Come and See

This week Kevin Keegan was welcomed back as the Newcastle United football manager. Following various disappointments over several years, he has been hailed as a potential Messiah for the club. His appointment has been celebrated by fans, and players have spoken excitedly of his arrival.

This afternoon the Cardiff Blues will take a further step in the European Cup journey as they play Bristol away, with a victory ensuring their progression to the Quarter Finals. Whoever it is that leads them to victory (and I have no doubt that someone will !) will be widely applauded by the supporters.

People like to celebrate success – they point to people who can make a difference, whether that difference is perceived or real. We look at all kinds of people and point them out as someone special, and in the gospel reading today (John 1:29-42), this is what is happening.

John the Baptist has been preaching in the wilderness, preparing people for the arrival of the Messiah, and now he has come and John points others to him. In the reading we are told that he sent two of his own followers to follow Jesus, and see what he was like. And so they followed. When Jesus asked them what they were looking for they were almost speechless – ‘Rabbi’ they replied, meaning teacher – they knew they’d found someone who was different, but didn’t quite know how to tell him what they were actually looking for.

And Jesus knew that and he said ‘Come and See’. And those words are tremendously important for the Church today – they are words that should be echoed by every follower of Jesus, as we try and point people to him.

And much of the reading today is about vision and about looking and watching, and about inviting others to look as well. When I was younger I was taught, as I suspect many of you were that it was rude to point, but in our lives we are called to point, to point at Jesus and point people to him. Sadly perhaps the thought that it’s rude to point has been taken a little bit too far, and many of us fail to do this.

Going back to the gospel reading, one of the people that John had directed to follow Jesus was Andrew, and when he had looked and seen Jesus in action, he knew that there was something special and he knew that he needed to tell others – he went to his brother, Simon Peter, and he told him – Simon Peter would of course go on to be called the Rock upon which the Church would be built.

Not too much was known about Andrew, but what a role he played as he pointed his brother to Jesus. Many of us are not called to great roles of leadership. Most of us will never be called to be famous, and stand out, but all of us are called to point people to Jesus… And we do that, whether we like it or not, simply by our attendance in Church. By coming here this morning we are making a statement to neighbours, friends, family and to people who pass us as we walk in to Church, and they will look at us and they will look for signs of Jesus in us.

It is an alarming fact that Jesus will often be judged by people who form their opinions from looking at us ! And so we must think of how we reflect him in our lives.

As we look around this morning or hear various news stories about the Church, and about clergy and so on, what do you see and hear ? Do you see a Church that doesn’t have too many young families, do you see a church in decline. Perhaps you see a church desperately needing to reach new people and bring them here, perhaps a Church with not enough people inside, and not enough money being given.

If we do then that is quite possibly the view of God that we are giving to people who don’t know him. Perhaps what we should be seeing is people whose lives have been made better because they know the love of Jesus, people who have gathered to praise God because of the miracle of grace and his love, people who are being changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and people in whom we can see the face of Christ.

Very often we don’t point people in any direction at all regarding faith, but sometimes when we do we point them in the direction of the Church, when actually we should be pointing to Jesus, because it is in him and through him that we can really discover peace.

And as we look around at other people, what are we seeing in them ? Maybe it’s people who seem all sorted in their lives, who look like they don’t need anything from God, maybe it’s people who seem to have no hope, and we are not prepared to get involved because the task seems too big, or maybe if we look hard enough we will see Christ in them.

Mother Theresa used to make a point of looking into the eyes of people and she did this to enable her to see the image of Christ within them, whoever they were. They may have been broken, ill, suffering, or they may have been horrible, but she was prepared to look at them and see the image of Christ within them, and that was what enabled her to love and care for them.

And so today we have a message about looking and seeing, and about calling others to look and see. May God give each one of us the courage, the wisdom and the confidence to live as a disciple of Christ, and may he give us the words to witness to the light and love of Christ, and may others see in us, and hear from us, a message about God’s love for all. AMEN