Matthew 4:18-22; John 1:35-42; Romans 10:8b-18
Here’s your bit of Bible trivia for this
St. Andrew’s Sunday: Scripture gives us not one but two stories about how Andrew
met Jesus and what Andrew did as a result. It’s something I love about
Scripture, actually – that these two stories conflict with each other, and yet,
there they are, right alongside one another in the Bible.
One is the story we just heard, from
Matthew (and it’s in Mark’s Gospel, too). Jesus has been baptized and anointed
with the Holy Spirit, and he’s spent 40 days in the wilderness struggling with
Satan. Now he’s begun his public ministry, proclaiming, “Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven has come near” (4:17). And as he walks by the Sea of Galilee,
he sees a couple of brothers, Peter and Andrew, out fishing. Now, these guys must
have heard Jesus preaching earlier, because they aren’t zombies, just following
anyone who tells them to. But when Jesus makes the invitation, he sets the hook
in these fishermen: “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people” (4:19). And
“immediately, they left their nets” and began to follow him (4:20).
So that’s the story we heard today. The
other version of this event comes from the Gospel of John. Again, John the
Baptist is there, naming Jesus as God’s anointed. And again, soon afterward,
Jesus is walking by, and two of John the Baptist’s disciples set out to follow
Jesus instead. One of these two was Andrew; the other isn’t named. They ask
Jesus what he’s doing and where he’s going, and Jesus just looks back at them
and says, “Come and see” (1:39). So, they do, and they spend the day in the
presence of the Son of God himself. When that amazing day is over, Andrew runs home
to share what’s happened with the person he’s closest to, his brother, Peter;
and he says to Peter, “We have found the Messiah!” (1:41). This is why, through
Christian tradition, Andrew is remembered, first and foremost, for bringing the
renowned St. Peter on board. And it’s why, in our windows over the altar, we
see Andrew to Jesus’ right and Peter to Jesus’ left – a little editorializing
about pride of place for the guy, as the collect this morning puts it, whose
claim to fame is that he “brought his brother with him” (BCP 237).
Of course, after the Gospel stories,
Andrew didn’t just fall off the map. In fact, depending on which traditions you
want to believe, he went all over the map. Different traditions say Andrew
brought Jesus’ good news to Ethiopia, or to Ukraine, or to Russia,
or to Greece, where he was martyred on an X-shaped cross. Even in death, Andrew
was still on the move as his remains were reportedly taken to Scotland, which
is why he became Scotland’s patron saint. And that explains why a bunch of
people in Kansas City are wearing tartans and listening to bagpipes as they
celebrate this day that honors a Palestinian fisherman.
So, other than giving us a chance to enjoy
pipes and drums and tartan, what does all this mean for us? Where are we in these
two stories of St. Andrew?
I think both stories of Andrew’s call
matter for us because they call us along two different dimensions of our journey
as Christians: to be disciples and to be apostles, to put down our fishing nets
to follow Jesus and to bring someone along
with us. God has created us for both aspects of our calling, for discipleship
and apostleship – wired us to follow and wired us to invite. That’s not just
true about religion but about all of our life in community. When someone or
something offers us compelling answers, we’re more than happy to be led out of
our darkness and into the light. And when we find that those answers work for
us – whether to lose weight, or grow our portfolios, or find a like-minded
community – when the answers work for us, we’re very happy to invite others to
come with us, and see.
Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent,
as well as the official conclusion of our season of stewardship. We’ll gather
the pledges we’ve received so far and bless them as a foretaste of all that we’ll
receive – pledges of money, certainly, but also pledges of time and talent
through the parish survey we recently sent out. And because next week is the
first Sunday of Advent, it will also be New Year’s Day, at least as far as the Church
calendar is concerned. We’ll start a new cycle of Sunday readings and begin our
season of spiritual new beginnings, the time when we prepare ourselves to
receive the gift of Emmanuel at Christmas – God-With-Us to dwell in the dirty stables
and hang on the crosses of our own lives, sharing everything we live and know and giving us eternal life anyway. It’s
a great time for resolutions, as we prepare our hearts to receive our Savior.
