“The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” John 1:43-51

Come and see.

Think, for a moment, about the effect of those words might have on you were you to hear them in an everyday context. Would they generate a certain sense of excitement about whatever it might be you were being invited to witness? Perhaps curiosity? Or maybe gratitude that someone thought to include you?

Come and see.

The words are both simple and warm, issuing an invitation not only to see something, but also to join a community. To come along and be part of something.

Come and see.

These words, this invitation, form the heart not simply of this opening scene but much of John’s Gospel. John’s story is structured around encounters with Jesus. Again and again, from these early disciples, to the Pharisee named Nicodemus, to the Samaritan women at the well, to the man born blind, to Peter and Pilate and eventually Thomas, characters throughout John’s Gospel are encountered by Jesus. John structures his story this way, I think, to offer us a variety of possibilities, both in terms of the kind of people to whom Jesus reaches out and the kinds of responses they offer…and we might offer as well. And so across the pages of John’s Gospel there are women and men, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, powerful and vulnerable, people of all shapes and sizes and varieties that Jesus meets. And to each one, in one way or another, he says the same thing: come and see. Come and see God do a new thing. Come and see as your future opens up in front of you. Come and see the grace of God made manifest and accessible and available to all.” (David Lose, Come and See, January 12, 2015, davidlose.net)

Upon hearing the call from Jesus, Philip runs like the wind to his friend Nathanael – who seems to have feet of clay.  Now it seems to me that Philip seems compelled to tell someone about this man Jesus whom he has met, and the one he tells does not share in his enthusiasm.  Philip and Nathanael were friends, so Philip should have had some idea that Nathanael might not share his enthusiasm about Jesus.  Is there something about this Jesus that would compel him – would compel many of his followers to do things that might go against their nature?  We see it time and time again.  One by one the followers of Jesus meet him, become entranced by him, drop whatever they were doing and then run out and tell others including their family and their closest friends.  It was the history of the early church – it is the reason that the church grew – and grew so quickly in the first 100 years.  It was a story told and shared face to face – one on one.  How beautiful are the feet of those compelled to tell others to “come and see”.

You know, we worry so much about how to grow the church – how to get new members – how to increase our numbers.  Maybe we should add a service.  Maybe we should change the service.  Maybe we should try a new Evangelism program. There are things that we can do that fall under Evangelism – try to be more accommodating; try to be more loving, more welcoming, more inviting; try new worship styles – try to provide more opportunities for people to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.  But the best evangelism program that ever existed, existed at the very beginning of the church.  One person, having been impacted by Jesus in such a way that it reaches deep into their heart, that it changes their life, one person turning to their neighbor, or relative, or friend, or even the lady at the grocery store who bakes their bread, and inviting them to “come and see.”

Pastor Dave

“You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:1-9

{Joe always went to his local barber, Verks for a monthly shave and haircut. But one day Verks the barber was ill. So the barber’s wife, Grace, took over. Joe noticed over subsequent weeks that his beard was not growing. The barber, a good Lutheran, explained the mystery. “You now understand that when we are not shaved by Verks,” he said, “you’re shaved by Grace.”}

Saved by Grace through faith. It is what we lean upon when we encounter the close shaves in life. It is one of the fundamental teachings of the Lutheran Church – Justification by Faith through Grace. As the scripture states above, Grace is a gift from G-d. There is nothing we can do to earn such Grace. But, and this is important for us all to understand, G-d doesn’t want our works. Instead, G-d wants an active, loving relationship of faith from each of us.

Martin Luther spent much of his time in the Monastery trying to earn G-d’s love and favor. No matter how much he did, no matter how badly he mortified his own flesh, he could not find the G-d of love he so much wanted in his life. And so he returned to the bible, to scripture, and his life changed.

Now that we are well into the New Year, we are either well into the changes we had hoped to make in 2018, or we have already abandoned them. Thank the Lord our G-d is not as capricious with Grace as we are with works. Justification by Grace through faith. It saves us time and time again.

Pastor Dave