“Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.” John 1:39
It was an invitation offered. “Come.” It was the first of several invitations Jesus would offer to this group. “Come follow me.” “Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Jesus tells Peter, “Come walk on water with me.” John walking on the isle of Patmos on the Lord’s day heard Jesus say, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” Revelation 4:1
Psalms 27:8 God says to the Psalmist, “Come and talk with me.”
In Isaiah 1:18, God invites Israel, “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
“Come.” A four letter word used to invite. The word invite comes from a latin root word meaning “to go after something, pursue with vigor, or desire. We issue invitations all the time. Kevin and I issued an invitation just the other night. “Can the boys (Asher and Lucas, our grandsons) come to the movies and spend the night with us?” Did you see the invitation, “come”? We eagerly desired to go to the movies with our grandsons. We wanted to spend time with them. We wanted to share a movie experience and eat popcorn with them. “Zootopia” was calling, so we invited.
Jesus turned and saw two men honestly seeking to go with Him. So he implored them “come” and you will see. At this point Jesus had performed no miracles; he owned no home; he didn’t have a mortgage; he didn’t pay insurance; he had no earthly permanent dwelling place. In fact Jesus once told His disciples, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20. He would offer these two no tea. He would cook them no meal, but … He would give them words of abundance and abounding in grace. He would fill them with living water. He would feed them the Bread of Life. All He saw in these two were seeking hearts. Jesus could see into their souls. Andrew and his friend wanted more from this life. They wanted truth. They craved real life, they wanted more than just the ritualistic religious practices of the Pharisees. And Jesus gave them all they wanted and more. They stayed with Jesus for the rest of the day. Oh to be a fly on that wall. Wouldn’t you have loved to be privy to that conversation? Where did Jesus take them? Where was He staying at this time? What furniture did they sit on? I don’t know. The bible doesn’t say, but I do know the meeting was vivacious. It was rapturous. The teaching had to enthrall them. I know this because they remained with Jesus for the rest of the day. The words Jesus offered held their attention. They weren’t looking at their watches distracted. They weren’t getting texts or emails that made them avert eye gaze. No they were wrapped up in infatuation with the teacher. Jesus had issued an invitation, they accepted, and he had an attentive audience.
Another invitation was always becoming Jesus since before the foundations of the world was laid. The cross beckoned, “Come Jesus. Pay the price.” He accepted. The empty tomb that was chiseled into the mountain He created sang out to Him, “Come here is Your Victory.” He rose from the grave.
How many times in my life have I had that invitation offered to me? My two girls when they were little would invite, “Come have a tea party with us!” My son invited Kevin after Kevin had lost his father, “Come to Pittsburgh and celebrate Father’s Day with us.” In both instances we accepted. We were enthralled and gave each our rapt attention. Jesus issues the same invitation to us daily. Just a moment ago I walked down the hall and read our family creed that Kevin had made up into a plaque, “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in our time of need” Hebrews 4:16. That was Jesus’ invitation to me this morning. Time for me to turn off my iPhone, silence the texts and the emails, turn off face book, and shut out all other distractions. My Savior wants me to sit with Him awhile. He wants to share things with me. He wants to teach me great and unsearchable things I cannot learn on my own. He and He alone has the words of life that I need for my day. His conversation is vivid and holds vitality. His words tell these dry bones to rise up. His words fills the vacant places of my soul.
Lord,
“Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bids me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”
That place to leave all distractions behind to let Him teach us, that we can go boldly to – I love reading about coming to that place. So good Kellye and makes me wants to just sit in His presence longer today.