Come and See

Imagine you’re caught fangirling. You know – you see someone you really respect or admire, but you don’t know them, so you can’t go up and start a conversation. But you can’t stop looking, either. And then the person turns and looks at you. You imagine they’re thinking, “Are you some sort of creeper?”

No? Me, neither, of course. But maybe that’s how John the Baptist’s disciples felt in the first chapter of John.

Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What are you seeking?”

 They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?”

He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day; it was about the tenth hour.  – John 1:35-39

I love this story. It’s sweet and relatable and incredibly cringey. When John the Baptist pointed out Jesus as the Messiah, John and Andrew started following him. Imagine the scene – John and Andrew ducking through the crowd, wanting to get close to Jesus, but not knowing what to say to him. After all, John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God.

You know Jesus knows they’re there. He just keeps walking. I can just imagine him chuckling at their furtive stalking. How long do you think he let them go on?

The guys get close. Jesus turns around. Busted. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Jesus confronts them. Basically, he says, “What do you want?”

Uhhhh…

What answer do they come up with? “Uh, well, actually . . .”

The other blurts out, “Where are you staying?”

Huh?

Say it was Andrew who came up with the response. I can see John whacking him and muttering under his breath, “What kind of answer is that?”

Jesus’s response is equally surprising – “Come and see.”

Spoken like a teacher. Like a rabbi.

Ray Vander Laan, among others, popularized the phrase, “In the Dust of the Rabbi.” It comes from a concept found in the Mishnah. For a thorough study of it, check out this blog post from Lois Tverberg. Disciples learned from their teachers by sitting at their feet or following them around. They got covered in their rabbi’s dust.

From the first moment Jesus interacted with his disciples, he invited them to come and see. And he’s still inviting us today. Come get covered in his dust.