So, with the stewardship season winding
down and the Church’s new year on the horizon, here’s your call, as a spiritual
descendant of St. Andrew. Here’s your call, as a steward of all the amazing
gifts God’s given you. Here’s your call, as someone stepping into Advent’s
preparation for God to be with you, at your side and in your heart. Your call
is nothing less than Andrew’s call: to be both a disciple and an apostle. Your
call is to follow Jesus – as Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us very
directly, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (10:9). And, your
call is to invite others along on your journey. As Paul also puts it in Romans,
“How are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they
to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him
unless they are sent?” (10:14-15) Our call is Andrew’s call, from both of his
stories: To leave our nets and follow, and to bring someone along with us.
Now, when I hear someone say something
like that, what comes to mind for me are all the reasons why I think I can’t do
it. I’m not good enough to consider the Lord of the universe my friend and
companion. I’m not really willing to give up everything to become all religious
and lose the things I love about normal life. I’m not compelling enough to
bring someone with me to some churchy event … and on any given Sunday, I’m not
sure what I think about every word we pray in worship anyway.
If you identify with any of those feelings,
I think you’re in good company. But here’s the thing. First, you are good enough – God says so. Second, you
don’t have to become a nun or a monk or some crazy church person who wears
crosses and Bible verses on your t-shirt. And third, you are the most compelling witness the world has ever known.
It’s that last one that makes you stop
short, right? How can that be? Well, it’s all about context, and opportunity,
and relationship. Here’s what I mean. St. Peter was St. Peter, for God’s sake. He healed people with only a word; he converted
thousands by preaching Jesus’ resurrection; he did all that despite his own
religious leaders’ attempts to silence him with beatings and imprisonments; he
ended up dying a martyr’s death in Rome. Talk about a disciple and an apostle! A
person like that would never have
listed to me.
Well, probably not – unless, of course, I also
happened to be his brother. Andrew didn’t quote Bible verses at Peter, or preach
some inspiring sermon to him, or write a theological treatise to teach him the
mysteries of God. Andrew simply brought his brother with him to experience
something Andrew found compelling on his own journey. Andrew could make the ask
because he had the relationship that
counted.
So, on this St. Andrew’s Sunday, let me give
you this challenge: Ask yourself, what do I find compelling about this journey
of relationship with God, and who might I invite into it? There is no single
answer to that question; in fact, there are scores of answers to that question.
I know of a parishioner who recently started a new AA group that meets here,
and its attendance doubled in the first few weeks. I know of a men’s group that
had a conversation, over Bible study and beer, about who they might invite to
come and join them. I know of a music program that offers prayer and praise,
both Sunday mornings and two evenings a month, rivaling the best vocal music in
the city. I know of outreach ministries that bring healing to people in our
community and change lives for more than 400 kids at a school in rural Haiti. I
know of a partnership with the Roasterie that’s providing our own St. Andrew’s
Blend coffee, which we’ll enjoy on Sunday mornings here and which we’ll serve
in the new HJ’s youth and community center rising up across the street. I know,
and see, people before me here today who find some of their life’s best and
deepest relationships through this family of St. Andrew’s, reveling together in
times of joy and holding each other up in times of pain. There’s a lot that’s
compelling about this journey with God that we’re taking together. And some
piece of it would be authentic for you to offer as a way to invite someone else
to come along, too.
You don’t have to give up your life entirely. You
don’t have to become a street-corner preacher. God isn’t asking us to take
ourselves out of the world we know. Instead, God’s asking us to connect the
world we know with the kingdom Christ calls us to see coming near. Just interrupt
your fishing long enough to get to know this Jesus we’re following. Just make
an invitation to someone you know to come along and experience something that
feeds you. Just leave your nets, at least for a while, and bring someone with
you. Because, for someone out there, you
are the most compelling witness the world has ever known.
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