to be part of something bigger than themselves. Come and share the sorrows and burdens of others. Come and rejoice with them in good times. Come and share your fears as well as your hopes. Most of all, come and "taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him." (Psalm 34:8)