3/5/61

Scripture: John 1: 19-42a

Text: John 1: 42a; “He brought him to Jesus.”

The inner group of those who followed Jesus numbered twelve. The Master had many disciples in the days of his flesh. And his disciples -- his followers -- have numbered in the millions since He walked the shores of Galilee and trod the roads of Palestine. But he chose twelve who were a special, inner group of his closest friends. In a sense they could be called foundation stones of his church. They were not the only ones whom he built into his church among people. We are told that he once sent out 70, two by two, to try their hand at the kind of ministry in which he had trained them. But it appears that 12 were his inner group, especially chosen to learn and carry out his mission among people.

Jesus had once spoken of himself as a vine, with his disciples as the branches. One must not press the illustration too far, but perhaps he expected other twigs and other branches to grow and leaf out from those twelve branches. We commonly assume that we know who those 12 disciples were. Some of them we know by name, as soon as disciples are mentioned. On others, we may be a bit hazy; but certainly they are all there.

However, it is a fact that the gospel writings are not unanimous as to the names of all the twelve. It is interesting to compare the listings as found in 4 books of the Bible, at Mark 3, Matthew 10, Luke 16, and Acts 1. They are unanimous in listing 9 of the group --- Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, and James, son of Alpheus. They do not agree on the names of the remaining three. Two of the Bible accounts mention “Simon the Canaanite” and the others speak of “Simon Zelotes.” Luke and Acts speak of “Judas, the brother of James,” while Mark speaks of “Thaddeus” and Matthew of “Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddeus.” Then the three gospels mention “Judas Iscariot,” but Acts does not speak of this Judas. The theories concerning diversity of names for those last 2 or 3 of the 12 disciples vary somewhat, and they are complicated by the fact that the gospel of John mentions one more -- Nathaniel. John is very definite about Nathaniel, though none of the other gospels, or Acts, mention him. And so some have theorized that Nathaniel and Bartholomew are the same person.

Because he cared so much for them, because they cared so much for him, because he taught them so carefully and put such confidence in them, one can see a great deal of the Master in these intimate disciples. Sometimes it appears in the contrast between them, as learners, and himself.

When their company was inhospitably received in Samaria, James and John vindictively wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up the town. Jesus rebuked them, and added, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.” [Luke 9: 52-55]. When the same two schemed for positions of honor in what they thought was the coming government, or kingdom, and the others, hearing of it, were getting angry, Jesus again had to set them straight. [Mark 10: 35-42]. For his whole emphasis was on the community of love. It may be profitable for us to see, at closer range, a little more of each one, of the several men who formed this inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. One of these men of the Master was a fellow whose name was Andrew.

A contemporary writer and lecturer in Scotland, William Barclay, points out that Andrew is, in traditional circles, regarded as the patron saint of no fewer than 3 different countries -- Russia, Greece and Scotland; (by those who take any stock in patron saints).

There is not too much direct information, in the New Testament, about Andrew. But the information which the gospels do contain point a clear picture of the kind of man Andrew was. He was a native of Bethsaida, on the north shore of the lake of Galilee. He was a fisherman by trade, and he had been plying his trade and was mending his nets up to a short time before he began to follow Jesus, and to become a fisher of men. Andrew began by being a follower and disciple of John the Baptist. According to the way John tells the story, Andrew was the first of the 12 to attach himself to Jesus. It was on the day when John the Baptist first pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When John the Baptist put it that way, Andrew immediately followed Jesus, asked where he was staying, heard him speak, began to spread around the world that he had found the Messiah.

In the early church, Andrew was frequently called by a title which literally means “first-called.” No sooner did Andrew discover Jesus for himself than he went to find his brother, Peter, and bring him to Jesus. These two brothers lived together. Probably they had shared everything together in the family enterprise of fishing. Now Andrew wanted to share with his brother the greatest discovery that he had ever made.

It is right at this point that the greatness of Andrew began to emerge. They were not long in the company of Jesus’ followers before Peter acquired an undisputed leadership among the apostolic band. In that band, Peter, James and John became an inner circle within the 12, who were with Jesus at some of the greatest and most intimate moments of his mortal career. Andrew was never in that circle, although sometimes he must have been on the fringe of it when they asked Jesus about things to come.

