T HE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS PASSED from person to person. That’s the way is has always been. That’s the way it will always be. It started with Jesus. Philip followed Jesus straightaway. Philip told Nathanael we have found the promised one.
Philip invites Nathanael to “come and see.” As many people are, Nathanael is skeptical. His initial attitude about Jesus is based on preconceptions and contempt for Nazareth. Nothing good can come from a place like Nazareth.
There are many skeptics today. There are people who find Jesus an interesting person and may even admire him, but they reject Christian faith. How can the church convince today’s skeptics?
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IN SOME CASES, people are blinded by their preconceptions about the church. What they have heard or seen about the church convinces them that the church is a bad thing. Nothing good comes from the church. Sometimes these preconceptions are unfair. People prejudge the church without actually getting to know it. But the church must also ask itself whether it has failed to offer people reasons why they should “come and see.”
Some people look at Christianity and see intolerant, dismissive, misogynists, hurtful, hate-filled, indifferent “followers.” Covering up sins. Supporting evil. The skeptical assumption is Christ must be that way also. Who wants to follow someone like that?
If Christian faith holds the truth about human life, then we must, in all earnestness, show people how that truth is embodied in our own lives, both as individuals and as communities.
When Nathanael expressed skepticism about anything good coming out of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, Philip simply says, “Come and see for yourself.” Nathanael is so impressed that he impulsively calls him the “Son of God” and the “King of Israel.”
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JESUS HAS A PROFOUND EFFECT when he meets people: the Canaanite woman, the Roman centurion, Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, the sick man at the Bethesda pool, the thief crucified next to Jesus — to name only a few. What was there about Jesus to have this kind of effect on people? One thing (I’m sure there are others): “he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”
People meet Jesus and are changed. Whatever their deepest need, Jesus meets it. Then they tell others what happened.
And that’s how it has worked for 2,000 years. One person says to another, “I follow Jesus and invite you to do so too.”
It’s always person-to-person.
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THE SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH across the world is the person-to-person story of the thousands of people who fanned out across the globe to tell the story about Jesus and what Jesus had done for them. A missionary here. A father there. A neighbor. A co-worker. A sports hero. Someone says, “This is what a difference Christ has made for me, come and see what he can do for you.”
Something in their lives presented a coherent witness to the faith. Something convinced us of the truth of Christian faith. People become Christians because they have seen what the Christian faith has done for those whom they know. The saying passed down from the early years of the church still rings true: “See those Christians, how they love one another.”
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OUR TASK AS CHRISTIANS is not to “prove” the case for Christ. Our task is not to persuade others to become Christian. Our task is to say, “Come and see.” Philip could have given Nathanael his opinions. He could have said, “This Jesus knows a lot about the Bible.” Or he might have said, “There is something about this man Jesus that draws me to him.” When Nathanael expressed skepticism about “anything good coming out of that s-hole town of Nazareth,” Philip might have listed some successful people from Nazareth.
But Philip simply says, “Come and see,” as if to say, “You don’t need me to advertise for Jesus; come and see for yourself.” Nathaniel came and saw for himself.
That now becomes our task, to tell people, “Come and see.” Come and see what Jesus has done and is doing for you.
— Keith Cardwell
