Cliff Loesch January 20, 2008 John 1:29-42 Come and See      In 1996, our family attended the Friends United Meeting Triennial sessions in Indianapolis.  One day I went to an early morning unprogrammed meeting for worship.  Out of the silence, a woman shared that for quite a number of years she bristled every time she heard the name, Jesus.  I don't remember why she said she felt this way.  Maybe it was the way Jesus was so often portrayed, or the way he was presented when she was a child, or the way some tried to constantly push Jesus at her through their particular religious perspective.  But you know this happens.  Sometimes people try to push Jesus on others in ways that actually turn them away.  It's the opposite of what they intended to do.  But their efforts actually hinder rather than help the work of Christ in our world.  Sometimes people never fully recover from the way they have felt repelled by religious people-even if those Christians meant well (which was most often the case).  And sometimes, through their own, personal spiritual journey, people do begin to see Jesus in a new way.  And this is what the woman in Indianapolis was saying.  She said that for years she didn't want to have anything to do with Jesus, or hear others talk about him.  She just wanted to completely distance herself from anyone who might try to push him at her.  But she shared that morning that she had begun to see Jesus in a new way.  She was quite surprised, I think, by this new direction in her life.  But she wanted to share with the whole group that morning how she had come to this new place and how Jesus had become part of her spiritual journey-and that it was a very enriching experience.  When it came to Jesus, I think you could say that she had to come and see for herself.      We have just been through the season where we celebrate the birth of Christ.  And Jesus' birth is filled with many kinds of announcements.  There were appearances by angels that were part of this story-and then a caravan of people from the East made the long journey to Bethlehem to pay homage.  When Jesus was presented in the Temple when he was eight days old there were more unusual announcements.  Simeon saw the child and prophesied that he would be a light to the Gentiles.  Then a woman-named Anna-came up to the child and gave thanks to God, then told everyone who was looking for the redemption of Israel about the child.  Indeed there were many amazing announcements about Jesus both before and after his birth.      In the passage we are looking at today, there is yet another announcement-another unusual announcement.  John the Baptist lived in the desert.  We are told that he dressed in camel's hair clothing with a leather belt and that he lived on a diet of locusts and wild honey.  As I did a little research I discovered that there is some disagreement about what he actually ate.  Just reading the story, insects and bees' honey comes to mind.  Eating locusts was not out of the question.  They actually are edible.  And there were always some locusts in the region year-round.  But there would be seasons that they might be hard to find-and even harder to find out in the desert.  They do eat vegetation, after all.  So some people wonder whether it was the insect that this passage refers to.  Some think it may refer to the locust tree-and those were plentiful.  The locust bean could be ground into flour.  And honey, it turns out, could refer to more products than we use the word for today.  One source I glanced at said John's honey might have been date honey crushed from dates.  But no matter how you look at it, John the Baptist dressed differently than most people dressed; he ate differently than most people ate; he lived differently than most people lived.  And then he started preaching and baptizing-and while the baptizing wasn't entirely new (baptism had been practiced for different reasons in the past) nevertheless it was not common by any means.  As you think about it, you realize that everything about this whole scenario is unusual.  And this unusual person was announcing in an unusual way that the Messiah was coming.  Indeed, as we know, John told his listeners that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.   And John made it clear that his whole ministry, his whole purpose, was to prepare the way and to reveal Jesus-as John says in verse 34-"I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."       He talks about himself in contrast to the one who was coming.  "He ranks before me."  In the Gospel of Mark, John says, "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie."  "I baptize with water," said John, "but he will baptize with the Holy Spirit."  And I should mention right here that it is based on these words of John the Baptist that the Quakers have always felt that since John, himself, claimed his baptism was a temporary measure and that it was intended to prepare the way for Christ-that the baptism of Christ, the spiritual baptism, is what is really important.  The new has come.  And Quakers emphasize the inward, spiritual baptism.  It has not escaped our notice that almost all other Christians besides us use water in some fashion or another.  We do not judge anyone at all for the use of water in baptism-yet to all Christians everywhere, we would say that what really matters is the inward work of Christ, not the outward ritual performed by people.      But getting back to the differences between John the Baptist and Jesus, John sets up all these contrasts between the two and proclaims Jesus as the Christ.  Jesus came to be baptized by John.  The book of Matthew gives the most explanation about this.  John protests; he said it should be the other way around.  But Jesus told him that he should be baptized by John "to fulfill all righteousness."  Many feel that it was a kind of transition from the old to the new.      In the passage we are considering today, the next day Jesus came walking by again and John the Baptist announced again, "Look, here is the Lamb of God."  And at that point two of John's own disciples left him and started following Jesus.  Verse 38 says, "When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, 'What are you looking for?' They said to him, 'Rabbi' (which translated means Teacher), 'where are you staying?'"  Then Jesus said to them, "Come and see."      They were talking about ordinary things.  They were talking about the place Jesus was staying and he invited them to follow him there to see the place-and to begin a little dialog which was the start of something really big.  And many people see much more in Jesus' simple statement, "come and see."  It is an invitation to them to simply come and see for themselves-not just the place he was staying-but it was an invitation to come and see for themselves who Jesus was, and to discover for themselves whether he really was anyone special.  They had witnessed the fantastic announcements by John.  And I wonder if they had heard about all the stories and announcements surrounding his birth.       First of all, there were all the extraordinary and unusual announcements.  But now there was a simple invitation to them to come and see for themselves.  Forget about all the amazing stories about angels and descending doves for a moment.  Let's go for a walk (Jesus said to them).  Come on over and see the place where I'm staying if you're interested.  And let's talk.  It's almost like Jesus was saying to them, "Come see my ordinary life."  And they walked together and talked-and out of those ordinary experiences, indeed, something extraordinary grew.      The same invitation is offered to each and every one of us: Come and see.  Come and see for yourselves.  Like the woman in Indianapolis I mentioned earlier-we must experience Christ firsthand, for ourselves.  I think there are some similarities between the story of the woman in Indianapolis and the story of George Fox, the founder of the Quakers.  George Fox went through a period of inner struggle with lots of religious questions.  He visited many pastors and priests of several different denominational groups.  And he got lots of advice.  Some of them tried to push religion on him, and no doubt some probably tried to push Jesus at him in various ways.  But none of the advice he received helped relieve his religious anguish.  And just at the point that he had given up on all pastors and priests and was about ready to give up on God, George Fox wrote in his journal, "And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could I tell what to do; then, oh! then I heard a voice which said, 'There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition': and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy."       And there is no doubt in my mind that Christ, still today, can speak to my condition-and can speak to your condition, too.  The invitation Jesus offered so long ago is also extended to us: Come and see.