Andrew
Sometimes a gifted person gets overlooked because his personality may not be as striking as others. It looks as if this was the case with Andrew because he was overshadowed by his brother Peter. Yet we know that Jesus chose Andrew just as much as he chose Peter. Not so much has been recorded about Andrew in a personal sense, yet from what is said about him we can see much to learn.
Meeting with Jesus (John 1:35-42)
The first mention we have of Andrew is in the first chapter of John. We see there that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and on this occasion he and another person, probably John the apostle, were standing with John the Baptist when Jesus walked by. They heard John identify Jesus as the Lamb of God and decided to go follow after Jesus, who then invited them to spend the evening with him. This took place about 4pm (the tenth hour).
When John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, he was indicating two things about Jesus. First, he was saying that Jesus was sinless, without defect. Second, he was saying that Jesus somehow would yet become a sacrifice for sin, that he would be the means of sin being dealt with.
Although this may have been the first time that Andrew had seen Jesus, we should not regard the occasion as the time when he received spiritual life. Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist, and such people were marked by two details – they had repented of their sins and were waiting for the coming of the Messiah. Andrew had a longing in his heart to meet the Messiah.
The lesson we can learn first from Andrew is the importance of repentance. Repentance is a turning away from a sinful life, with sorrow in our hearts because of our sins, and is always accompanied by faith in Jesus. There are degrees of repentance, but those three features are always seen in it.
A second lesson from the experience of Andrew is the supernatural nature of biblical faith. Andrew met Jesus before he had been crucified and before he had been glorified after his resurrection and ascension. In a sense, his faith was based on what he had been told by John the Baptist about the coming Messiah. Faith comes by hearing about Jesus. John tells us here that John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, a title which as we have seen would have highlighted some truths about Jesus.
A third lesson from Andrew on this occasion was the reward that he received from spending time with Jesus. It is obvious from his response to Peter that Andrew found the time with Jesus to be exhilarating in a spiritual sense. We can only imagine what it was that they spoke about. While we cannot say what they considered, we can see that Andrew was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. The fact is that spending time with Jesus results in such an outlook. If we want to have our faith strengthened, then we should spend time with Jesus, and the way we do that is by using his word because there Jesus reveals himself in very clear ways as the Saviour of sinners.
Because he had this experience of spending time with Jesus, Andrew was able to speak about Jesus to Peter. Andrew knew that Peter was also longing to meet the Messiah because he too had been led to identify with John for the same reasons as Andrew did. I suspect that what we have here in the words of Andrew is not so much evangelism as fellowship. He wanted his brother to have the same kind of eureka experience with Jesus. And that is what real fellowship is. Primarily, it is telling one another what Jesus and his grace means to us and what we find out about him in his word.
Called by Jesus (Mark 1:16-18)
A year had passed since the time that Andrew met with Jesus down in Judaea. Up until this event at the Sea of Galilee, it may not have occurred to Andrew and the others mentioned in John 1 that Jesus had any special role for them. Peter and Andrew had gone back to their work as fishermen, which suggests that they assumed they were not going anywhere else.
Mark tells us that prior to this occasion when Jesus called Andrew and Peter, two important developments had taken place. First, John the Baptist had been arrested and, second, Jesus was preaching by himself in different places in Galilee.
What would we imagine went through the mind of Andrew and Peter when they heard that their previous leader had been arrested. We would not blame them if they assumed that a wise strategy would be to keep their heads down in case Herod, who had arrested John, would start looking for his followers. Whether they thought that, we cannot say. But we can say that it was at such a time that Jesus began to preach, and it was at such a time that he called Andrew and Peter to identify publicly with him. What is the best time to do something for Jesus? One such time would be when common sense tells us to takes things carefully because the times are dangerous.
Mark tells us that before Jesus called Andrew and Peter he looked at them. Maybe he was observing their diligence as they repeatedly threw their net into the water. Or did he see their future as his servants, what they would do for him in this world, service that would lead to them both being martyrs. Could it be that Jesus looked further ahead than that and saw the amount of spiritual fish that they would catch, and how they as soul winners would wear special crowns of glory in the eternal world. Who can say what was in his mind? But we can say that he looked at them with eyes of love and eyes of delight.
Obviously, there is an element of surprise at what Jesus was going to ask them to do. It was not the normal practice for a rabbi to call individuals to serve him. Instead a rabbi looked for people to choose by themselves to follow him. In doing what he did, Jesus was revealing his distinctiveness. Serving him would not be like getting involved with other movements. He must be in charge of all aspects. The disciples would have recognised this requirement and we can see from their response that they were willing to do what he wanted them to do.
In addition to giving a call to recognise his sovereignty, Jesus indicates at least two other aspects of Christian service. One is that he summons people to leave their comfort zones. What is a comfort zone? It is an area of life where An individual is competent, where there are no real challenges for such a person to face, and where that person can cope easily with what happens. Andrew was called by Jesus to leave his comfort zone.
The other aspect that Jesus mentions is that serving him is costly. Andrew, with Peter, was called by Jesus to give up something when he commanded them to follow him. Leaving their fishing equipment on this occasion was an illustration that they were now under new management. Our priorities have to change when we start following Jesus.
When is the best time to obey a call from Jesus to do something for him? Straightaway. We are not called like Peter and Andrew were, by personal words from Jesus. So how does he call us? In his providence. We can safely deduce that if Jesus gives an opportunity for service that we have the gifts for doing, he is speaking to us, no matter how demanding the task might seem. It is no right at such a time to imagine that someone else should do what we find hard to do.
Serving Jesus
No doubt, a great deal can be said about how Andrew served Jesus. Whenever, the other apostles are mentioned as a group, Andrew is usually among them. There are four occasions when Andrew’s name is mentioned and they say something about how he served his new Master.
First, Andrew gave his home to Jesus to use for his purposes (Mark 1:29). A short time after Andrew was called, Mark describes what took place in the house that was co-owned by Andrew and Peter. It was the occasion when Peter’s mother-in-law was healed. That home became a place where discipleship was on public display. Andrew lost nothing by letting his home be used for the activity of Jesus, and the neighbours would speak often about what had happened there.
Second, Andrew had his eyes open for what young people could do for Jesus (John 6:8-9). We see this in the incident of the feeding of the 5,000. After Jesus had asked Philip about how the large crowd could be fed, Andrew mentioned that a young lad had a small meal with him. The faith of Andrew was not big enough to see what Jesus could do with the boy’s food, but at least he told Jesus that someone in the crowd had some food. Maybe, he thought that there would be others who could share some of their food and so meet the need in that way. Andrew saw that little things could be done, and it was in response to Andrew’s information that Jesus then told the disciples to arrange the crowd into groups. What would have happened if Andrew had not told Jesus about the young boy?
Third, Andrew was willing to help other disciples engage in spiritual activities (John 12:20-23). This detail of Andrew’s service is revealed in the incident when Philip was asked by some Greeks to show Jesus to them. Was this the first time that such a request had been made to the disciples? Whether it was or not, Philip wanted another person to come with him to speak with Jesus, and the one Philip identified was Andrew. They went to Jesus together and saw his response.
Fourth, Andrew took opportunities to learn more from Jesus and his purposes, One occasion in which this happened was when four disciples, one of whom was Andrew, went to Jesus and asked him to help them understand some of his teaching about the future (Mark 13:3-4). Jesus was very willing to engage in such an activity, and Andrew and the others found that it was easy to ask Jesus about such matters. We can do the same when we come to him in prayer.