Table of Contents

Come and you will see!

 (Jn 1:39)

           Since 1993 our community has conducted twenty-two Christian Life Programs, both in English and Indonesian, and graduated over four hundred couples, singles, handmaids and servants. After giving the Orientation talk a few weeks ago, some of you approached me and said, “Bro Jun, I have heard you give the Orientation talk a number of times, but each time I hear it I still feel deeply touched and challenged by the Lord. I can almost hear Him inviting me again. And I always look with anticipation if you will end your talk at exactly four o’clock.”

   By now the community is familiar with the usual manner I end my Orientation talk. As you all know, I end it by reading John 1:38-39: Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.

           Since most of our CLPs are held on Sunday afternoon, the Orientation talk often ends at around four o’clock. And so, with minor variations, depending on the time of the CLP, I usually end the talk with the following words:

            “John did not forget these first words Jesus spoke to the apostles. These are the same words Jesus is speaking to us now. He is asking us, “What are you looking for?” You may or may not fully realize it, but when you decided to come to this Christian Life Program, your heart was really looking for something. Indeed, it was looking for someone. Most of us want to know who Jesus is. When we meet him, he will ask what our inner dispositions are. We will gain nothing from finding him unless we are disposed to stay with him.

            “My brothers and sisters, what indeed are we looking for in life? Why are we here in this foreign land? Is there more to life than just earning a good pay and having a comfortable life? Why are we not fully satisfied? Why do we feel a longing in our hearts? Why do we feel a strange emptiness inside especially during times when we are alone? What are we looking for?

            “Today the Lord has provided the answer to these questions. The Lord is inviting us: “Come and see. I know what you are looking for.” So, my brothers and sisters, like the first disciples who decided to spend the rest of the day with Jesus, let us also make the decision now to stay with the Lord for the rest of the next ten weeks to listen to his words. Just like the very first day when Jesus met his disciples, it is now about four o’clock in the afternoon. Time for you to accept the Lord’s invitation. Time for you to decide. It is four o’clock.”

            My brothers and sisters, there are many of you who have told me that among the things that you remember about the CLP talks, and the one that left a distinct mark in your hearts and minds, are the words, “Time for you to decide. It is four o’clock,” since you remember looking at your watch then and saw that it was indeed four o’clock. And then you felt that the invitation of the Lord, “Come and see,” became somehow very personal and real. Hence you decided to stay and come back for the next talk.

            “Come and you will see” is the second sentence Jesus spoke in the Gospel of John. It is an invitation. His first sentence is a question, “What are you looking for?”

            Once Jesus calls and invites us to join him, we will begin to experience a peculiar feeling of uneasiness. This feeling is best described by the famous words of St. Augustine, “Our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Our restlessness leads us to search for something. But in reality our soul is looking and waiting for Someone. As the psalmist says: My soul rests in God alone, from whom comes my salvation (Ps 62:2). Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and shield. For in God our hearts rejoice; in your holy name we trust (Ps 33:20-21).

When we finally encounter that Someone, he will know the restlessness of our hearts. Therefore, his first words will be a question, “What are you looking for?” And the second will be an invitation, “Come and see.”

            The words, “Come and see,” appear repeatedly in the Gospel of John. When Phillip told Nathaniel that he had found the Messiah, Nathaniel doubted. And so Phillip said to him, “Come and see” (Jn 1:46). After the Samaritan woman spoke to Jesus, she left her water jar at the well, went into the town and told the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done” (Jn 4:29). When Jesus’ passion was about to begin, some Greeks came looking for him and asked Philip, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus” (Jn 12:21). Mary of Magdala came to the empty tomb, met Jesus and then announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” (Jn 20:18). When the glorified Jesus appeared before the doubting Thomas, he said, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe” (Jn 20:27).

            Coming, seeing and believing are three ways of saying the same thing. “Come and see” is in fact Jesus’ invitation and challenge to believe. Believing is in reality a “coming” to Jesus and a “seeing” with divine perception. Thus Jesus tells us: Whoever comes to me will never hunger (Jn 6:35). Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink (Jn 7:37). Everything that the Father gives me will come to me…For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life (Jn 6:37,40).

When we accept Jesus’ invitation to come and see, and when we decide to stay with Jesus, like the first disciples, two things will happen. First, Jesus will reveal himself to us. Second, he will reveal us to ourselves. He will reveal himself to us as our Lord and God, as he did to Thomas. Then he will reveal to us our sinfulness, as he did to the Samaritan woman, and therefore reveal himself as the awaited Messiah, our much needed Savior and Redeemer.

            Jesus revealed himself to the Samaritan woman. He gently opened her heart and she discovered not only the Messiah but also herself. But she did not keep this matter to herself. After “seeing” Jesus, she went to town and proclaimed what she had learned and experienced. Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified…When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them…Many more began to believe in him because of his word (Jn 4:39,40,41).

Jesus also revealed himself to Philip. And Philip did not keep this to himself. He found Nathaniel and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth” (Jn 1:45).

My brothers and sisters, we must follow the example of Philip and the Samaritan woman. We must proclaim what we have seen and heard and experienced. We had come to the Christian Life Program. We had heard the good news. We decided to stay with the community of Couples for Christ. And in the community, we see Jesus in the hearts and actions of our brothers and sisters. We hear his gentle voice and feel his loving presence. Now therefore, like Philip and the Samaritan woman, we must proclaim Jesus so that the others too may come and see.

 Table of Contents