“Never in the limelight”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Matthew 4:18-22 (Forward, p. 32) CEV p. 985
Saint Andrew, Apostle
Some people seem to be perpetually in the shadows, perpetually unnoticed and unrecognized. Others seem to take the spotlight, the limelight—sometimes even to hog it—but these people never do. The second-string Andrew seems like this. His brother Simon Peter seems to get all the glory, all the attention, but never Andrew. And when the three are chosen to be the closest associates of Jesus, that is, Peter, James and John, Andrew gets left out. And all this, in spite of his ‘accomplishments’: Andrew has a very impressive, albeit unsung, place within the small cluster of disciples:
-he was the one who first brought his brother to Jesus and introduced them (John 1:40-42);
-he was the one who brought the boys with the loaves and fishes to Jesus, thus facilitating the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:8-9);
-he was the one that Philip sought out when some Greeks came, wanting to meet Jesus (John 12:22);
Andrew thus seems to have an unparalleled, unrivalled place as a go-between, as someone who makes introductions, as a facilitator of people and goods. I would suggest that he, and his sort, have a crucial place within the church and society. It is thus no wonder that the Billy Graham Association used a special ‘Andrew’ evangelism program to reach out into communities and prepare the way for his ministry, or that the Anglican Church has long had a Brotherhood of St. Andrew, designed to foster relationships between men and invite them to membership and participation in the church.
But, even prior to this, there are two traits in Andrew that are worth noting and highlighting. When John the Baptist first pointed out Jesus to the assembled crowds there at the Jordan River, Andrew was one of the two disciples that decided to ‘check out’ this Jesus character, even to the point of spending the rest of the day with Him—and not, evidentially, being put off by Jesus’ non-answer of their question, ‘where do you live?’ Andrew and his associate were willing to come along, anyway, and see who Jesus was and what He was up to (see John 1:35-39).
And, then, in today’s passage from Matthew, he shows himself willing, once again. He leaves his boat, his nets and his livelihood—all that he has known and his entire security and identity—to come and follow Jesus in this new, unknown and somewhat scary venture of fishing for people instead of fish. All this in the service of a Master that he barely knows.
So, Andrew may be relatively unknown and unheralded, but to me, he represents an important and vital part of the church and the world today, those behind-the-scenes people who ‘get things done’. And, in particular, those people who facilitate those necessary connections between people and things that enable this. When we celebrate ‘the saints’, then and now, we need to especially remember such people. Amen.
Forward notes: “Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him” (verses 20-22).
“All of us know the pressures that family can bring. What church to attend, what trade to follow, where to spend the holidays…Even in our day, when families are more disconnected than ever, navigating these relationships can be immensely difficult. How much more so for James and John? Did their father understand the vision? Was he bitter toward Jesus for taking his sons and toward his sons for leaving? How do we choose to follow Christ amidst the pressures and expectations of family and culture, and how do we allow others to do the same?
“We must be prepared to die to expectations, even when it means disappointing others. We must also be prepared to be disappointed. We must be willing to relinquish our expectations of those we love amid their attempts to discern Christ’s call.”
MOVING FORWARD: “What expectations can you let die so that you might live more fully in Christ?”