Come and see
With these words Jesus addresses two of the disciples of John. They had come to Jesus to check that his overnight accommodation was going to be OK: OK for whom, we're not sure; what standard of accommodation they were expecting to find, we're not told; why they asked him about his B&B arrangements in answer to Jesus' question "What are you looking for?" ... you've guessed it, we don't know. History, as they say, does not relate.
"What are you looking for?" is still a pertinent question. And maybe the disciples of John were just as confused about the purpose of existence, about the meaning of life, about just what they were looking for, as many people still are. Asked that question by someone with wisdom and authority (and we know those two people did feel that Jesus had both wisdom and authority, because they addressed him as 'Rabbi') it appears they didn't know what to say. Maybe they would have coped better with the question "Who are you looking for?" Then they could have repeated the words used by John of Jesus and said "We're looking for the Lamb of God". Whatever John meant, whatever those disciples thought, however we interpret The Lamb of God, I suspect we all expect it to be framed around a relationship rather than a commodity, a person rather than an object, a 'who' rather than a 'what'.
And still that question persists: what are you looking for? And still Jesus answer holds sway: come and see.
St Paul (in one of his letters) asserts that we should be ready to give account of the hope that is within us. And who am I to disagree with St Paul! However, that readiness does not need to be a theological account of the purpose of existence, the hope of resurrection and the certainty of eternal life. It doesn't need to be framed about a personal encounter with Jesus which 'warmed the heart' and instantaneously turned life upside down and inside out. It doesn't have to be confident or certain or sure. But we do need to be prepared and have something to say up our sleeve.
Many of us (possibly most of us) find it hard to put into words the difference that having faith in God through Jesus Christ makes to us in our daily lives. To speak of the cosmic feels too grand, to speak of the day-to-day seems too glib.
So, if Jesus is our role model, which I would argue he is, then perhaps we could do worse than to be ready to use the line he used when someone asks us a question about the way we live our lives that seems as nonsensical as those disciples of John asking Jesus about his overnight accommodation.
We could to worse than to hear the question that is struggling to find its voice and to answer, as Jesus does, "Come and See".
Dan Tyndall
13 Jan 2023
