FRIDAY 17th
John 1:41
NIV – ‘The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, We have found the Messiah (that is, the Christ).’
ESV – ‘He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which means Christ).’
We could call Andrew the first Evangelist, after John the Baptist, although John was more of a prophet. Immediately on meeting with Jesus he goes to find his brother Simon, and makes the declaration, ‘We have found the Messiah.’
Andrew does not appear very often in John’s gospel, but each time he does he is playing an important role. Here in the text bringing his brother to Jesus, he then appears in John 6:8-9 ‘One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?’ (Notice how he got stuck with the label Simon Peter’s brother – even though he was the first to meet Jesus!) Then again in John 12:20-22 ‘Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.’ Here he is mentioned again but in relation to Philip coming from the same town in John 1:44
That is it, four mentions in John and then a few mentions in the other gospel and Acts regarding his official call along with Peter to follow Jesus, (Matthew 4:18. Mark 1:16) the three times he is mentioned in the list of the disciples (Matthew 10:2, Luke 6:14, Acts 1:13, and then in Mark 1:29, when Jesus visits the home of Simon Peter and Andrew and heals Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever.
But what I want us to notice that although he is only briefly mentioned it does not mean he was insignificant. As I have already mentioned he was like an Evangelist in immediately going to tell his brother he had found the Messiah, and in the purposes of God, and as a result, his brother was going to be a pillar in the eventual mission and outreach of the Church, it was Peter who while standing with the other eleven preached on the day of Pentecost, it is also Peter who is accepted as being the one who took the gospel to the Gentiles, Acts chapter 10 and 11. So remember we do not have to have a big profile to be effective for Jesus, and who knows what that person you will share the gospel with might become in the purpose of God.
In John 6 Andrew was instrumental in finding the lad with five loaves and two fishes that Jesus took and blessed and fed the whole crowd of 5000 men plus women and children with. You may feel that you have little to offer, you may feel that what you do seems insignificant but when Jesus takes your contribution, however small you may feel it is when compared to the task in hand, Jesus can achieve what needs to be achieved. Little is much in his hands.
In John 12 Andrew was in a place again where he was able to introduce people to Jesus, (some Greeks) as a result Jesus gave them a glimpse of his redemptive work, his death and resurrection in the example of the seed dying and bearing fruit. (vv23-24)
What do we learn from Andrew? Even the least among us can accomplish much in the purpose of God, and the importance of being faithful in even the smallest of things.