Sermon, Sun 26: Andrew - People in the Bible series

Given this is the Sunday closest to St Andrew's Day, thought it would be fun to close our wee series of Bible people
[for this year] with Andrew...

READINGS/ John 1:35-42; John 6:1-13; John 12:20-26

SERMON
Let’s pray: may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer, Amen.

This being the Sunday closest to St Andrew’s Day, I thought it might be a good thing to include Andrew in our wee ongoing series of
‘people in the Bible’ And I want to do a wee spot quiz –
Can any of you tell me one thing you know about this chap called Andrew,
who we come across in the Bible?
...  ... ...

Patron saint of Scotland,
friend and follower of Jesus,
brother of Simon who’s later named Peter;
a fisherman...
and, here, in our first reading,
we discover that, before Andrew decided to follow Jesus,
he was one of John the Baptist’s disciples.
In fact, here, in the Gospel of John,
we meet Andrew the day after Jesus has been baptised in the Jordan.
Andrew is with John the Baptist and another of John’s followers when Jesus passes by them.
John points to Jesus and says:
‘Look, the Lamb of God!’
This... intrigues Andrew.
So much so, that he and John’s other, unnamed disciple, decide to head off after Jesus:
Who is he?
Where is he going?
Why is John giving such honour to him by the use of the title ‘Lamb of God?’
John has taught his followers that he, himself, is merely a messenger,
a signpost, pointing the way to one greater.
Now, John, with his prophet’s uniform of camel hair, and his baptism of repentance,
and his bold preaching is pretty impressive in and of himself...
So if John thinks Jesus is special, perhaps Andrew thinks he might be worth checking out.
Clearly, Andrew is one of life’s inward explorers:
he’s curious about what gives life meaning;
he’s open to new ways of thinking about his faith;
he’s at a point in his life where he wants
to know more, to see more,
to ask and try to find answers to life’s great questions.
So, off he goes, with his friend, to follow after Jesus.

I love that the very first words that Jesus utters in the Gospel of John are:
‘What do you want?’...
this, of the two who are shadowing him.
It’s a question that can have so many layers to it –
I almost want Andrew to say:
‘well, how deep do you want me to go into that, Jesus?’
However, he responds to Jesus’ question with a question –
one that sounds a little odd, perhaps, to us.
He asks: ‘where are you staying?’

We were having a wee bit of a chat about this the other night at our Session meeting.
In a sense, if you dig underneath the question,
Andrew’s not so much enquiring if Jesus might be staying at a particular inn –
what he’s actually asking is more tied in with Jesus’ identity:
where are you from?
who are your people?
Understanding where Jesus comes from, who he stays with, provides a context for who Jesus is...
if you like, it’s a little like the Scottish clan system –
or, thinking about it in a farming context perhaps,
where an area of land may have been held for generation upon generation by the same family:
land and identity tie in together.

In response to Andrew’s question,
Jesus doesn’t then number off an impressive list of folk from his family tree...
rather, he invites Andrew, and his friend, to
‘come and see.’
And so, they do.
They spend time with Jesus.
And Andrew is impressed:
the first thing he does is to go off to find his brother:
‘we’ve found the Messiah’ he tells Simon,
and then brings him to Jesus, so Simon, soon to be Peter, can see for himself.

Bringing people to come and see Jesus seems to be a bit of a habit with our Andrew.
The second reading is that well-known story of the feeding of the 5 000.
A great crowd had gathered to hear Jesus teach, and to see him perform miracles.
He looks out at the vast multitude and asks:
‘where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’
Philip sees the immediate problem:
‘you’d need 8 month wages at least to do it,’ he says.
He can’t see how this could be possible.
While it may be an impossible task, Andrew responds differently:
he brings someone to Jesus –
‘come and see Jesus...come and show Jesus what you’ve got...’
and presents a lad with five loaves and two fish.
Well, it’s a start –
starting with what you have,
or what someone is willing to share.
And yet...even so, how far will that stretch, Andrew perhaps wonders?
But here’s the thing:
it’s in the giving,
in the being prepared to use what’s at hand,
in the offering what you have to Jesus,
that...well...in this instance, at least,
causes something bigger than any of the disciples ever imagined... to happen.
In the end, there’s more than enough for all, with left-overs to spare.
The crowd are nourished physically and spiritually.
The disciples learn an interesting lesson.

By our third reading from John, it’s clear that Andrew is one of the ‘go-to’
people when it comes to finding a way to come and see Jesus.
In this instance, the disciples have entered Jerusalem –
palms have been waved,
crowds have cheered.
People are excited:
could he be the Messiah?
People are keen to come and see Jesus, and not just his own countrymen –
here, we have some Greeks in Jerusalem, who’ve come to the Passover feast...
They see Philip, know him to be one of Jesus’ disciples, and ask him if they can see Jesus.
What does Philip do?
Well, it seems that he’s not sure if they can.
So, he goes and finds Andrew – and off they go together, to Jesus...
Andrew, presumably encouraging Philip that it’ll be okay –
that, of course these folk can come and see Jesus.

Jesus asks: ‘What do you want?’
And then invites – not cajoles, not browbeats, not bullies,
but invites...
Andrew, and then others, to
‘Come and see.’

Andrew is someone who notices things:
he’s noticed that for him, there’s more to life than just the everyday;
he’s noticed that the material stuff of life is fine,
is a gift, is all well and good...
but he’s also noticed that he needs more – and goes on an inner journey.
He notices John, follows him...
and notices John noticing Jesus –
pointing him out as the Lamb of God.
And so, he begins to notice...Jesus:
takes him up on the offer to ‘come and see’.
And Andrew does –
he does see
the things that Jesus does,
hears the things that Jesus says,
sees the way in which Jesus can transform a life –
sometimes dramatically,
sometimes, quietly, over a period of time.
And, in the noticing,
Andrew sees that the good news about the Messiah is something worth sharing...
he extends Jesus’ invitation to others:
‘come and see,’ says Andrew...
And in extending the invitation, so, eventually, a movement began,
as other followers of Jesus said:
come and see...
A movement which continues to this day –
and which we are a part of...the church.

Gathered together here:
What do we want from Jesus?
Are we willing to accept that invitation to ‘come and see’?
It’s not a one-off invitation –
it’s a day to day experience,
following and seeing...
walking with God,
and looking for signs of God...
noticing anew God at work every moment, and every day
in our lives,
and all around us.
And, as we continue to respond to Jesus’ invitation to come and see,
might we, like Andrew, extend that invitation to others?

Let’s pray:
Spirit of God, we would see Jesus.
Like the Greeks who asked
Philip and Andrew for help,
we come to learn from him, and to understand.
Like the 5 000 people who sat on the grass,
we come to be fed by him,
and be healed by his touch.
Like Andrew himself,
we come to follow,
and to encourage others to follow.
Help us, we pray,
to come and see, more clearly;
to come and follow, more closely;
to come and share Jesus, more freely;
this we pray in his name... Amen