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One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah.”
Be seated please.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. As Pastor had mentioned in his welcoming, today is the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, which we commemorate today, November the 30th. And it’s an important date for the church here as tradition has placed the first Sunday of Advent closest to St. Andrew’s Feast.
Andrew is often called and referred to as the first called based on our gospel text from the Apostle John. While Andrew’s credit as the first apostle might be a topic of some debate, it is no less the basis for the Western Church’s tradition of beginning Advent with his feast. Now, Andrew is especially revered in the Orthodox Church. He’s the patron saint of at least eight countries, notably Scotland, and he’s the patron saint of fishermen, fishmongers, rope makers, and golfers.
Church tradition holds that he was martyred by crucifixion in Western Greece around 60 AD, and that at his request, the cross he was placed on was shaped like an X, as he did not deserve to die in the same manner on the same type of cross as Christ did. So now this X-shaped cross of St. Andrew is found today in the flag of Scotland. If it wasn’t dark, you would see it tonight in the upper left side of our center stained glass panel. You’ll just have to trust me that it’s there.
This panel depicts Christ as the living word. If you could see it, you would notice that the X of St. Andrew was just below the symbol of the keys, which also happens to represent his brother Peter. More about that in a minute.
St. John’s account of Andrew tells us what we ought to know about this apostle. I think it’s safe to say that he would be quite uncomfortable with all this attention he’s getting and with all the recognition, and he would be more than a little embarrassed to know that, among other things, a flag, a city, and a golf course are named for him. He seems to have lived in the shadow of his brother, Simon Peter, and perhaps he was the younger of the two, as the other three Gospels always seem to mention Peter first.
But Andrew was okay with that, and he wouldn’t care that Peter’s placed above him, even only in stained glass. We ourselves may be a little too hesitant to heap such praise on him only because we might think it seems a little too Roman Catholic. But since we are going to commemorate the feast of these saints over the next four midweek Advent services, then we ought to remind ourselves what our confessions say about the saints. Augsburg Confession Article 21 reminds us that their history—that is the saints’ history—is set before us so that we may follow the example of their faith and good works according to our calling. Melanchthon also writes in Apology 21 that we remember the saints for three particular reasons. Those reasons are for thanksgiving, for the strengthening of faith, and through imitation of their faith.
So what exactly does St. John’s Gospel tell us about Andrew? And what about the man is there for us to imitate? Well, we first see that Andrew was a follower. He was a disciple of John the Baptist, and we know in the days prior to the events in tonight’s gospel lesson that John was baptizing with water for the repentance of sins and that Jesus himself had come to John to be baptized. John was proclaiming Christ as the Lamb of God because this was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.
So we can be pretty certain that Andrew too heard the word, he received the spirit, he repented, and also came to be baptized by John sometime in these preceding days. Now here is Andrew standing with John and this other disciple, most likely the gospel author tonight, John the Apostle, and Jesus walks by them. Again, John the Baptist declares, “Behold the Lamb of God.”
This is an interesting moment of transition, where John is now pointing the two towards Christ. He’s pointing away from himself to the one that they will now follow. Andrew grasps what’s going on here, this deference of John the Baptist, this pointing to Christ, and he’s going to very soon act in the same manner. So the two disciples abruptly leave the company of their mentor and their teacher, John the Baptist, and they begin to follow Jesus, probably at some distance behind him so they’re not so noticeable. I’m sure that Andrew and John thought they were being pretty sneaky and stealthy, but Jesus, of course, knows they’re there.
Can you picture Jesus kind of looking over his shoulder out of the corner of his eye at them ever so slightly, watching them? But then, in a manner characteristic of Jesus, he turns and confronts them and says, “What are you seeking?” Notice he says, not “whom,” but “what.” At first, these two appear to be maybe caught by surprise by Jesus’s question because they don’t really answer his question, but they pose a question of their own, maybe a little nervously. “Rabbi, where are you staying?”
There are a couple of things that we might consider in this question. First, again, there is this moment of transition I mentioned, where they’re now leaving the mentorship of John the Baptist because they called Jesus rabbi, that is teacher, and this is no small thing. Second, this isn’t an attempt for them to avoid answering Jesus’ question, because they’ve already answered it with their own question. They want to know where Jesus is staying so they can accompany him, so he’ll invite them to go be with him, so they can learn from him.
