What do you know about Andrew? He was one of the twelve disciples. What else comes to your mind when you hear his name? He was Peter’s brother. Time after time when Scripture identifies Andrew, it does so with these words, “Andrew, Peter’s brother.” Do you think that this bothered Andrew to always be known as “Peter’s brother”?
Andrew was Peter’s brother, but Scripture tells us that he was known for more than that. Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. He is not the only one that Andrew brought to Jesus. We are told that he brought a little boy forward with his bag lunch:
“Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’” (John 6:8-9).
We are also told that he brought certain Greeks forward who wanted to meet Jesus:
“Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we would like to see Jesus.’ Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus” (John 12:20-22).
Andrew did what he had done with others. He opened the door for them to meet Jesus.
Andrew may have taken a back seat when it came to his brother Peter, but this did not stop him from telling people about Jesus and bringing them forward to meet Him.
When I review these readings, certain things impress me about Andrew’s character. First, Andrew seemed to be a humble person, whose pride did not get in the way of being a witness for Jesus. As soon as Andrew had met Jesus, he immediately went to his brother:
“The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’”(John 1:41).
“The first thing.” So excited with the news about Jesus and so devoted to his brother, Andrew goes immediately to tell him. A dominant, older sibling can sometimes cause the younger brother or sister to be filled with resentment or jealousy. There is none of that here. Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. Could he guess that his elder brother would overshadow in this area as well? Probably. Jesus would give Peter a new name, a nickname of sorts:
“‘You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas’ (which when translated is Peter [or Rock])” (v. 42).
There is no such mention of a nickname for Andrew. It may be that Andrew played “second fi ddle” to his brother. He wasn’t a part of the inner circle even though he was one of the first to be called by Jesus. This did not stop him from placing others first when it came to telling them about Jesus or helping then in their journey. Andrew was willing to give up many things, including his pride, for the sake of bringing people forward to meet Jesus. Who is the Andrew in your life? Who brought you to Jesus? Who has placed you first, not caring if they got acknowledged or even noticed?
The mission of the Church is blessed when there are those who are willing to serve as an “Andrew” within the ministry and lives of its people. Who are the Andrews in your congregation—those people willing to sacrifice in order to help other people?
Andrew was one of the first to hear of Jesus, the Lamb of God. He was the first to tell his brother Peter about Jesus. Yet, oftentimes he comes in second as far as recognition in Scripture. He never wrote an Epistle. He is not mentioned in the Book of Acts or any of the Epistles. None of this apparently fazed him in the slightest way. Second in life so often, his passion was to tell others first. Tell them about Jesus. His first priority was to bring them to Jesus so that their hearts could be ablaze with His love as was his own. Can you imagine the impact upon our churches were they to be filled with people with Andrew’s heart—befriending people and introducing them to Him one at a time? The fire of Christ’s love is kindled in the hearts of people one at a time.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish