Come and See

I am not going to be preaching this weekend but I wanted to pass along some thoughts I had regarding the Gospel for this week.


The reading for Sunday is from John 1:43-51 and is one of my favorites, not because one of our characters here is Andrew but because of how Jesus calls the disciples.

When Jesus calls the disciples on the beach he says "follow me," it is as simple as that, follow me is the command.  Nothing more and nothing less.  Jesus reaches out to people with an invitation to come and see what this is all about.  For me this feels the opposite from what many invitations are in our society today, especially from the church.

I feel what I have witnessed from the church is not an invitation to come and see but rather a question of what do you believe, can you prove it and does what you believe line up with our beliefs.  Jesus does not call down to the beach and tell them to "believe in me" but rather "follow me" it is not until the end of the Gospel that we hear a profession of faith from the disciples, only after they lived, loved and traveled with Jesus did they come to believe and understand who Jesus was.


Things do not begin with a demand of faith but rather with an invitation to come and see!