John 1:35-51 has John the Baptizer back with a couple of his disciples – guys who were intent on following and learning from him. He saw Jesus walking nearby and called Him “God’s Passover Lamb”. John understood what was to come – one of the few that were in the know about God’s plan for His Son. Jesus notices that these two disciples were following. Jesus asks them “what are you after” and they let Him know they are interested in where He was staying so they could learn from Him.
Then Jesus says a few simple words – “Come along and see for yourself” – and they came and saw and ended up staying with Him. Andrew was one of these guys, and “The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah””. This is a very big deal for Andrew as his brother Simon, whom Christ renamed Peter or ‘Rock’ came and followed. The next day it happens again, but Jesus uses even less words with Philip.
All Jesus says is “Come, follow me” and Philip immediately “went and found Nathanael” who was his friend. Philip tells his friend they have found the Messiah and he is from Nazareth to which Nathaniel replies “you’ve got to be kidding”. He didn’t believe there was any way anything good would come from there. But Philip uses the same tactic as Christ – “come, see for yourself” and Nathaniel did and become a follower instantly as Jesus foretold the past and convinced Him He was the Son of God.
It was a simple message and request – to just come and follow. It was brothers bringing brothers, and friends bringing friends. So the question is, who have you brought to meet Jesus? Who have you asked to come and see? That is what we are charged to do. We don’t have to convince anyone to believe. We simply need to invite people to come and meet our Lord and Savior themselves. If they do, they will come to know Him and follow. But we have the formula for their eternal life. We have the solution to the sin problem in their lives. Why would we keep it to ourselves?
Arlin Sorensen's Thoughts on Scripture 