Second Week in Epiphany (Year A)
In college I once attended a campus ministry retreat and at that retreat I found myself sitting around a table with a group of other college students and we were sharing our faith stories. We talked about the congregations where we had grown up, ways we had encountered God in our lives, as well as times where we had struggled in faith and in the Church.
One young woman’s story has stayed with me years later. She grew up in a congregation where her family was very active—the kind of family that was in church every Sunday, volunteered to help at church events and sang in the choir. Growing up she loved going to church. She loved the Bible stories, she loved the music, she loved the people. Church was a place where she felt happy and loved.
But as she got older things started to change. In middle school and high school she started to wrestle with her identity and with her sexuality. When she was a freshman in high school she came out to her parents as bisexual, meaning that she was attracted to both boys and girls. This went against the teachings of the church they attended, so her disturbed parents took her to see their pastor. While the pastor tried to be kind, he explained to her that something within her was wrong, broken. The pastor advised her to study her Bible and to pray, to pray that God would take away the “homosexual sin.” All she had to do was want it badly enough, pray hard enough, and everything would be okay.
She tried. She read her Bible morning and night and prayed constantly. She withdrew from other kids as she tried to repress her feelings. Her parents, not knowing what else to do, had confided in some trusted friends at church and before she knew it there were whispers and rumors about her throughout the congregation. People who used to smile at her now avoided eye contact, or gave her looks of sympathy, possibly even a look or two of contempt. The church which she had loved growing up now became a place of discomfort and shame.
By her sophomore year in high school she left the church. She believed that she was broken beyond repair. How could God love someone like her?
A few years passed and she graduated from high school. Wanting a fresh start she decided to move away for college where no one would know who she was. She settled into her college classes and kept to herself—that is, until she was assigned to a study group for her college math class. The study group met on Wednesday afternoons and she soon became friends with her study-mates, especially a boy named Connor. As the semester went on she eventually learned that Connor was an ELCA Lutheran (something she had never heard of) and every Wednesday after their study group he went to something called “Campus Ministry” to hangout with other Lutherans.
Soon Connor began to invite her to Campus Ministry. At first she said she was busy, but eventually she told him straight out—“Your church wouldn’t want me there. I wouldn’t belong.” Connor replied with four simple words: “Just come and see.” Finally she agreed. She would go just once—just enough to get him to stop asking—and then she would never go back.
That afternoon when study group was over she packed up her stuff and followed Connor as they walked across campus to the campus ministry group. They walked in and to her amazement, she had fun! There were group games and laughter and conversations. There were people who didn’t know her but welcomed her. She was a little uncomfortable during the Bible study and prayer, but it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would have been. The next week she asked if she could go back. And the week after that, and the week after that.
She became a regular of the group and even learned that there were a couple of other LGBTQ+ students there too. As the weeks passed she made friends and found community. And most importantly—she explained to the group of us listening to her story—she started to be introduced to a version of God she had never met before. The God she had grown up with was conditional and angry, but the God she was learning about now was abounding in love. She came to learn that she was God’s creation, made in God’s image and called beloved. She learned that God loved her just as she was, she didn’t need to hide any part of herself in order to be loved. Meeting this God changed her life—made her feel whole again—and she became one of those wild ELCA Lutherans.
This young woman’s story has stayed with me for a few reasons. First, I could feel the brokenness she felt, the fear that she was not good enough to be loved. I know I have wondered myself at times if God could really love me even when I felt broken. Second, this young woman had spent years of her life searching. She was searching for a sense of meaning and purpose, for a sense of community and acceptance. I think we can all relate to that. And third, I was struck by Connor’s simple words of invitation: “Just come and see.”
In our Gospel today we hear Jesus extend this same invitation. In this first chapter of John, John the Baptist has been preparing the way, baptizing and calling people to God.
He is telling anyone that will listen that a Messiah is coming. John the Baptist’s message was intriguing and soon he started to gain disciples of his own, including the two disciples from our gospel story today. These two disciples were drawn to John the Baptist’s message. I think they were searching, searching for a deeper meaning, searching for hope and to be a part of something bigger than themselves. So they follow John the Baptist and listen to his message. They want to be a part of the action, to know about this Messiah who John is talking about, and so they stay with John and wait for this Messiah to come.
And then—finally—the day comes. In my mind I can imagine these two disciples standing with John the Baptist near the banks of the Jordan River where John has been baptizing. And in the distance Jesus is walking and John the Baptist cries out, “It’s him! The one we’ve been waiting for! He is the Anointed one from God!” I can almost see John pointing, maybe even jumping up and down a little bit with excitement! Seeing Jesus the two disciples are full of curiosity and amazement. They know nothing about this Jesus or what is to come, but they believe in that moment that he is the One, the One in whom they have been waiting and watching for. They believed Jesus would do something important, and these disciples wanted to be a part of it, to learn firsthand from Jesus. Jesus’s message is the deeper meaning that they had been searching for.
So they left John the Baptist and hurried to catch up with Jesus. I can see them running up to Jesus and as Jesus hears them approaching from behind he turns to face them, asking a simple question: “What are you looking for?” They respond by saying “Rabbi, Teacher, where are you staying?” On the surface this seems like a strange question, but really what they are saying is “Teacher, let us go with you.” Jesus sees them for who they are, sees their curiosity, their longing. And then Jesus, full of compassion and mystery utters three simple words, “Come and see.”
With those three simple words the lives of these two disciples, and soon a third disciple named Simon Peter, are changed forever. They will embark on a world-changing ministry with Jesus, journeying near and far to proclaim God’s hope to the people. They don’t know it yet, but they will follow Jesus to Jerusalem, they will witness the crucifixion of Jesus. Three days after the crucifixion they will rejoice in his resurrection, and they will witness to this story for the rest of their lives. With three simple words Jesus changed the lives of these disciples and invited them to participate in the process of changing the world. What a gift these three simple words of invitation can be: “Come and See.”
Jesus holds out his hand and invites us with these same three words. “Come and see.” Come and see the love I have for you, what I have already done for you out of that love. Come and see the hope I bring, the good things that are in store. Come and see that amazing things that we can do together. Come and see.
When we accept the invitation Jesus offers, life is changed. God invites us into ministry in our daily lives, and, filled with hope in God’s promises we get to be a part of what God is doing in the world. God fills us, renews us, and sends us out. We are sent out into our schools, workplaces, retirement communities, neighborhoods and families. We are sent out into a world that needs hope. There are people around us every day who are like the young woman I shared about earlier, people who are searching and waiting to hear about a God who loves. What a gift it is that we can be the ones who God sends to extend our hands and our hearts to others in invitation, saying, “Come and see. Come and see for yourself the God who loves.” Thanks be to God. Amen.