In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Have you ever had an experience that you just had to share? Maybe you heard a piece of music that you couldn’t wait to tell your friends about. Or you ate at a restaurant that was phenomenal and so you insisted that someone join you the next time that you go so that they can experience just how good it is. Perhaps there’s a particular spot in nature, a view of a beach or mountain, that you couldn’t wait to show someone how beautiful it is. Or after your child was born, you couldn’t wait to have all of your family and friends meet this amazing new gift to the world. And you tell these people – you won’t believe what I’ve experienced and words will fail to describe it, so you’ve got to come and see.
Throughout John’s telling of the Gospel, that phrase, “come and see” is a refrain of faith and invitation. In today’s reading, Nathanael scoffs, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” and Philip says “Come and see.” Just a few verses earlier, Jesus invites people to “come and see.” And later in John, both in the stories of the woman at the well and the raising of Lazarus, the invitation to “come and see” is issued.
Throughout the Gospel, Jesus invites us to come and see the Word of God made flesh, to come and see the Lamb of God, to come and see Love Incarnate, to come and see our Savior. This phrase functions both as an invitation for us to grow in holiness, and also as our marching orders. We’re still at the beginning of a new year, and so I want to use this phrase as an invitation, an encouragement, and a challenge for the year ahead – come and see.
The fact that Jesus and those around him in John use this phrase tells us something about the nature of God. The fact that we are told to “come and see” means that God knows and expects that there is, indeed, something to come and see. It means that God can be recognized and seen in this world. So often we talk about how God is holy and distinct from us, and that’s true, but it doesn’t mean that God is invisible or absent. The invitation to “come and see” tells us that God is to be encountered all around us.
This is what this season after Epiphany is all about – having epiphanies, manifestations, glimpses of God. And there’s a reason why the Church, in her wisdom, has discerned the need for a season of considering how it is that God is made known to us in Jesus. Because while God can absolutely be encountered anywhere and everywhere, God is most fully known and seen in Jesus. That is the starting point of Christianity – that the Word of God became flesh and lived among us. And as John puts it, this incarnating of God is so that we might come and see God.
The fact that we have a season that bears the name “Epiphany” tells us that we actually need an epiphany because it’s not something we would have figured out. The invitation is to come and see the Bread of Life, the Lamb of God, the True Vine, the Alpha and the Omega, the Way, Truth, and Life, the Good Shepherd, the Light of the World, the Crucified Messiah. But before God was revealed to us in Jesus, we could not have come to know God in those ways. No amount of faith, intellect, or imagination was ever going to lead us to discover these truths of God. Rather, what we need is revelation of the Truth, and revelation is what God gave us in the face of Jesus.
And so while God may be encountered in nature, or on the golf course, or in yoga, or in poetry, the incarnate love of God which was seen most fully on the Cross cannot be mediated by those experiences. Thus, the invitation isn’t simply “see,” but rather, “come and see.” Jesus is not a vague or generic expression of God’s grace, he is specific, very God of very God. So we come to Jesus to see this revelation, to encounter this particular grace of God.
This is why the Church is so important in this invitation to “come and see.” At its best, the Church points us to the glory, wonder, and majesty of God. By our worship, in the Sacraments, and through our loving service, we seek to point people towards God when they follow the urge to come and see. My favorite piece of art is called the Isenheim altarpiece and it depicts the gruesome image of Jesus on the Cross. It’s an anachronistic depiction because John the Baptist is standing next to the Cross and he was executed prior to Jesus, but in this painting, John is pointing towards Jesus on the Cross and above him are the words “I must decrease that he may increase.”
This is how we do evangelism – we simply point and get out of the way. So often, evangelism is done in terms of what we have to offer. As in: Come to St. Luke’s because we have the best organ in Salisbury, or our priest gives good sermons, or our community is so caring, or the liturgy is beautiful, or we have a great Young Families group, or the church is the prettiest in town. To do so would be inviting people to come and see idolatry.