Then Jesus uses this rabbinic language that these two would be familiar with, and he invites them by saying, “Come and you will see.” Now he doesn’t mean, “Come with me and I’ll show you where I’m staying; I’ll show you where I’m lodging, where I’m living right now.” He means they’ll come and they will learn. They will see the long-expected prophet.
The gospel writer is sure to note that the two didn’t just kind of pop in for a casual conversation. John says they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. This tenth hour doesn’t refer to the Jewish way of timekeeping that they had arrived at 4 p.m.; John here is talking about the Roman timekeeping manner, so he really means 10 a.m. And it’s important to note that because this means they spent all day with Jesus. Jesus apparently had a lot to say and a lot to teach.
Now, unfortunately, John doesn’t share this dialogue with us, but would it not have been remarkable to eavesdrop on that conversation? Now Andrew was not very good at keeping things to himself, and we thank God for that. He couldn’t wait to tell others, especially his brother Peter. And so, as John the Baptist once pointed to Christ, Andrew does the same when he seeks out Simon Peter.
With certainty, he tells Peter, “We have found the Messiah,” the anointed one, the one whom Peter would come to confess as Christ. John states that pretty plainly, as most of the scripture writers do, but imagine that you’re having to recreate this scene—maybe you’re doing it for one of these historical films or something like that—would not you cast Peter as coming back breathlessly going, “You will not believe who we found, come on, let’s go”?
In telling Peter and in taking him to Jesus, Andrew has begun his journey as an apostle of Christ, even though it might mean taking a seat to his older brother. This was a scene that was doubtless played out very many times throughout Andrew’s life as a disciple and apostle. He was the brother who did not seek the spotlight. We don’t see him at the healing of Jairus’s daughter. We don’t see him at the transfiguration. He wasn’t in the Garden of Gethsemane watching and waiting while Jesus prayed. Yet he was always there in the background pointing to Christ.
We know from John’s accounts that Andrew was the one who brought the boy with the loaves and fishes to Jesus, thereby setting in motion the feeding of the 5,000. He was also the one who told Jesus of the Greeks there in Jerusalem who had said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” He was the one who traveled as far as present-day Romania, Ukraine, and Russia to preach the gospel and eventually die as a martyr. He was the one called the first missionary. Although he is often referred to as the first called, Andrew would be content to be known, as one commentator puts it, the patron saint of all who humbly and loyally and ungrudgingly take the second place.
At first glance, we may see tonight’s gospel text as relevant to Advent only because we are commemorating this feast of St. Andrew. But as we are just now beginning this season of the church year, we want to look beyond this reason alone because we do have Andrew’s example to imitate. First and foremost, we are to be repentant.
Too often we—and I mean me—think of Advent as a time of anticipation for Christmas to commemorate and celebrate the birth of Jesus. In many ways, we’ve kind of forced this on ourselves with Advent wreaths, Advent calendars, and all the like, where we count down the weeks and days to Christmas. Now, don’t get me wrong, one of the joys I discovered becoming Lutheran was the season of Advent. I mean, wait, we get to do this for four more weeks? Great!
But we repent in anticipation of the coming of Christ again and again in His Advent and the Holy Supper. We repent and patiently await the return of the Lord on the last day, the day of judgment, His final Advent. Also, in the imitation of Andrew, we are to humble ourselves. Andrew never sought the spotlight. He never sought credit or recognition for anything he had done. He was probably not one of the ones among the disciples who asked Jesus who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
So in humbleness, we also look to the example of Christ, who in his own humiliation put on our flesh and then was crucified and died so we may live. Lastly, in imitation of Andrew, we are called to be the ones pointing to Christ. Andrew found the Messiah and wanted to share the revelation of all that Jesus had taught him. He didn’t keep it to himself. He gladly shared it. He eagerly sought out Peter so that Peter too would come to know Christ.
So in the good works of faith that we do according to our calling, we invite others to come and see. Come and see the water with the word that washes away our sin, buries us through baptism into Christ’s death through rebirth of the Holy Spirit. Come and see the true body and blood of Christ given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. Come and you will see.
During this Advent season, we look to the example of Andrew and we turn to Christ with repentant and humble hearts as we eagerly await his coming. And on that day, we will rejoice with all the Saints and proclaim, “We have found the Messiah.”
Amen. Now the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
