When I moved to my first job, my first call on the West coast in Eugene, Oregon, I knew that we weren’t far from the Pacific Ocean. On the first day that I had off work, my wife, new little baby and I were going to go west and over to the coast and Pacific Ocean to see it for the first time. We hopped into our little l963 white Volkswagen bug and we headed over to the town of Florence on the coast.

When we got to Florence, we couldn’t see the Pacific Ocean. I was a little disappointed. So I took a right on Highway 101 and drove north for several miles but I still couldn’t see the Pacific Ocean. I can remember this moment as if it were yesterday. Then Highway 101 took a left and went West towards the ocean. The highway climbed higher and higher and higher and there at the top of this enormous hill, the road turned right and standing in front of us, we saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It was on a clear, sunny, blue sky day. It was just awesome. In a moment, my heart was captured by the beauty I saw. We jumped out of the car. I took my camera out, looked south and saw the magnificent stretch of ocean beach lined with white ocean waves crashing into the sands. I took that picture, with my wife and first child all wrapped up in her quilt, and we still have that picture to this day. That picture is a favorite.

Do you know what we did that night? I did what anybody from Minnesota would do. I called my mother and father that night and said, “Mom and Dad. You’ve got to come and see. You’ve got to come and see the Pacific Ocean. North of Florence. It is beautiful like you have never seen before. It is awesome. It is incredible. Pictures don’t do it justice. Postcards don’t capture it. What I tell you over the telephone won’t do it. You gotta come and see it for yourself.”

Mom and Dad came to see that ocean beach stretching out for miles of pure sand and they were impressed. They were inspired. They were awestruck by the beauty that they saw. Like mine, their hearts were captured in a moment. The ocean was incredibly fresh and beautiful to all of us.

When I moved to the State of Washington, I would told that there was mountain here by the name of Mount Rainier. I had never seen it but I had heard about it. So we went to this place call Mount Rainier and we still had this little l963 Volkswagen bug. We now had two children to sit in the back seat of that bug and we then drove through the town of Enumclaw. We didn’t see anything too impressive. We had a little glimpse of that snow cone in the sky, but it wasn’t much of a glimpse. We drove to this toll booth at the entrance to Sunrise and we traveled up the side of the mountain through switchback after switchback. We got up there near the top and there was a little pull off and a mountain range was off to our right, off to the east. It was incredible. I had never seen mountains like that before. That didn’t have anything like that in Minnesota. We went up to the top where they have this log fort and parked the car. We started out on our first hike in the mountains, up to Burrough’s Mountain. We were right up against the view of a glacier. You could almost kiss it, touch it, caress it. It was a three hour hike that day but my heart was captured by the beauty of the mountain in a moment. It was wonderful. We pulled out the camera and took that classic picture of Jan and the two kids.

Do you know what we did that night? I did what anybody from Minnesota would do. I called my mother and father that night and said, “Mom and Dad. You’ve got to come and see. You’ve got to come and see Mount Rainer for yourself.. On Sunrise. It is beautiful like you have never seen before. It is awesome. It is incredible. It is beyond your imagination. Pictures don’t do it justice. Postcards don’t capture it. What I tell you over the telephone won’t do it. You gotta come and see it for yourself.”

Mom and Dad came and they were impressed. They were inspired. They were awestruck by the beauty that they saw. And like mine, their hearts were captured in the magic of the moment. We went on that Burrough’s Mountain hike and they were impressed. I took a picture of Mom, sitting there on a rock, looking out over a mountain range and it is one of my favorite photographs of her.
The theme of “come and see” is really important, is it not? “Mom and Dad, you’ve got to come and see the new baby. He or she is so cute. Come and see our new grandchild. This is the prettiest child you ever did see.” Better than pictures, better than photographs, better than stories that I tell you over the phone. You need to come and experience this new baby yourself.” This baby will capture your heart.

