1st Sunday in Advent “The Saints of Advent: #1 St. Andrew, Apostle”
December 1, 2024 John 1:35-42
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Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ
Around this time of the year, there are a number of minor festivals in the Church Year; there are specific days assigned to apostles & martyrs. During these Sunday in Advent, we’ll talk about 4 of these people, the ‘saints of advent’— Andrew, Nicholas, Lucia, & Thomas.
The day assigned for the Apostle Andrew is November 30th. And our reading is from John, ch.1: (let me read it)
5 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.”
So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day,
for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas.” (which means Peter).
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Some of you may have grown up in families where YOU were not the one who always got the attention. A brother or a sister did better than you at sports, / or in school, / or in music, and got most of the recognition & the approval. Maybe you weren’t introduced by name, but as ‘so-and-so’s brother or sister.’ You were always a little bit more in the background.
It must’ve been that way for Andrew, as the brother of the boisterous Simon Peter. Andrew seemed to live in his brother’s shadow. Andrew’s name appears over a dozen times in the NT, but only once without Peter’s name being mentioned too. In fact, Andrew is most often referred to as ‘Simon Peter’s brother,’ as we heard in John 1.
Andrew was the first one to follow Jesus; but it was his brother who would become chief among the Apostles, and be in Jesus’ inner circle; which included just = Peter, James, & John;
— but no Andrew. And, of course, Peter or ‘Cephas’, was a special name given by Jesus, meaning ‘a rock.’ Andrew was not given a ‘special name’, but would simple be ‘one of the Twelve.’
But that doesn’t mean that we should feel bad for Andrew, as if he were being treated unfairly. For he had his own special, God-given role as an Apostle. Not everyone is called to be the one ‘out front.’ And in fact, because very few are the leaders, and many more are just part of ‘the group,’ so it is a uniquely Christian virtue not to seek the first place; but to be humble & lowly, considering others better than yourself = so says Phil.2. And Jesus said: ‘whoever humbles himself will be exalted,’ and ‘whoever wants to be first must be last, and servant of all.’ (Mt.23, Mk.9 )
This was the way of Andrew, even as it was the way of Andrew’s first teacher,
John-the-Baptist. Yes, Andrew was a student of that unique prophet of the wilderness, who ate locust & wild honey, and preached about the Kingdom of God. John’s task {you remember} was to ‘prepare the way of the Lord’; to point to Jesus, and to declare, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn.1)
John-the-Baptist’s purpose was not to gain permanent disciples for himself, but to lead people to the Christ, & to lose his disciples to Jesus. Later, John would say of Jesus,
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn.3) Soon it was time for John to fade away, and for Jesus to become the focus, so that all may know that Jesus is the One to follow, as the fulfillment of prophecy, & the promised Messiah.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” That’s true; not only for John or Andrew, but for ALL OF US. You are to decrease, to die to yourself, & to your own desires, so that Jesus would be seen and be magnified in you with His abundant mercy & new life. It does no good for anyone to focus on themselves. Paul says in Galatians 2: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who 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.”
Romans 6 says that ‘having been baptized into Jesus’ death,’ your old Adam (your old nature ) is to fade from the scene, and be drowned thru repentance, so that the new man =which is Christ= may arise in you, to live by faith toward the Father, and by love toward your neighbor. People are to see ‘Christ’ in the lives & actions of ‘Christ’–ians. So, Andrew learned the Baptist’s motto well: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ This truism showed itself in Andrew’s life in the way that he directed others not to himself, but to Christ.
He brought people to Jesus. *For instance, in John 6, when the disciples were trying to figure out how to feed the 5,000, who had gathered to see & hear Jesus. Andrew brought
a young boy to Jesus & said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Andrew didn’t know if what he did would help, but he brought the boy & his food to Jesus anyway, so that the Lord might do His will. And the Lord did a miraculous thing with that boy’s food.
*Also in John 12, some Greeks told Philip they wanted to talk with Jesus. Philip wasn’t sure, so he told Andrew. Andrew was sure that ALL needed to meet the Messiah, & he so went & told Jesus. We are told that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God for the salvation of both Jew and Greek. *And, of course, in our reading today, we heard that Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. Andrew believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and the first thing that belief did was to go find his brother & tell him. Andrew may not have been the most prominent of the Apostles, but he was the one who saw to it that Peter came to see & hear Jesus, that his brother might believe in Him.
