Come and See

January 21, 2024 homily on Psalm 34:1-8 and John 1:43-51 by Pastor Galen

Try One

The 2023 musical fantasy film Wonka tells the origin story of Willy Wonka, the chocolate maker from the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. 

In Wonka, the young Willy Wonka is an aspiring magician, inventor, and chocolatier who has spent the previous seven years traveling the world perfecting his craft. Ready to share his most unique chocolate creations with the world, Wonka arrives in Europe and goes straight to the Galeries Gourmet, where it is said the best chocolate in the world is sold. Using a combination of music and magic he gathers a crowd. But he does not rely on his singing or magical tricks alone to convince the crowd that his chocolate is the best. Rather, he invites the crowds and even his competitors to taste his chocolate and experience it for themselves. 

Don’t worry, I’m not giving away any spoilers. But throughout the film, Wonka is met with people who are skeptical about his chocolate, and his tactic is always the same: he gives them a piece of chocolate, saying simply, “try one.”

Taste and See

David, in Psalm 34, says something similar. In verse 3, David shares about the ways that God has answered his prayers, and delivered him from all of his fears (Psalm 38:4). He invites his audience to “magnify the Lord” with him and “exalt God’s name together.” (Psalm 38:3). But ultimately, in verse 8, David invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” David knew that each and every one of us needs to experience the Lord for ourselves if we are to truly know how good and how great God truly is.

Nathanael the Skeptic

Philip, who was one of Jesus’s earliest disciples, uses a similar tactic to bring his friend Nathanael to Jesus in John chapter 1.

We don’t know a whole lot about Nathanael, but based upon his interaction with Philip here in John 1, it seems that Nathanael was a bit more skeptical and cynical towards religious leaders than his friend Philip. On top of that, Nathanael held rather deep-seated prejudices toward anyone from the town of Nazareth. To Nathanael and others like him, Nazareth was the wrong side of the railroad tracks, the wrong part of town. And so when Philip excitedly announced that he had found the one “about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth” (John 1:45), Nathanael snarkily responds, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46b). 

All of us probably have someone like Nathanael in our lives. Perhaps it’s a relative, friend, or neighbor who is skeptical towards anything having to do with organized religion. Or maybe it’s the person in our lives who holds strong prejudices towards certain groups of people. 

In situations like this, it can feel difficult to know how to change someone’s opinion or perspective. We find ourselves cringing every time they speak because we don’t know what they’re going to say. But when we try to correct their false understanding or misconceptions, it just seems to make things worse.

Most likely Philip knew Nathanael’s prejudices all too well. Most likely this was not the first time Nathanael had voiced his strong disdain for people from Nazareth. Perhaps Philip had tried to argue with Nathanael in the past. But this time, he simply invites Nathanael to “come and see” for himself. Come and see the one about whom Moses and the prophets spoke. See the one who had been baptized by John in the river Jordan, the one whom John the Baptist described as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). And yes, come and see if indeed anything good can come from Nazareth. 

An Encounter with Jesus

Maybe it was curiosity, or maybe he simply wanted to try and prove Philip wrong, but Nathanael went with Philip to meet Jesus. 

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he called out, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit” (John 1:47).  In other words, here’s a guy who says exactly what he thinks! Someone who doesn’t in any way try to hide his prejudices or his skepticism. (Jesus always was able to find the good in people!)

Nathanael asked Jesus where they had met before, and Jesus told him that he had seen Nathanael hanging out by the fig tree before Philip called him. Nathanael was blown away. The fig tree had apparently been quite some distance away, and there was no way Jesus could have known he was there without something miraculous going on.

Nathanael responded by saying, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49). And Jesus said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “You think that’s amazing? There’s more where that came from. You haven’t seen anything yet!”

And so “Nathanael the skeptic” became “Nathanael the follower of Jesus,” simply because his friend Philip invited him to come and try Jesus for himself.

Come and See

As followers of Christ, part of our calling is to invite others to follow Jesus. One of the words that’s often used to describe this is “evangelism.” But most Christians I know would rather have a tooth pulled than engage in “evangelism.” The word “evangelism” conjures images in our minds of street preachers yelling into megaphones, or people going door to door passing out tracts.

But Philip shows us that introducing people to Jesus can be as simple as inviting someone to “come and see.” To “try Jesus” for themself. Perhaps it’s inviting them to come to church or to read their Bible. Perhaps it’s reading a devotional book that has encouraged us, or attending a Christian event. Perhaps it’s inviting them to meet some Christians who can welcome them and extend Christ’s love to them.

As a college campus minister, I frequently interacted with students who were skeptical toward Christianity. Often I would invite them to study the Bible with me—to see exactly who Jesus was and what he taught. One student I met with had been led to believe that Jesus never claimed to be God. And so we looked at the various places in the Gospels where Jesus proclaimed through his words and actions that he was indeed the Son of God. Another student questioned how Christians see God as “loving” when there is so much judgment and wrath in the Bible. And so we explored the way that Jesus fulfills both the love and the justice of God by giving himself on the cross for us.

Frequently while conducting these Bible studies with skeptical students, they would come to a place of admiration for Jesus. It wasn’t because I had employed any profound spiritual arguments, but simply because they had encountered Jesus through Scripture. They had tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Like Philip, all I did was invite them to “come and see.”

Learning to Trust a Christian

But frequently in my interactions with these college students. I would find that there was still something holding them back. Throughout our studies of the Gospels, they came to like, but they didn’t want to be identified as Christians. As I questioned them as to why that was, I found that it was a combination of the way Christians are portrayed in media, the scandals that you hear in the news involving church leaders, and/or a negative experience that they had with a Christian or someone who goes to church. In many ways, they were like Mahatma Gandhi, who said, “I like your Christ, [but] I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” 

And so I invited them to come and see. To come and meet the followers of Jesus I know who are striving to be like Christ. The Christians who will love you no matter who you are. The Christians who will be there for you in the good times and the bad. The Christians who will welcome you with open hearts and who will not judge you because you haven’t always gone to church or done everything right.

The truth is that many people aren’t so much skeptical of Jesus as they are of Christians. And so the first roadblock that many seekers face is learning to trust Christians. And so we need to invite them to come and see. Come and experience Jesus in the safety of other seekers and followers. Come and receive God’s love and grace flowing in and through a community of people who are very much dependent on the love and grace of God. 

No, we’re not perfect like Jesus. Yes, we make mistakes, and yes we fall short. But as we are striving to become the people God desires us to be—a loving and supportive community of grace-filled people who love God and love our neighbors, and even our enemies—then surely others will see and take notice. Surely others will want to be a part of it. Surely skeptics will become believers once they’ve tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord flowing in and through God’s people.

Taste and See

And so, like Willy Wonka, let us remember that what we have to offer is the best in the all the world. And’s offer hope and love that we have in Christ to the world. We may not be able to win people over with our words, but surely we can invite them to taste and see the goodness of the Lord by inviting them into a loving and supportive and nonjudgemental community of Christ’s followers. Surely we can invite them to come and experience the goodness of the Lord for themselves.

May we continue to taste and see the goodness of the Lord, and may we share God’s love with the world by inviting others to come and see!

Amen.