All of us use that phrase, “come and see,” often. We want people to come and see what is important to our lives. “Come see our new house. Come and see our garden and all the flowers that are blossoming. Come and see our new car. Come and see the way that we painted the children’s bedroom. Mom and Dad, this is really important. Won’t you come and see.”

We also use that phrase in another way. Sometimes when we have met someone who is incredibly unusual, we often need to say to others, “come and see.”

Just as we are swept off our feet by the magnificent beauty of the ocean and the magnificent beauty of the mountains, so often we are swept off our feet by the greatness and grandeur of people that we meet.

The story goes like this.

John the Baptist was out in the wilderness. Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptist. John the Baptist must have heard about Jesus because John the Baptist said, “I am not worthy to tie your shoes.” As John baptized Jesus, it was as if the Spirit of God came down on Jesus in a special way. I am not exactly sure what happened afterwards but I am sure that something important happened. The heart of John the Baptist was captured by Jesus. Yes, hearts can we captured in a moment. And what did John the Baptist do? John the Baptist went and found his own disciples and said, “Come and see. Come and see.”

One of those disciples was named Andrew. John the Baptist said, “Andrew, you’ve got to come and see Jesus. He is an incredible man. I have never met anyone like him before.”

The text is specific when it says, “Andrew and his friend came at 4:00 in the afternoon to meet Jesus.”

If you read the text carefully in Greek, you realize that Andrew stayed until 6:00 the next morning. So Andrew spent fourteen hours with Jesus. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine yourself having the privilege of spending fourteen hours in personal conversation with Jesus? Something happened. Andrew encountered this spiritual giant, this immeasurably wonderful person. Andrew’s heart was captured that night by Jesus of Nazareth.

The next morning, at the crack of dawn according to the text, Andrew went and found his older brother. Andrew said to his older brother who was named Simon Peter, “Simon Peter, you’ve got to come and see. Simon, you are my older brother. You are the hero of my life. Simon, you have meant so me. You are someone that I have deeply admired and loved. Simon, my big brother, you have got to come and meet this Jesus.” So Simon Peter came and met Jesus. Simon Peter spent time with Jesus. There is no record of what was said in that conversation or how long that it lasted. But Peter’s heart was transformed. His heart was captured.

Peter then went to Phillip and said, “Phillip, you’ve come to come and see.” Phillip did. Phillip’s heart was transformed. His heart was captured.

Phillip went and found his co-worker, Nathaniel. He said, “Nathaniel, you’ve got to come and meet this Jesus of Nazareth. You’ve simply got to.”

Nathaniel came and saw and Jesus said to Nathaniel. “Nathaniel. I saw you sitting under your fig tree yesterday.” Nathaniel said, “How did you see that?” Jesus said, “I know your heart.” Nathaniel fell down and worshipped him.

In all of these stories, there were hearts who had been captured by Jesus Christ. Those people then went out and said, “Come and see.”

I would like to talk about your heart being captured, my heart being captured.  Not captured like an animal in Africa is captured and put into a cage in a zoo. Not captured like a dog by someone from the animal pound. Not captured not like a robber who got caught by a cop and put in jail. But captured, like a man’s heart is captured by a woman’s, or captured like a grandfather’s heart is captured by a grandchild. Captured like my heart was captured by the beauty of the ocean and the mountains.

I am suggesting that the very essence of evangelism is that people’s hearts have been captured by Jesus Christ and you go and say to your friends and family, “Come and see. You have got to come and see for yourself this Jesus of Nazareth. You need to know first hand his love, his compassion, his kindness, his mercy, his beauty. It will make all the difference in your world and in your life.”

That is what it means to be a disciple of Christ. A disciple of Jesus Christ is a person whose heart has been captured by the greatness and gracious goodness of Jesus Christ and you go and say to someone, “Come and see. Come and see this Jesus of Nazareth.” That is what can be called “evangelism at its best.”

Rev. Edward Markquart