What a liberating message this is – we don’t have to find the right words to invite people to church. We don’t have to convince ourselves that we have a good reason for coming to church. Church isn’t a product to be marketed, rather, we are bearers of the Good News of God’s love for us in Christ. We’re not the manager or the creative talent, we’re just the broker. We’re that person who likes to play match-maker. We say – I know just the right person for you. We make the introduction and let God do the work of transformation and conversion. Because the simple truth is that there is nothing that you can say to make someone else believe anything. It’s not about having the best argument, but making a faithful introduction.
Discipleship is about being in a relationship with God and it comes through experience, not argument. It is so telling that the invitation to discipleship is “Come and see” and not “sit and listen,” which should be a clue to us about how we are to bring others to faith. We don’t do it by standing on the street corner, we don’t do it by threatening people with hell, we don’t do it by presenting the 7-point argument for faith. Rather, we do it simply by inviting people that we already know into this experience.
Maybe someone who taught you manners told you that it’s rude to point, but pointing is exactly what we are to do in this season after the Epiphany. The first step is to yourself, come and see. Coming to worship each Sunday so that we might see the love of God is a vital step. I can absolutely say that coming to Sunday worship will change you and help you to grow in your faith. But worship is a bit like medicine, you have to take it in the right dosage. If you have an infection and the doctor tells you to take an antibiotic every day, but you only take it once a week, what’s going to happen?
The practice of worshiping in a community, hearing God’s word proclaimed, confessing our sins and being assured of God’s grace, singing praise to God, offering our resources to God, and partaking of Eucharist absolutely draw you more fully into the love of God. But in order to see, you have to first come. So let this be an encouragement and a challenge to commit yourself to the rhythm of regular Sunday worship. For one, when you are here, our praise of God is that much fuller. More than that though, this invitation to come and see is about attuning ourselves to God. Of course, sometimes you are ill and can’t make it – so pull out a prayer book and say a few prayers from home. Sometimes you travel, and that’s understandable. Last I heard, there are churches in other cities though. This year, make it your priority to come and see.
And the second challenge, invitation, and encouragement that I offer you this morning is to do the work of evangelism this year. Tell someone else to “come and see.” Again, don’t invite people to come and see our pretty church, but tell them to come and see the love that has changed your life. St. Augustine famously said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” Tell them to come and see rest for their hearts. Tell them to come and see the Good News that life has meaning, that love is abundant, that forgiveness and peace are possible. Tell them to come and see why this is such a special community to you.
This Monday, our nation remembers Martin Luther King, a man who was certainly rooted in the Gospel. And this is exactly how he brought a nation deeper into the truth of God’s love and justice. He didn’t launch the 5-point plan, he didn’t have national debates, he invited people to come and see. He said “I have a dream.” But it was more than his dream, it was God’s vision. Maybe you’re not sure if you are MLK, but you can certainly invite someone to come and see.
Just like a fantastic recipe that you want to share, an amazing person that you want others to meet, or bringing someone to experience attending a musical or sporting event in person, the mercy and peace of God should be something that we are convicted by and inspired to tell others to come and see. The overwhelming grace and love of God for us summons us to more deeply and fully come and see.
The invitation is to come and see and to tell others to come and see. If it helps, we have some brochures in the narthex entitled “Come and See.” It’s not a tract or summary of faith, but rather a signpost. It points to things like unity, rooted worship, uncommon faith, and transformative love as being things that you can come and see at St. Luke’s, not because in any way we’ve produced any of those things, but because we’ve seen them in Jesus and strive to point to them. God has been revealed to us in specific ways in Jesus, and the brochure is intended to name some of those things that we have come to see. After all, if you’re going to point at something, it’s helpful if you know what you’re pointing towards. So take one if you think it might be helpful in your pointing.
As Jesus says in today’s passage from John, “You will see greater things than these.” Come and see things that you cannot yet imagine. Come and see the love out of which you were made and to which you are destined. If you are disgusting by what is in the news, come and see the Good News. Come and see the beauty of holiness. Come and see the mercy and healing that sets you free. Come and see the difference that Christ makes. Bring others with you to come and see. Come and see.