There is something more even than the fact that Peter became a leader. Andrew is regularly described as Peter’s brother. Both Matthew and Luke call him that in the list of the 12. He is called Peter’s brother in the incident of the feeding of the 5000, when he brought the lad with loaves and fishes to Jesus. The inference is that readers might not know who Andrew was, and the best way to identify him is to call him the brother of that famous and outstanding Peter.

How many men could have borne that situation gracefully and without resentment? Was not he the one who first discovered Jesus? Was it not Andrew who brought Peter to Jesus? But Andrew must have been one of that rare kind of people who can take 2nd place gracefully. There are not a few folk who, even in the church, grudge the others who have the place and prominence they think they themselves ought to have. But Andrew was one of those who appears not to have cared about that. All he wanted was to be near Jesus. So long as the work was done, it was of no consequence to him who received credit for doing it.

Andrew was the kind of man who never received first place. But he is the kind of man on whom every leader depends. For there is no such thing as a leader without followers! They make up the “salt of the earth” and the “backbone of the church.”

In the first 3 gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) there is little mention of Andrew other than as one of the 12. But in the 4th gospel, the book of John, Andrew appears as a person, and acquires a personality. On at least 3 occasions, Andrew emerges from the background. And on each of these 3 occasions, he is introducing someone to Jesus.

(1) Andrew began by introducing his brother, Peter, to Jesus. For Andrew, missionary work began right at home where he was. It is still often true that he who is looking for something to do for Jesus will find it right in his own home -- his household, his community. It is not at all infrequent, that one who is actively engaged in church work and worship has family who are strangers to that participation. One of the sayings of the book of Proverbs [17: 24] is that “the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.” One does not usually have to look that far for a place to begin! [Lay evangelism]

(2) The second occasion on which we meet Andrew is that time when Jesus was speaking to a great crowd of folk out on a hillside in the country where they had gathered to hear him. They had stayed longer than anybody had expected. It was meal time, and people were getting hungry. The disciples felt that Jesus and they were like hosts who have nothing to offer guests at table. How could you feed those 5000 people? It was Andrew who found a lad with a few loaves of barley bread and a couple of fishes in his basket. And he brought the lad to Jesus. Indeed, Andrew was eager to bring to Christ anybody who could possibly be of service to Jesus, even if he felt that there was little to be done. [Important giving]

(3) A third occasion on which we meet Andrew was that in which he was bringing Greeks to Jesus. The Greeks came to the Jewish feast time in Jerusalem. They heard of Jesus and asked Philip where they might find him. Philip and Andrew were the ones to tell Jesus. When Philip was questioned by the Greeks, he did not know what to do with them. After all, this feast was a Jewish occasion. So Philip consulted Andrew. And Andrew had no doubt that they must be brought to Jesus.

Whatever else is true of Andrew, it is true of him that he understood Jesus so well that he knew there was no one whom Jesus did not wish to see; and there was no time when Jesus was too busy to give of himself to the seeking, and inquiring, searcher for the truth.

There are, then, these three occasions when Andrew is depicted as bringing people to Jesus. They are described in only a few lines. But the sketch is bold enough to enable us to see three things about Andrew.

(1) Andrew sought selflessly. Andrew could not have lived with Peter all his life for nothing. He knew that Peter was a natural and instinctive leader. He knew that, when Peter was there, others must take a back seat. But that did not matter to Andrew. He sought to bring others to Jesus, even if bringing then meant depriving himself of his own pre-eminence.

(2) He sought optimistically. It was certainly optimistic to think that lad, with his five barley loaves and two fishes, had anything significant for the feeding of 5000 people. But Andrew at least hoped that Jesus could use greatly any gift which anyone could bring to him. It never occurred to Andrew that anyone could be useless to Jesus.

(3) And Andrew sought universally. It was regarded as unnatural for a Jew to think that anyone of another race could possibly be of any use to God. To the rigid Jewish mind, the Gentiles were accursed. But Andrew was one of the first to see that the gospel of Christ is universal. He felt instinctively that Jesus had a message and a welcome for all the people of mankind.

One writer, commenting on Andrew, makes the point that Andrew was the first home missionary and at the same time the first foreign missionary. He was a home missionary when he brought his brother, Peter, and the lad with the basket, to Jesus. He was a foreign missionary when he brought the Greeks to Jesus. Here is a claim to fame for Andrew! The information in the New Testament about Andrew ends with these incidents. But there is a great deal of legend and tradition woven around his name. The name of Andrew, you remember, was connected with 3 different countries.

