Come And See!

In our study of the Gospel of John let’s read John 1:35-51

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (ESV).

The Apostle John is saying come and:

? You will see

? You will be changed

? You will see greater things

Let’s look at what John means by:

Come and you will see

In vv. 35-37, John says,

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

This is the second time Jesus comes their way and what did John do? He pointed beyond himself to Someone else. Once again in this first chapter of the gospel of John, John the Baptist says to his disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God.” But in this moment only two of his disciples were actually listening - “they heard it” meaning they got what He was saying. How do we know? Because it moved them into action and they started following Jesus.

The verb to follow in the New Testament often means ‘to follow as a disciple’ (1:43; 8:12; 12:26; 21:19), but sometimes the word is quite neutral and may just mean to accompany someone. As we will read in the Gospel of John, some only accompanied Jesus because they followed the miracles, the healings, the excitement, but when difficult times came we know the majority parted ways.

For some people, following can be quite impersonal - following God or the Bible is like following a rule book or a road map. Just like in today’s social media, you can be a follower of someone you have never met with the click of a button and just as quickly you can unfollow someone because this requires no effort or commitment.

But here in v. 37 the verb tense for “follow” speaks of a once and for all action. At one level, these two common fishermen were ‘following’ Jesus in the most mundane of senses, but on another level they were taking the first steps of genuine discipleship. There was no unfollow button, even though they were severely tested, the decision they had made was final. Just like we see today in countries like N. Korea or in Iran or Afghanistan, to be a follower of Jesus is a final decision that requires a great cost.

In vv. 38-39

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.