One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 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). John 1: 40-42
If you have read any stories in the Bible you will probably know who Simon Peter is. He is a character a total “A-type” personality with a not so unique ability to end up with his foot in his mouth. Many people may be able to relate to him and many devotional thoughts could be written from the multiple references to him in scripture.
But in this moment I want to focus on the other character in this story, Andrew.
If you were pressed to name the 12 disciples he might be one that is more easily forgotten. It may be because he is only mentioned a handful of times in the Bible. So what do we know about Andrew
- Peter is his brother. As in most families I am guessing this means he was strong in other areas instead of always competing with his extrovert brother.
- We know Andrew has been committed, listening, and learning. In verses 35-40 Andrew is following John the Baptist when Jesus comes along. Andrew then starts to follow Jesus recognizing who he was because of John’s teaching.
- Finally, like his brother, but very different from his brother he was a man of action.
So what does Andrew do when he realizes who Jesus is? He went and got his brother! For all we hear about Peter in the Bible it is worth noting that the link that brought him to Jesus was Andrew.
Later in John (6: 1-14) we see Andrew again act in faith and bring another. But even in this reference, when Andrew is mentioned he is mentioned as “Simon Peter’s brother”. When Jesus feeds the 5 thousand and some of the disciples are wondering how, it is Andrew that says, “Hey, Jesus here is a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Is that a good start?” Can you imagine even Andrews surprise when they have leftovers!
Many of us want to be recognized and remembered. We desire to be relevant and make a name for ourselves and that is not necessarily bad, but God has a calling for each of us and he has given each of us gifts.
He gave Andrew great faith.
He gave Andrew a great desire to bring people to Jesus
He gave Andrew a quiet place in history, that at least I will never forget, because just like his overt and loud brother, he did end up making a significant impact.
Serve with the gifts God has given you. We each have a purpose!
written by Stan Shollenbarger