Come and See
Jack’s favorite word right now is “Oh.” Actually, I don’t really know that it’s his favorite word per se, but it’s definitely the word he says the most frequently. See, Jack is at the stage of personhood where just about every single moment of every day is a moment of discovery. He is a toddler, which means that he spends all day learning. He’s like a walking, drooling sponge, soaking up vocabulary, making connections and getting a handle on his world one little piece at a time. Christy and I spend our days saying things like, “Jack, this is a Giraffe.” or, “Jack, this is orange.” or, “Jack, this is Paul McCartney.” While Jack spends his days saying, “Oh!” We show him things and we tell him things while he connects with the world through us.
I remember when we were at this stage with Anna and Norah, but we do less and less of that with them now. In fact, with the older kids, the tables are turning. Just about every day or so, Anna tells me about another mystery novel she just finished reading that I’ve never heard of. She’s been devouring them like crazy lately! I remember last year when she told me all about this cool thing in her classroom called a ‘Promethean Board’ that I had never heard of. Apparently it’s like an HD TV, a computer screen, a blackboard and an iPad all rolled into one amazing teaching tool that Anna got to use all year long. I’m usually the technology guy in our family, but she told me what was up with that thing! We used to show our little ones their world one piece at a time. If they engaged with their world, it was by our introduction, but now things have changed. Now, we connect with their world by their invitation. They bring us in.
I noticed something cool the other day in John 11, but before I tell you about it, I need to back up to the very beginning of John… way back in chapter 1, when a couple of John the Baptist’s disciples met and decided to follow Jesus. Check this out: “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
Right there at the beginning of their experience with Jesus, He told them, “Come and see.” He was going to show them everything they were really and truly looking for in life. Moment by moment, Jesus would introduce new and abundant life to them. It’s always this way when a person first gets to know the Lord. It’s like they have to relearn what the world is really like - and it can be disorienting at times, like a whole new perspective. And then, after you walk with Him for a while, a new element comes into the picture. Check out this scene from John 11. Lazarus has been dead for four days. His sisters and friends have been in mourning and Jesus shows up. “When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
The Apostle John (who wrote this down) never said anything casually. For John, words were like brushes on a canvas and their meanings like the paint on the brush. He was composing something deep and beautiful here. When a person first meets Jesus, He says to them, “Come and see” and they begin to see everything they were always looking for. As we grow and change and fall in love with Him, we start to open our world up to Him. We start to invite Him into our pain and hurt and then we are the ones saying to Him, “Come and see.” He shows us the world, and then He comes into ours and feels our pain.