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1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20)
John 1:43-51
As a teenager, my father and I shareda love of aviation that began as a mutually satisfying hobby, but soon itbecame a life-changing experience. Flyingoffered me the opportunity to see the beauty of God’s creation, the mighty actsof God from a vantage point I had never witnessed before. Later in life, my love of aviation became sogreat that I wanted to share the experience with others. With dedicated study and effort I trained tobecome a Certified Flight Instructor so I could teach others the art of flying. As I committed to this vocation, I practicedfrequently, studied diligently and with time, I moved from a mere spectator ofthe beauty of those lofty heights, to someone who was bringing others along sothey too could “come and see.”
Seeing is the act or power ofsensing with the eyes. The lack ofseeing (blindness) is a common affliction of people who met Jesus, and it wasthe blind that he frequently healed. Tobe given sight and to really see the beauty of the life into which God invitesus, is at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus invites us to “come and see” the mightyworks of God, the grace of God, the mercy, joy, reconciliation, and wholenessof life in Christ.
In today’s gospel, we learn of anewly minted disciple named Philip. Jesusfound Philip as he returned to Galilee. Theamazing thing that happened in the narrative, and if you blink you will missit, is that Philip does in fact follow Jesus. We know this, because his discipleship did not stop with a mereproclamation of faith. Philip goes beyondmere participation and actually goes and finds his friend Nathaniel, whom heinvites to “come and see” Jesus. Nathaniel’sresponse though, “Can anything good come from Nazareth,” was one of cynicismand disbelief. To respond to the “comeand see” invitation is to respond to the high calling of discipleship. Sometimes we want to follow Jesus, but we doso with preconceived notions of what that really means. Sometimes we proclaim Jesus as Lord, but we failto commit to the hard work of really coming to know him. For twenty years, Emma Sue faithfullyattended St. Swithins every week. Shesat in the same pew every Sunday, gave generously, worked in variousministries, and showed up at every event, but something was missing. Emma’s spiritual practices had fallen by thewayside. She was missing the experienceof seeing Jesus everyday, of coming to Jesus for strength, for guidance, forsupport, for the life she was called to lead. Emma needed to practice her faith. She needed to know Jesus intimately. She needed to practice discipleship.
God invites us to “come and see” what it islike to be the people of God. It is notmerely enough to proclaim Jesus as Lord. There is another way of being to which we must commit in order truly to becomefollowers of Jesus. This journey offaith can be a simple one, but it does require us to change. Change is necessary for us to live into God’svision for us as individuals and for us as a community. Commitment, discipline, and practice are thepaths to the Kingdom of God to which we are called. The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop ofCanterbury wrote, “And Jesus' bold proposal was that living in a world, and acommunity in which God was king was something very simple. To live in this world was what happened whenyou said 'yes' to what Jesus himself was saying and offering; to live under thekingship of God was deciding to live in the company of Jesus and trusting whathe said about God and about you.” (http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2010/07/to-live-in-jesus-company-is-to-become.html)
Living in the company of Jesusmeans that we need to have conversations with Jesus, we need to study scriptureto know what he said about Himself and about us, and we need to serve others asChrist served us. We need to pray, weneed to study, and we need to serve. Whenwe say yes to the invitation to “come and see” the bold proposal of the Kingdomof God, we must shift from spectators who see, and prod ourselves into beingpractitioners - both seers and doers. Wemust “DO” the faith, live the faith, and be so filled with the grace of thefaith that we are compelled to invite others into this way of life. When our lives are filled with God, we will sayto others, “Come and See.” A 21stcentury church planter once asserted, “When you fill the parish, (the people ofGod) with God, God will fill the parish.”
We are filled with the verypresence of God living among us, and thus, we should allow God to direct us,guide us, and lift us up as Children of the Most high. We begin by committing to the spiritualpractices of prayer, study, and service. Are we ready to follow Jesus? Ifwe do, I am convinced that as the crafter of the Book of Samuel wrote, we willsee God “do something (in our very lives) . . . that will make both ears ofanyone who hears of it tingle.” (ISamuel 3:1-10 (11-20) NRSV) Are we readyto take the leap, and truly “come and see” what God will do in our lives?
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