Come and See!

I've been making my way through Michael Murray's devotional, Nobody Left Out. He looks at eight encounters with Jesus recorded in the Bible-- one of which is, Nathanael. I love that Murray takes what I consider to be some of the most overlooked meetings in Scripture, and draws larger truths from them. From Jesus' encounter with Nathanael, he tells how he has felt pressure to defend every criticism of Christianity someone might make. I have as well. I've tried to answer every question and make every point-- so much so, that I've often come out of discussions feeling as though I sounded completely foolish or feeling as if the person to whom I'd been speaking walked away with word vomit all over their shirt. In Scripture, Philip encouraged his friend, Nathanael, to meet Jesus of Nazareth. When Nathanael scoffed, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip responds with a simple, "Come and see." 

I spent years teaching. There are some things people just have to be taught-- basic math facts, for instance. But there are other things a teacher simply encourages her students to learn on their own. Ever been told, "Look it up!" when you asked what a word meant? That's the encouragement to seek an answer for yourself. Some lessons are best learned when we learn them ourselves. They just seem to "stick" that way. Like finding out that spreading gossip will cause you to lose friends, or failing to maintain your vehicle on the regular can lead to costly repairs. Philip offered Nathanael the chance to find out for himself and make the lesson stick. Come and see.

In his book, Murray makes the point, "answers rarely satisfy people." Ever heard of Thomas? Maybe you can't recall, but I'm sure you've heard of Doubting Thomas. He earned his reputation by demanding to see it for himself. Even the best answers didn't convince the Bereans; they searched the Scriptures daily for themselves. Come and see.

People watch television very differently these days. I do it myself. I sit with my phone handy; when I hear a soundtrack I like or see an actor I can't place, I whip out my Google machine and search. It's crazy, I know; but what's even worse? By the time the show is over, I still can't tell you the name of the song or what other roles the actor played. Not because I am that old, but because it wasn't really about the information. It was about the solution of a problem, the end of a quest. If I'd been unable to simply retrieve the answer, if I'd had to keep digging and digging, I probably would have placed more value on the information itself. But without the quest, it was merely a box checked. "Come and see" means doing some legwork, engaging your brain, using what you already know to find what you don't.

1 Peter 3:15 says we need to be ready with a defense for the hope within us. In Luke 12:11-12, Jesus told His disciples, when they were questioned in times of persecution, the Holy Spirit would tell them what to say. Even Jesus didn't find it necessary to answer a question the moment it was asked. God's Word is the source to which we should be pointing everyone. Sometimes there's just no better answer than, "Come and see!"