Come and See

Ever since R and I became priests, we’ve been more careful about accepting an invitation to a Saturday night event. It didn’t used to matter if we wanted to sleep in Sunday. Now we have to get up no matter what, and I like to be as wide awake at 8 a.m. Sunday as the people in church.

All of us accept or decline invitations for a variety of reasons, not just what we’re doing the next day. Does it sound like fun? Will friends be there? How much will it cost? Do I have something to wear? (Not often a reason on my list!) It also depends on whether one is spontaneous or someone who has to get used to the idea of being with a bunch of people.

Sunday we’ll hear a story of invitation. Jesus had spent a day recruiting disciples from John the Baptist, including Andrew – who first went and found his brother Simon Peter. The next day Jesus went to Galilee and found Philip, another hometown boy. When Jesus said “Follow me” to him, Philip tracked down his friend Nathanael. Then things got interesting.

“We’ve found him,” Philip told Nathanael. “The one Moses and the prophets talked about – Jesus of Nazareth.” Nathanael didn’t like the sound of that. He wasn’t about to get taken in. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” he asked.

At that point Philip could have gotten into an argument with Nathanael. He could have tried to convince him that Jesus really was the one. Instead, he issued a simple invitation: “Come and see.”

Intrigued, Nathanael went along. When they arrived, Jesus acted like he had known him all along, having spotted him under a fig tree. Nathanael was astonished. “You are the Son of God!” he exclaimed. “You are the King of Israel!”

I imagine a smile creeping over Jesus’ face. “You believe because I said that I saw you under a fig tree? Just wait – you’ll see greater things that these!” Ironically, we don’t know what greater things Nathanael saw, because he promptly drops out of sight.

The fact that Nathanael quickly disappears is a clue that more may be going on here than a simple story about a disciple. His name means “God gives” or “God has given,” so he may be a stand-in for all of the disciples God gives to Jesus – including you and me. Jesus’ description of him as an Israelite in whom there is no deceit recalls the great trickster Jacob (who was renamed Israel). It was Jacob who had the vision of angels ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven. Now those same angels are ascending and descending on Jesus.

Come and see. A simple invitation instead of an argument, and Philip transformed Nathanael’s life. Is there someone you know who is waiting to hear “Come and see,” someone who needs a life transformed? This invitation doesn’t require special clothes or a late-night party or the right kind of people. All it requires is a willingness to walk with someone on their journey, to bring them to the One who already knows them, so that they, too, can worship the Son of God.

[Epiphany 2: John 1:43-51.]