When a real person you know and trust who is not an actor in a commercial, tells you about a product they have used and how it benefitted their life, you believe.  You might be skeptical and ask questions, but if your questions are answered to your satisfaction, you believe.

Word of mouth is the best way to present something new.  Producers of new products know that.  Producers will give their new product, at no cost, to a few “reviewers” before mass production to see how they like it.  The reviewers test the product and readily tell their unbiased, honest opinion.  Production companies know that word of mouth is the best way to advertise a new product.  The “buzz” begins when a few influencers try it!  Producers know, without doubt, that getting the new product in the hands of consumers who will be honest and open is a solid investment that pays off!  “Come and try this, it really works and will do what it says it will do.”  “Come and see…I’ll show you how it works!”

“You heard it through the grapevine” …  Word of mouth, also called viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others a story about a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and traditions transmitted by word of mouth through successive generations. Storytelling and oral tradition are forms of word of mouth that play important roles in folklore and mythology. Another example of oral communication is oral history—the recording, preservation, and interpretation of historical information, based on the personal experiences and opinions of the speaker. Oral history preservation is the field that deals with the care and upkeep of oral history materials collected by word of mouth, whatever format they may be in.

But, above all that, what happens when Someone you have heard about through oral tradition and history and have been waiting for all your life— “moves into your neighborhood”? 

“The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.”

John the Baptizer was the first to tell who Jesus was and why He came in one statement of Truth; “Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb.”  The rest is the history of how Jesus, Truth and Light, came to reconcile people back to God. 

Jesus, the Messiah, promised by God, talked about by His Prophets long ago, is here—Come and See for yourself!

John 1, The Message

Come, See for Yourself

^35-36 The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”

^37-38 The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹ He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.”

They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.

^40-42 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (that is, “Christ”). He immediately led him to Jesus.

Jesus took one look up and said, “You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas” (or Peter, which means “Rock”).

^43-44 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)

^45-46 Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”

But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”

⁴⁸ Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”

Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”

⁴⁹ Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”

^50-51 Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

As soon as Jesus was announced by John the Baptist as the One, word spread. 

It only took the word of John who believed relentlessly and unreservedly in Jesus as Messiah for others to believe. People believed John because he was a Truth teller who could be trusted.  In this short passage we get a ringside seat to see how the Word begins to spread like an untamed fire in a dry forest!  “We found the Messiah!”

• Andrew believed and quickly told his brother, Simon. 
• Phillip, from Andrew and Simon Peter’s hometown, interacted with Jesus and believed.  He told his brother Nathaniel, who needed a bit more convincing, so Jesus provided exactly what he needed.
• Four energetic young men with unique talents and abilities came to Jesus  because of John’s witness of Truth. 
• These men will leave their former life behind to follow Jesus for the rest of their lives.

John’s gospel shows us how the life-changing, life-transforming Good News of Jesus is spread to the world.  Life won’t be easy for these new believing followers but their investment pays off with their redemption of sins with the bonus of eternal life. When we follow up with the reading of the Acts of the Apostles (Disciples), we learn how word of mouth spreads the Truth of Jesus’ saving grace to thousands in a short period of time—because of the faithful Truth telling of Jesus’ obedient followers.  (See Acts) 

We begin where we are right now to tell the Truth, who is Jesus in us, with the same intensity and excitement as we would when a new product does what it says it would.  Truth telling is a matter of life or death for all we love and care for.  Come and see for yourselves, is our Truth.  “Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”—Jesus

So, come and see and believe, really believe, in the One who saves us and set us free!  Then go and tell …there is so much more to come!  Be the one who can be trusted with Truth then be a Truth teller!  We can only tell what we truly believe.

Lord,

The energy of this passage is explosive with love, excitement, dedication, and devotion to You.  You came to seek and to save the lost.  You moved into the neighborhood of humanity to show us how Truth loves, forgives, shows mercy and compassion, heals and helps.  You give hope to the hopeless and help to the helpless.  You show us the way back home and then You welcome us as we are into your family.  You don’t stop there.  You guide us to a better way to live that is pleasing to You and brings out your best in us!  You are amazing!  You are God!  You are Messiah who saved us from ourselves.  Give us boldness, energy, and the tenacity to go and tell others about You on a moment’s notice with your words of Truth flowing from us.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen.  I believe.