(1) Tradition makes Andrew a preacher in many lands -- in Cappadocia, in Bithynia, in Galatia and in Byzantium. He is especially connected with Scythia. And in the ancient world, Sythians were synonymous in name with the depths of barbarity. One writer called Scythians “more barbarous than the barbarians.” Another said that they “were little different from the wild beasts.” The ancient world might use the term “Scythian” for any rough, uncouth, and savage person.

Scythia, as a country, corresponded geographically with what is now modern Russia. And that is why Andrew is known in tradition as the patron saint of Russia. For tradition has it that he brought the barbarous Scythians also to Christ.

(2) According to tradition, also, it was in Achaia, in Greece, at the town of Patras, that Andrew died a martyr’s death. The story runs that when Andrew came to Patras, Iphadomia, who was already a Christian, told Andrew that Maximilla, wife of governor Aegeas, was at the point of death. Aegeas was standing, with sword in his hand, ready to kill himself at the moment his wife should die so that they might be together in death as in life. The story goes on that Andrew miraculously healed Maximilla and that she became Christian, though Aegeus remained hostile to the Christian faith.

Aegeus had a brother, called Stratocles, whose favorite servant was dangerously and painfully ill. This servant, too, was healed by Andrew, and Stratocles also became Christian. Aegeus was so enraged by the conversion of both his wife and his brother to the new, “foreign” faith that he had Andrew arrested, and condemned to death. In order really to torture Andrew and prolong his agony, he was not nailed to a cross, but was bound to it, and left to die of hunger, thirst and exposure.

Tradition has it further, that Andrew prayed, as he faced the cross, a prayer that runs in part like this: “Hail, precious cross! Thou hast been consecrated by the body of my Lord, and adorned by his body as rich jewels. I come to thee exulting and glad. Receive me with joy into thy arms --- Long have I desired and sought thee. ---- Take me up from among men, and present me to my Master, that he who redeemed me on thee may receive me by thee.”

So they say, Andrew was scourged with rods by 7 lictors, fastened to his cross and left to die. It was a later addition to the story that Andrew asked to be crucified on an “X” - shaped cross, which is still called St. Andrew’s cross, because he felt unworthy to die on the same kind of cross as that whereon his Lord was crucified.

We may well doubt the details of this story. The traditions have the earmarks of a lively imagination. But it does seem certain that Andrew died a martyr for his Master. And it is because he was martyred in Greece that he is known as a patron saint of Greece.

(3) A 3rd country with which Andrew’s name is linked, is Scotland. The legend connecting him with the Scots is late. It is said that in 337 AD Constantine brought Andrew’s coffin to Constantinople. Then in the 8th century a monk called Regulus was told by an angel to take with him some of Andrew’s bones -- 3 fingers of the right hand, an arm bone, one tooth and a knee cap, and travel to the west with them. He did so, and his travels brought him to the east coast of Scotland where Saint Andrews (the Scots say “Senandrews) now stands. There the monk settled and, so the story runs, became the first Bishop of St. Andrews. The ruins of St. Regulus’ church still stand there.

Tradition continues that, on the eve of a great battle between the Scots and the English, Andrew appeared in a vision to Hungus, the Scottish leader, and assured him of victory. On the day of battle, a great cross, like that on which Andrew was said to have died, appeared in the sky directly over the Scotch forces, and remained there all day until victory was assured. The cross so terrified the English that they were utterly defeated. So, they say that ever after, the white St. Andrews cross on the blue background of the sky, became the standard of Scotland.

All of this is tradition; it sounds highly colored and vividly imagined! Most of it can hardly be history. But it illustrates the observation that there is something attractive about Andrew.

Life placed him in a position where he could have easily become bitter and resentful. But he was well enough content with second place, because his one endeavor was not to glorify himself, but to serve his Lord, Jesus Christ. All his life, he brought people to Jesus. And he died engaged in the same task. Andrew lived and died a missionary of Christ. May his kind be multiplied!

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Dates and places delivered:

Wisconsin Rapids, March 5, 1961.

Wood County Infirmary, April 26, 1964.