Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, January 4, 2026
by Pr. Matthias Lorimor, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Few acts of faith can change a life more than gently pointing someone to the Savior who invites all to “come and see.”
Few things are more unnerving for some modern Christians than the idea of witnessing to their faith. Perhaps it’s because we live in a culture in which “witnessing” is associated with confrontational street-corner evangelists, smooth talking televangelists, and intrusive door-to-door recruiters whose “witness” comes with subtle judgments, demands, and expectations. However, as uncomfortable as many of us may be with it today, so far as the Gospel of John is concerned, few things are more essential to being a disciple of Jesus Christ than finding some gentle way to point someone toward Christ.
This is what John the Baptist masterfully models at the start of the Gospel when he points to Jesus and says “Look, there he is!” But witnessing is contagious and soon spreads. In the next few verses, we learn “the first thing Andrew did” after becoming a disciple is to share the news with his brother Simon. Then Philip rushes to tell his friend Nathanael, “we have found the one.” But it doesn’t stop there. The Samaritan woman at the well who witnesses to her village (Jn. 3), the healed blind man who witnesses before the Sanhedrin (Jn. 9), the list goes on until one realizes that witnessing is something all true followers of Christ do all throughout John’s Gospel.
Yet, it doesn’t happen as we so often assume today. In John’s Gospel, witnessing isn’t an abrasive, formulaic, cold-call attack. It’s a personal, gentle invitation that points someone to the redeemer we’ve found while trusting that the redeemer can take it from there. And maybe that’s the good news about witnessing that John’s Gospel holds for us today. We may not always be the most comfortable with it, but when it’s done with joy, driven by compassion, and comes from a friend, few things can change a life more than the simple willingness to point someone to the Messiah who invites us all to “come and see.”
