16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
Gene just read the Synoptic account of Jesus calling the first disciples, a story we hear in three of the gospels. Jesus calls two sets of brothers, all fishmen, to follow and catch people for Jesus. John’s account tells a different story. One that is important for us to hear on St. Andrew Day. After the “In the beginning was the Word,” and the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” John the Baptist is asked Are you the Messiah? You see he had been baptizing people in the River Jordan. That is where we pick up the story.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
We all know the earth revolves around the sun. That fact we take for granted. No matter how much we want the earth to be the center of the universe that simply is not the case. However, for centuries, it was believed that everything revolved around the earth. That everything was geocentric, earth centered. If you watch the night sky, that makes sense. The constellations traverse the heavens in a pattern that would suggest such an idea.
However, in 1543 Nicolas Copernicus first believed that the earth revolves around the sun. He does note Aristarchus of Samos as creating the theory long before Christ, but his work never caught on and eventually was lost. Copernicus, the Renaissance mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic cleric, established the heliocentric model, in a book that was published after his death laying out how the planets revolve around the sun in an elliptical path. His theory is named for the Greek word “helio” which means sun. Copernicus believed the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe. His work led to the Copernicus revolution, an idea that changed the world. Then Galileo, Kepler and Isaac Newton built on what Copernicus started. This was no easy task. Galileo was tried for heresy by the Catholic church. Together they formed our understanding of gravity, laws of physic, and calculus. But all of that happened because Copernicus first believed, first challenged the status quo and was the first to get others to believe.
It is hard to be the first to believe something. Remember back in high school you never wanted to be the one out front, you wanted to stay with the pack and not rock the boat. But for things to change, for new ideas to take hold, someone has to be the first. Someone gets to carry the torch into new territory. Much like the young gun control students who emerged after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida. The gun conversation changed after their courageous advocacy. Andrew was the first person to believe in Jesus. As a disciple of John the Baptist, Andrew was a faithful Jew who was looking, hoping to find the Messiah. He was with John when he testified about Jesus being the Lamb of God and Andrew stepped up. Andrew believed. Well he at least risked following Jesus and asked him a question. From there he spent a day with Jesus, conversing, listening, absorbing, following. So when his time was up, he knew what he had to do. He needed to find his brother Simon Peter so he could share the good news- “We have found the Messiah” (v. 41).
But I am getting ahead of myself. Andrew is known as the Protoclete, meaning the first called. Just like we get the word prototype to mean the first made, the original creation.
Protoclete is Greek for the first one called to be a follower, to be a disciple.
Andrew was the Protoclete, prototype of discipleship.
In all the gospel accounts Andrew was among the first called. So he is either the first according to John or one of the first four, according to the Synopics (Luke 5:8-11, Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-22). And Andrew is in good company here. The other three are arguably the inner circle of Jesus; namely Peter, James and John. But while these three are with Jesus at very important moments, Andrew had a different role. One commentator wrote, “Andrew isn’t even in that much-favored trio with his brother and the two sons of Zebedee who were so often called apart with Jesus (up the mountain for the Transfiguration or in the garden of Gethsemane)–maybe that is because instead of being in Jesus’ most inner circle, Andrew was on the outer edge, making it easier for strangers to approach and ask him to help them meet Jesus. (It was Andrew who led the little boy with the loaves and fishes up to Jesus;
it was Andrew, with Philip, whom “some Greeks” asked for an introduction to Jesus at his final Passover.)”
Andrew was not only the first called he was also the first missionary in that he was the one who told his brother about Jesus. To be the one to bring to Jesus Simon Peter, the disciple upon whom Jesus would build his church is no small thing. It reminds me of the time on the West Wing when Josh Liman traveled to Nashua to hear Jeb Barrlett as he started his campaign for President. Josh came back to Sam Seaborn and told him he is the real deal and then they both joined the campaign. Andrew could see that Jesus was the real deal. He was so convinced he sought his brother and brought him to Jesus. Andrew spent his life telling people Jesus is the real deal, and not the inside group, not the Jews. Andrew shared the good news with the Gentiles in eastern Europe. He never stopped saying, “We have found the Messiah” to anyone who would listen. That is what made him such a good missionary.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Andrew focused his ministry around the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. I was surprised to discover Andrew was believed to get as far north at Kiev; a place we are hearing a lot about lately. He settles in a town that would become Constantinople and establishes the first Christian community there. So these two brothers Andrew and Peter form the beginnings of the Christian Church: Peter forming the Roman Catholic Church and Andrew establishing what would later become the Eastern Orthodox Church. The church splitting along the lines of what we call Eastern and Western Europe. Both brothers are vitally important in their own right. But it was Andrew who first believed in Jesus and brought his brother to the Lord.
We started with Copernicus as the first to believe the earth revolved around the sun.
But we could also have started with Neil Armstrong being the first on the moon,
or George Washington being the first president elected to office.
To be the first can change things. Andrew had the courage to believe that Jesus was the Messiah because he stood in his presence, he answered the call to “Come and See” and then he trusted what he saw. Maya Angelou the insightful writer and poet said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Andrew did that and became the first to believe and then share his belief about Jesus.
So often we talk about being the first in a family to go to college, or the first generation in this country. What I think might be good is if we start thinking about being the first to believe in Jesus. That might mean the first to believe in my family or the first to believe at work, or the first to believe in my circle of friends. Andrew saw Jesus for who he is- the Son of God, the Word made flesh, God with us and he willingly shared the good news he discovered.
First with family and then with the rest of the world. Being first called, is only the beginning. We have no idea what God can do when we step up, believe and share our faith with those we know. Amen.
