Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
At first, I struggled with today’s Gospel (Matthew 4:18-22). I find a great deal of inspiration in the Apostles – they are an honest and sincere group that wants to understand and follow Jesus, and their example is helpful in my journey as I try (and – like the Apostles – sometimes fail) to do the same. Inspired and guided by the example of the Apostles, I struggle with the image of these men just leaving work and their family just because someone walked by and said, “follow me.”
“Of course they followed him! It’s Jesus! This is a story about their willingness to drop everything and follow Him!” says my mind, trying to understand how these men – who would later be confused by just about every other thing Jesus would say – could possibly have had the willingness to upend their lives just because someone asked them to. Because yes, this is Jesus we’re talking about, but so far in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus hasn’t exactly established himself as anyone worth following yet. At this point in Matthew’s Gospel, we’ve seen more of John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus than we’ve seen Jesus acting.
So, this being the feast of Andrew the Apostle, I looked into other Gospel stories that mention Andrew. As it turns out, before Andrew starting following Jesus, he was a follower of John the Baptist (John 1:40). Suddenly, everything clicked. Andrew didn’t upend his life to follow Jesus on a whim – he followed Jesus because he had already heard of the great things Jesus was going to do. Andrew believed John’s message that Jesus was the Messiah, so when they finally met, he was primed and ready to go. The Gospel today is not a story of following Jesus on a whim, but an example of the need for witnesses to who Jesus is.
This also helped me better understand the first reading (Romans 10:9-18). Paul tells us that faith develops from what we have heard, and what we hear comes from those who preach (Romans 10:14). We are all called to preach and spread God’s word, and our stories and our encounters with God are essential to that preaching. By hearing of our encounters with God, others are invited and encouraged to do the same. Without the witness of John the Baptist, Andrew may not have had enough background to follow Jesus. Perhaps, too, there are people in our lives who can be led to Jesus because of our encounters with Him.
Today, on the feast of Andrew the Apostle, let us pray for those who need to hear of our encounters with God, that they might believe and seek Him, too.
- Marty Bagatti