Some of you may have grown up in families where you weren’t the one who always got the attention. A brother or a sister was better at sports than you. Or maybe in academics, he got the recognition and the approval. Perhaps, others sometimes introduced you as “so-and-so’s brother or sister.”
It must have been that way for Andrew. He was the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew always seemed to be stuck in his brother’s shadow. Out of the dozen or so times that Scripture mentions Andrew’s name, only once does it appear without it also mentioning his brother, Peter. In truth, the Bible refers to Andrew as “Simon Peter’s brother” more than it does as “Andrew.” That’s how our reading for this evening mentions him (vs. 40).
Isn’t it ironic? Andrew was the first to follow Jesus. Yet, it was his brother, Peter, who would become first among the disciples and be in Jesus’ inner circle with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Even the name Peter was noteworthy. Jesus gave him that name, which meant “rock.” Unlike Peter, Andrew would be one of the Twelve, with no special, given name.
But that does not mean that we should feel sorry for Andrew, as if Jesus somehow treated him unfairly. For he had his own distinctive, God-given place and role as an apostle. God does not call everyone to prominent positions.
Even more, it is a Christian virtue not to showboat, or to seek glory, honor, and the first place. Instead, each Christian is to humble himself, considering others better than himself (Philippians 2:3). It is as Jesus says, “Whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
That was the way of Andrew. That was also the way of Andrew’s first teacher and rabbi, John the Baptizer. John’s task was to prepare the way of the Lord, to point to Jesus and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
John’s purpose was not to gain permanent disciples of his own. He wanted to lose his own disciples to Jesus, pointing them to the One who is the Messiah. Later, John would say of Jesus, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30). It was time for John to fade away and for Jesus to become the focus. This was so others could know that Jesus was the One to follow, that He fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, that He was the promised Messiah.
“He must increase, and I must decrease.” That’s not only true for John or Andrew, but even for all of us, as well. You are to decrease. You are to die to your old, sinful flesh and its wants. This is so Jesus might burst forth to all in your life with His abounding mercy and life.
We are to live as Galatians 2:20 puts it. “I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” You’ve been baptized into Jesus’ death. Every day, you are to drown your old Adam by turning away from your sin. This is so Christ, the new man in you, may arise to live in faith toward the Father and in love toward others God has placed in your life.
“He must increase, and I must decrease.” This saying showed itself in Andrew’s life in the way that he directed others–not to himself–but to Jesus Christ. Andrew brought people to Jesus. We see this in John chapter 6, when the disciples were trying to figure out how to feed the 5,000 people who had gathered to see Jesus.
Andrew brought a young boy to Jesus and said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” (John 6:9). Andrew didn’t know if what he did would help, but he brought the boy and his food to Jesus anyway, so the Lord might do His work. And indeed the Lord did a miraculous work with that boy’s food.
In John 12, some Greeks wanted to see Jesus. Andrew, with Philip, brought this to Jesus’ attention, so the Greeks might have an audience with Him and hear Him speak. For the Gospel of Christ is the power of God for the salvation of both Jew and Greek.
And in today’s Gospel, St. John writes that Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. Andrew believed that Jesus was the Messiah. And it was that faith that led him to seek out Peter and tell him. It was the first act as a Christian that Andrew did. Andrew may not have been the most prominent of the disciples, but he was the one who saw to it that Peter came to know Jesus.
You also get to be like Andrew. You may not be the most prominent one in the congregation. But you are to live your life in a way that brings others to Jesus. When you brought your child to be baptized, you were like Andrew, for Jesus is present at the font to do His miraculous, saving work. When you invite or give someone a ride to the Divine Service or Sunday School, you are also being like Andrew.
For Jesus is the Word made flesh. Jesus is living and active when He is proclaimed, all to save those who hear and believe. As Andrew led Peter to where Jesus was, so can you also welcome others to come and see where Jesus is here for us, here and now, with His life-giving gifts. We decrease, and Christ increases as we point people to Jesus Christ, the only Savior.
Jesus became your Savior by taking the least and the lowest place for Himself. He humbled Himself to be born of a virgin, subjecting Himself to the curse of our self-exalting sin. Jesus decreased to the point of death on a cross for you, so you might increase with the riches of His forgiveness and grace.
Jesus is, indeed, the Lamb of God, whose shed blood causes death to pass over you. The Blessed Virgin Mary had a little Lamb who makes your crimson sins as white as snow. The pure fleece of Jesus’ righteousness covers you. The One who humbled Himself is now risen and exalted to the highest place and given the name that is above every name. So, on the Last Day, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.
Jesus called and sent Andrew to preach the Word and dispense the Sacraments, so others would also confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, in the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. Tradition has it that Andrew, a man who had earlier fished for a living, became a fisher of men. He lived in Greece and preached the Gospel, so they also might see Jesus and be brought into a living communion with Christ.
The Holy Spirit used Andrew to convert many in a town called Patras. But this angered the leader of the town. So, as no surprise, he threw Andrew in jail.
This enraged the few Christian in town. They would have protested if it were not for Andrew. He encouraged his visitors to tell others to live out the patience and humility of Christ, their Savior. Yet, that still didn’t stop Andrew from later being sentenced to death. But instead of a t-shaped cross, Andrew would die on a saltire, a cross in the shape of an X.
Church tradition has it that Andrew greeted his cross with these words:
Hail, O blessed cross. You have been consecrated by the body of my Lord…. I come to you rejoicing and glad…. Receive me now into your arms. Take me from among men. Present me to my master, so the One who redeemed me on you, [O blessed cross] may receive me by you.
Andrew spoke of Christ for almost two days on that cross, as he died, suffering in agony. Even during death, Andrew continued to point others to Jesus.
In this way, Andrew’s life as a disciple came full circle. For when Andrew first met Jesus, our Lord said to him, “Come and you will see [the place where I am staying]” (vs. 39). Now at the last, Andrew again went to where our Lord was. For Jesus said, “I am going away to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, so where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3).
Andrew is with Christ. We join with Andrew, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, in praising and proclaiming our glorious Redeemer. We know and believe that Jesus will also come back for us, for the sign of the holy cross in our baptisms has also marked us as His own. Jesus will take us to be with Himself, in soul at our death, and in body at the resurrection on the Last Day.
Since we have this certain hope in Christ, let us learn from the example of Andrew’s humility. Let us “humble [ourselves] under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift [us] up at the proper time” (1 Peter 5:6). Amen.