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YOU also get to be like Andrew. You may not be very prominent among your relatives, or in God’s wider-kingdom, or even in the congregation. But you can say & do things that help people hear & trust Jesus. *When you see to it that a child is brought to church to be baptized into Christ, you are being like Andrew. Romans 6 says that thru baptism, we are buried with Christ into His death-to-sin, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might grow up to walk in newness of life. That Word-of-promise God applies with water.
*When you invite someone to worship =the Divine Service= or to Bible Study, where God promises to be with us & feed our trust in Him, you are being like Andrew. Because Jesus is the Word-made-flesh, so now with the Holy Spirit, He is living & active in the proclamation of His Word to save those who hear and believe.
Just as Andrew led Peter to the place where Jesus was staying, so also you get to invite others to come & see where Jesus abides for us with His life-giving gifts: His Word and His Sacraments = the ‘means’ by which God’s grace is conveyed to us. IF this is God’s church, then we bring people here; we decrease, and Christ increases as they meet their Savior.
We know this must be true of us, as Jesus’ disciples, because it is true of Jesus himself. The Son of God became your Savior by taking the least place, and the lowest position for himself. The Second person of the Trinity humbled himself to be born of a human-woman, subjecting himself to the curse of our arrogant sin. He decreased to the point of death on a cross for you, so that you might increase with the riches of His forgiveness and grace.
Jesus is the perfect sacrifice, the spotless Lamb, whose shed-blood caused death to pass over you. To borrow from the nursery rhyme: The Virgin Mary had a little Lamb who makes your crimson sins as white as snow. Your covering before God is the pure fleece of Jesus’ righteousness. His humbleness had that specific purpose: to save you; and He is now risen & exalted to the highest place, and given the Name that is above very name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow. Andrew was called-up & sent to preach that Name of Jesus, so that many more might confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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Tradition says that Andrew, a former fisherman, became a fisher-of-men over in Greece; which recalls what he did when those Greeks wanted to see Jesus. He went on to preach & teach so that that whole nation might meet with, listen to, and believe on their Lord & Savior.
Thru Andrew’s work, many were converted to faith in a town called Patras. This angered the pagan Roman ‘proconsul’ or ‘mayor’ of the town, so Andrew ended up in jail. The Christian congregation was angry, & wanted to riot; but Andrew urged the people to imitate the patience & humility of the Savior.
For the so-called ‘crime’ of proclaiming Jesus as the only true God, Savior & Lord, Andrew was condemned, and sentenced to death. Some early writings say that he was crucified on a ‘saltire,’ a cross in the shape of an X. Those writings say that, as Andrew faced that death, he said this:
“Hail, precious cross, that has been consecrated by the body of my Lord, and adorned with his limbs as with rich jewels. I come to you exulting and glad: receive me with joy into your arms. O good cross, that has received beauty from our Lord’s limbs; I have ardently loved you; long have I desired and sought you: now you are found by me, and are made ready for my longing soul; receive me into your arms, take me from among men and present me to my Master; that He who redeemed me on you, may receive me by you.”
It is said that Andrew preached Christ for two days on that cross, continuing to point people to Jesus before his suffering finally ended, and he died.
In this way, Andrew’s life as a disciple came full circle. When Andrew first met Jesus, our Lord said to him, “Come and you will see [the place where I am staying]” Now at last, Andrew again went to where our Lord is ‘staying’, living, & reigning. For Jesus made that promise: “I am going…to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back to take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (Jn.14)
By God’s gracious working, & thru faith in the Messiah, Andrew is with Christ.
We too have been sent to the Messiah by the gospel call. We join together with Andrew, along with angels & archangels, and all the company of heaven, to in laud & magnify the glorious name of our Redeemer.
By His Word we also believe that Jesus will come back for us, and for all who have been marked by His name, & with His holy cross in the washing of rebirth. In whatever way we meet our earthly end, Jesus also has spoken to us, ‘come and you will see.’ And we will be with Christ to begin that life that will never end.
Since we have this same certain hope in Christ, the apostle Andrew is shown to us in Holy Scripture so that we will learn to follow his example of humility and invitation.
Andrew decreased so that Christ would increase in the eyes of those around him. As we humbly & faithfully decrease, may the Spirit show Christ increasing in our lives for the sake of those around us.
Amen