Come and See! A Short But Powerful Invitation

Sometimes the most powerful invitations are the simplest. In this episode of Walking With Our Master we explore three words that have echoed through the story of Jesus: “Come and see.” From the first disciples to the empty tomb, this invitation points us toward the One who gives us hope. And today, our lives can extend that same invitation as others see what Christ can do in ordinary people walking through difficult times with hope.

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Hello friends. Welcome to Walking with Our Master. I'm your host, Dave Leighton. Whether you're starting your morning or winding down your evening, let's take a few moments to center our hearts on some thoughts about what really matters. You know there are some phrases in the Bible that are so simple we can read right over them. One such phrase has only three little words come and see. No pressure, no debate, and certainly no condemnation, just an invitation. And when you think about it, much of the story of Jesus is built around invitations just like that. Come closer, take a look, spend some time with me. See for yourself. Those are things that we learn from Scripture. Maybe that's especially important when we're struggling with hope. Sometimes when life gets difficult, we want answers, absolutely. And we want somebody to explain why this is happening. We want to know what comes next, and we want to understand what God is doing. And sometimes these answers don't come, but the invitation remains. Come and see. Well, early in the Gospel of John, two disciples heard John the Baptist identify Jesus as the Lamb of God. Their curiosity was stirred, so they began following Jesus. Jesus turns around and asks them a fascinating question. What are you seeking? He asked. They wanted to know where he was staying. And Jesus answered, Come and you will see. I love that. Jesus didn't hand them some kind of a theological textbook or a test to see how much they knew. He invited them to spend time with him. That was a personal invitation delivered in a personal way. Well, before they could understand anything about Jesus, they needed to know Jesus. And I think there's something important there for our journey to hope. Hope grows as we draw closer to Jesus, the one who gives us hope. Andrew accepted the invitation. He spent time with Jesus, and something simple and wonderful happened that changed the course of history. He went looking for his brother Simon. We have found the Messiah, he stated. And then John gives us one of the most wonderful, simple statements. He brought him to Jesus. That's it. Andrew didn't know everything. He couldn't answer those theological questions that Simon might have asked. He simply knew he had found someone Simon needed to meet. So he brought him to Jesus. And the invitation began to spread. Jesus invited Andrew. Andrew brought Peter. Jesus called Philip, and Philip found his friend Nathaniel. When Philip told Nathaniel they had found Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel responded, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Now, Philip could have started an argument. He could have tried to prove Nathaniel wrong. He could have become defensive. Instead, Philip gave him three words come and see. Maybe we've made sharing our faith more complicated than it needs to be. We don't have to have every answer. Our responsibility is to help people encounter Jesus. Come and see. And throughout his ministry people did. People who have been pushed aside by almost everyone else came near to Jesus. And again and again they discovered something about the heart of God. Some found healing, some found forgiveness, and some found acceptance. Some found someone who simply noticed them when it seemed everyone else had walked by, and most found hope. The ones who didn't find hope were those who rejected him. Jesus told us how much God loves us and then showed us on the cross. In a sense, the greatest come and see invitation was never spoken, it was displayed. Come and see the depth of God's love, the price of forgiveness, the grace giving us something we can never earn. And come and see hope. Then came Sunday morning. The women went to the tomb expecting to find death. Instead, they discovered victory. He's not here, for he has risen. Come see the place where he lay. The cross tells us how deeply God loves us. The empty tomb tells us that death doesn't get the final word, and neither does despair. That's where this becomes more than an interesting Bible story, because people still need to come and see. They need to see Jesus in us. We see him when someone quietly sits beside a friend in a hospital room. We see him in a daughter caring for an aging parent. We see him in husbands and wives caring for one another when life becomes difficult. We see him in a family caregiver who gets tired, gets discouraged, gets up the next morning, and chooses to love again. We see him in someone who has every reason to become bitter, but chooses forgiveness. We see him in believers who carry burdens and somehow continue serving others. Some of the greatest sermons about Jesus are living sermons, living in the lives that quietly say, Come and see what Christ can do in an ordinary person. That brings the invitation right to us because every Christian becomes an invitation. Our words, our kindness, our forgiveness, they all matter. But so too does the hope we have and the hope we share. Someone may be watching the way you walk through a difficult time. They may know what you're facing. They may realize that life hasn't been easy for you, and yet they see something. They see that you still have hope. That doesn't mean you never heard a cry. It means that somewhere in the middle of the struggle you know where to look. You know the Savior. And perhaps your life becomes an invitation. Come and see what hope looks like. Come and see what Jesus can do. The Bible itself closes with an invitation. In Revelation 22, 17 we read, The Spirit and the Bride say come. Isn't that beautiful? After all the pages of Scripture, after all the history, all the victories, all the failures, all the promises and all the warnings, God's invitation remains. Come. We don't have to have everything figured out. We simply need to know where hope is found. So before we close today, let me ask you a question. Who first said come and see to you? And if you can't recall that person, or you haven't had anyone say it, well, I'm saying it. Come and see. Come and see the love and hope found in our Lord Jesus. Well, thanks for joining me as together we walk with our master. Please join us again next week as we continue seeking truth, growing in faith, and getting back to what really matters.