“God has the first word.”

I wish I could remember who said that simple statement.

When the gospel of John starts, it starts with, “In the beginning was the Word.” So that may be where that simple statement comes from.

When we are talking about Jesus being present with people, it’s not that we are God is waiting on our invitation (or invocation) to be there. It’s that Jesus is present and then invites people to be present with him.

At the beginning of the gospel accounts, when John (the baptizer) is working and teaching and aggravating, he points out Jesus to his (John’s) disciples.

Andrew and one of his friends walked over to Jesus. “What do you want,” he asked. “Where do you live?” they answered. “Come and you will see.”

And they did.

They spent the day. Then they spent more time. And ended up spending much of the next three years or so present with Jesus. Living their lives alongside him. And he alongside them.

And there were others that Jesus invited to join him, that he called to follow him. Which means, to be present with him in where he was going and how he was living.

He specifically says to Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Matthew, to follow. He invites weary people to come to him for rest. He talks to a larger group of disciples about taking up a cross and following. (When I think about that text, I realize that we focus on the cross, on figuring out what the cross we bear is. But the invitation is less about the cross and more about the following, being with, a person.)

As we think about being present with people in their questions and pain, and we worry about getting it right, I wonder how our thinking might change if we considered that Jesus is with them already and is inviting us over to join him in helping.