This sermon was preaching on Sunday 18th January 2026.

Bible Reading: John 1.29-42

I saw a clip online yesterday for a Paul Rudd press interview ahead of the release of one of the recent Ghostbuster films, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. As part of the interview, the interviewer asked the cast, ‘If you could go back in time and spend the day with anyone in history, who would you choose?’ The other cast members struggled, but Paul Rudd was there straight away with his answer. He said he would spend the day with Jesus Christ. His fellow cast members laughed when he said this and thought it was joking, but Paul Rudd was deadly serious. He said: 

‘By the way, laugh all you want, and it seems like it would be the wrong thing to say, he existed, so wouldn’t you want to spend some time with him and go, “Jesus, what’s the deal?” I mean, it sounds like you say this, and people would say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can’t say that,” but why?’

I loved that Paul Rudd said Jesus. I love how he didn’t even have a list of complicated things to do or say to Jesus. He would just want to spend some time with him and basically ask, ‘So who are you, Jesus? Are you who you say you are? It’s the simple and beautiful response to this question. What Paul Rudd’s question also indicates is that he believes that simply spending some time with Jesus would be enough to provide him with the answer he was looking for about Jesus. Spending time would Jesus would allow Rudd to determine who Jesus is. 

Last week, we spent some time looking at the Baptism of Christ and what Jesus’ baptism meant for us, and how it ushered in his justice into this world. Today, we continue on from Jesus’ baptism. 

In John’s account, there is no reference to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, as in the other gospels. But in John’s account, we see people are fascinated by the man John the Baptist has just baptised, the one whom he calls the ‘Lamb of God.’ It says that two of John’s disciples were with John when he saw Jesus go by the next day, and when Jesus went by, these two disciples of John followed Jesus. 

Jesus notices that these two men are following him and stops to ask them, ‘“What are you looking for?” They answered, “Where do you live, Rabbi?” (This word means “Teacher.”) “Come and see,” he answered. (It was then about four o’clock in the afternoon.) So they went with him and saw where he lived, and spent the rest of that day with him.’^[1]

These two disciples were fascinated by this man John called the Lamb of God, and the Son of God. They were intrigued and wanted to go and find out more about this Jesus, the Son of God and the Lamb of God. So, they did exactly what Paul Rudd said he would do. They went and spent the day with Jesus. They went to Jesus, and he asked them what they were looking for, since they had clearly come to him seeking something or wanting to learn more about him. They said, ‘Teacher, where do you live?’ They want to know where Jesus will be so they can go and be with him, to spend time with him. Jesus sees that these two men want to know him more, to ask Jesus, ‘What’s the deal?’ And I love how Jesus replies. He tells them, ‘Come and see.’ 

Come and see. This is my favourite sentence in the Bible. My favourite thing that Jesus says. Come and see. It’s such a simple instruction, but within it lies the essence of how we encounter faith and share it with others. For most of us, we came to our own faith not as the result of some debate or complex argument for God. Most stories of faith centre around meeting and coming to know the person of Jesus Christ. We come and see the person of Jesus and spend time with him. 

Jesus himself doesn’t try to convince people to believe in him through complex arguments, even when he could make a great argument for believing in him. In fact, as we see throughout the gospels, Jesus makes a habit of not telling people who he really is. Yet, there is something about him that, when people spend time with him, it leads them to conclude that Jesus is the Messiah.

Andrew was one of the men who came to spend time with Jesus, and after spending the day with him, he ran to his brother Simon to tell him who he had met. Andrew told Simon that he had found the Messiah and took him to meet him. We know what happens next. The other gospel accounts unpack this scene in more detail, but we know that when Simon met the person of Jesus, he was convinced of who he was and followed him. Then Jesus gave him the name Peter. 

For me, this story gives me two clear takeaways. First, the way we get to know Jesus better is to spend time with him, to come and see him, to see who he is and what he does, because that will lead me to know more of who he is, the Son of God. We can learn more about Jesus in an intellectual way through reading stories about Jesus and hearing sermons and talks about him. This is all very well, but it has to be more than just that. It requires coming face to face with Jesus and meeting with him on a personal level. It’s the difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing him. Lots of people read about Jesus, but not everyone accepts Jesus’ invitation to come and see him, and to discover who he is in the process. But if we truly want to know Jesus and who he is, we can’t sit back at a distance; we need to come close to him, to come and see the living person of Jesus before us. 

If someone told you they had read about love, researched it, studied it, and interviewed people who were in love, but had never been in love with someone, I think you would probably say that they didn’t really know what love is. They have to experience it. If we are to know Jesus, we cannot settle for knowing him on the surface. We need to go deeper, to meet him, to come and see the person of Jesus, to have a relationship with a living person. Then, when we come to see the person of Jesus, we will discover who he is, and we will come away in the love and knowledge of Jesus, not of an idea or a concept, but of a person, Jesus Christ. 

If you want to know Jesus, you have to come to the person. We can do that through the things I said, like Bible reading or coming to church. But if we want to meet Jesus, we have to be seeking out the person of Jesus. When we pray, do we pray to God because it’s what we should do, or do we pray because we believe we are speaking with our Lord Jesus, the one who loves us and wants to be at the centre of our lives? Do you hope to find an answer to a question, or do you seek to meet a person? Come and see Jesus. 

The second thing I take away from this story is that this simple invitation to come and see Jesus is the way we need to go and share the good news about Jesus. Often, we feel embarrassed to talk to others about Jesus. We worry about whether we can explain it clearly, whether we can answer their questions, and what happens if we contradict ourselves. 

It’s natural to worry about these things, but when we look at Jesus, we see that he did all of these things. He didn’t always explain things in a way people could understand clearly; he had a habit of avoiding questions, and Jesus said many things that appeared to contradict himself. What did Jesus do instead? He showed people who he is. He invited them to come and spend time with him, and through being with him, they came to know what he is like. 

So, when it comes to sharing Jesus with others, why don’t we do the same thing as Jesus? Now I know that none of us can say, “Come and see me, Jesus.” Because last time I checked, none of us is Jesus, and if you are Jesus returned to us, why on earth have you kept that quiet? But we can say, come and see Jesus living in me. Come and see his love flow through me, come and see what his power and presence have done in my life. Come and hear the story of the Jesus I have met – the Jesus I know and love. 

If you enter into a debate with someone, they will argue back with you. But when you tell them a story about your experience of Jesus, no one can argue with that. It’s your experience. There is no right or wrong about your experience. All they can do is choose to hear it or ignore it. 

But as I said before, our own relationships with Jesus generally do not start with an argument or debate. They began with an encounter with the person of Jesus when we come and see him, and discover who he is. Why would this not be the same for others? Jesus’ invitation is for us to come and see him, and it is an invitation he extends to all people. The question is, will we extend the invitation?           

Come and see Jesus today. Come and see him in his Word, in his bread and wine, in his presence in the quiet, and come and see his glory in the hymns we sing. Come and see Jesus. Come and see. 

Amen.

---

^[1] John 1.38-39 [GNB].