Come and See

John 1:44-46

⁴⁴"Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One whom the prophets foretold — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip."

Last time our new HLM National Administrator invited us to eat in a new Cansi restaurant in the shopping area and she is so insistent that we should all go – tilawi nyo lang bala - and we did. By nature we want to try new things, visit new places and even bring our friends with us in our new discovery. I believe that this can only happen if we find it satisfying and believe that our friends will like it also.

This is what happened to Philip when he found the Lord Jesus. Immediately he went to his friend Nathanael who was also looking for and waiting for the promised Messiah. His simple  invitation to Nathanael was "come and see" for him to experience what he had. We don’t need more elaborative words to invite our friends to see Jesus; we just need a simple invitation for them to come and see.

Notice that Philip also received the same invitation from Jesus. John 1:38-39 gave us the same picture when the Lord Himself invited them. “³⁸ Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” Our friends just need to be invited; they just need somebody who knows the way, who has experienced the life with Jesus. They may have some resistance for a while to test if you are really serious - just like Nathanael was - but when he came with Philip he became one of the pillars of the team of our Lord Jesus. Invite your friends and family members to a party, to a celebration, invite your friends during your break, but most of all invite them to come and see Jesus.

Let’s make our coming Thanksgiving excellent in every way!