The Samaritans Come to See Jesus

The Gospel of St. John provides a mystery: John the Baptist says Behold the Lamb, and then when two disciples ask to see where Jesus is staying, he says, Come and see. Then, when Philip tells Nathaniel they have found the Christ, he says to him, Come and see. Then at the end of the Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples on the shore, Come and dine. And also, toward the end, the evangelist speaks directly to the hearer, saying, These are written that ye may believe, and again, at the very close, he says that all the world could not contain in all its books all that Jesus did. What are we to make of this? What Jesus did continues into the ages, through the apostolic ministry in the Church. And there is where Jesus is dwelling, where people must come and see, and come and dine, in the Holy Supper. And the Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well demonstrates this, for she first tells her kinsfolk that he could be the Christ, and says to them Come, see. And they reply that now they believe, not for the word she said to them, but because they have heard him themselves. So must we hear him ourselves. Come and see. Come and dine. Sermon for Midweek of Michaelmas III.