The Feast of the Resurrection, Year A

“COME AND SEE – AND BELIEVE”
Acts 10: 34 – 43; Psalm 118: 14 – 17, 22 – 24; Colossians 3: 1 – 4; John 20: 1 – 18
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Easter Sunday morning, March 23rd, 2008

“Come and see,” we read again and again in John’s Gospel account….

We first encounter it in chapter one, verse 39, where Jesus says in response to the question, “Where are you staying?” “Come and see,” He replies.

A short time later in the same chapter (verses 45 – 46), we encounter the same words again. Philip says to Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” In response, Nathanael says to Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, and Philip says, “Come and see.”

And yet again, when Jesus came to Bethany upon the death of his friend, Lazarus, He asked Lazarus’ friends where he had been buried. In response, they say to Jesus, “Come and see.”[1]

John’s entire Gospel account can be summed up in this phrase: “Come and see.”

“Come and see”, in order to believe.

And here, in John’s recounting of the events of this Easter Sunday morning, the theme is clear: Mary Magdalene, came to the tomb, but then runs to summon Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple when she finds it empty. They, too, come to the tomb, look in and see the linen cloths and the face cloth lying, and the tomb empty. Then, John tells us, the Beloved disciple comes to believe (verse 8).[2]

The same progression occurs with Mary….Beginning in verse 11, she, having already come to the tomb, stands outside weeping. Her recognition of Jesus begins when she sees the empty tomb and the angels (verse 11), and her believing is complete when Jesus calls her by name (verse 16).

John makes clear some things about his Gospel account, and his intent in writing down the factual events involving Jesus’ identity, Jesus’ purpose in coming to us, dwelling with us in His full humanity, Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. We can summarize them best by recounting what John himself says about the written record he has left for our benefit. Here are the salient points John makes, it seems to me:

The truth of the written record: “He (the Gospel writer) who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth, that you also may believe.” (John 19: 35: the eyewitness account at the foot of the Cross.)[3]

The purpose of the written record: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20: 30 – 31)

John’s invitation in the written record, is: Come and see – and believe!”

The written record we have of Jesus’ mighty act in saving us from our sins and our hopelessness has one central purpose: to invite us to come to the written record, to see in that record the truth of the events that took place through the eyewitness accounts of the disciples-become-apostles, and to come to believe not only the truth of these accounts, but the truth of Jesus Christ.

Scripture points consistently beyond itself to the truth of God, working in human affairs, saving us time and again all throughout history, saving us ultimately in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Our task as believing Christians is to come to the Lord through the written record, to see the Lord in the written word, and to believe the truths we read there.

Oftentimes, this process: come – see – believe, is a struggle…Much of what we read in the sacred pages of the Bible is difficult to accept. But, if we are to be faithful to God’s intent in sending Jesus Christ, we cannot take away anything of what the Bible says to us, nor can we add anything to it. To do so is to depart from the anchor of our faith, Holy Scripture.

We must ask the Holy Spirit to enable us when we encounter difficult sayings or things that are hard to understand. Eventually, we will know all that God has for us to know. St. Paul puts it best in I Corinthians 13: 12, “Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully…”

One final word: The process of come – see – believe is not intended to end with us. The Christian faith is not intended to be like the Dead Sea, which receives water, but shares no water with any other place or body. We cannot be like that. For God intends for us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in sacramental living, that is, living a life whose outward and visible signs of the marks of Christ are testimony to the inward and spiritual grace of Jesus Christ’s presence within us.

So, our lives are to show forth this invitation: come – see – believe.

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[1] John 11: 34
[2] Simon Peter apparently takes a little longer to come to belief, for Jesus has yet to rehabilitate him with the question Jesus asks of Peter three times in chapter 21, “Peter, do you love me?” (John 21: 15 – 19)
[3] In a similar vein, see also John 21: 24, which reads, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.”