In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Whenever we celebrate the feast of an Apostle, or read a
portion of Scripture about one of the Twelve, our minds immediately turn toward
the Office of the Holy Ministry. This is a good thought, and it is the final
destination of tonight’s Gospel text. However, there is another, very important
lesson to learn first. Before any of the Twelve were sent out as Apostles, they
were first called to be Christians.
St. Andrew is one of the first disciples to be called by our
Lord, let alone one of the first of the Apostles. He is the brother of St.
Peter and these brothers are from Bethsaida.[1]
They were fishermen by trade.[2]
Prior to being called by Jesus, Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. When
John pointed to Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,”
Andrew and another disciple of John followed Jesus. They spent the day with Him
and sought where He would be staying that night.[3]
Sometime later, Andrew returned home to tell his brother that
they had found the Messiah.[4]
We are not told Peter’s reaction, but we do know that both brothers returned to
fishing. It was fulfilling their vocations as workers that Jesus next found
Andrew and Peter. He called to them and said, “Follow Me, and I will make you
fishers of men.”[5]
This call can be viewed in two ways. First, there is the
general call to follow Jesus. This is the call to faith, the call common to all
Christians. Here, Jesus is calling these men to abandon house and home,
financial security, mother and father, wife and children. Jesus is calling them
to abandon these worldly blessings in favor of His eternal blessing.
As I said, this is the call to faith given to all
Christians. We are called out of this world. We are called to abandon all
things that would hinder us from following Jesus. This is much easier said than
done. The idea that Jesus would ask you to abandon your family for Him seems
counter-intuitive. It is counter to the Will of God if you misunderstand.
If you understand this call as the Medieval monks did, then
it is against the Will of God. They believed that God called them to abandon
father and mother in a temporal sense and that by locking themselves behind the
walls of a monastery, they would be more holy than all other Christians. They
even fooled themselves into believing that by separating themselves from their
loved ones, they could save father and mother, wife and children, through their
own prayers and merits. This is not the call of our Lord. It is the call of
Satan.
Notice how St. Andrew first understands the
call. He goes home and tells his beloved brother that he has found the Messiah.
While I doubt this is true, it is possible that Peter’s response was a scoff.
It is possible that Peter made fun of Andrew for such silly ideas. It is
possible that Peter told Andrew he was seeing things and that the Messiah was a
fantasy.
I doubt this to be true because Peter likewise follows Jesus
at His Word. But we, who are gathered in this room, know what it is like to be
rejected for our faith. You know what it is like to be scorned for confessing
Christ. If you don’t know, then perhaps you have spent your life in fear of such
a response. Perhaps your fear of the response of your brother is greater than
your love for him.
St. Andrew could be considered the first domestic missionary
of the Christian era.[6]
After spending a day with the Lord Jesus Christ, he went home and proclaimed
the coming of the Messiah to his family. Andrew loves his family enough that he
is willing to endure scorn and shame. Andrew trusts the Word of God enough that
he believes it will cause faith to sprout in Peter’s heart.
Much later in our Lord’s ministry, some Greeks came to the
Apostles asking Philip if they could see Jesus. Philip went to Andrew, but
Andrew knew to go directly to Christ. He did not want to continue this game of
telephone, but instead consulted the Incarnate Word of God. Jesus responded to
this request with a prediction of His death and resurrection. He was praising
Andrew for coming to Him and subtly telling Him that these Greeks will be saved
just as Andrew is—by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
In this way, St. Andrew could also be
considered among the first foreign missionaries. Tracking his movements
throughout the Scriptures, you get the sense that Andrew couldn’t wait to tell
others about Jesus. He trusted the Word of God such that he understood it to be
the most precious thing in the world. He knew Jesus to be the most precious gift
given to man and he wanted everyone to receive Him.
We have entered a time in which our society has begun to
collapse. There could be days, weeks, years, or even a few decades left before
complete collapse, but it has begun. A sign of this collapse is the utter
disdain of the church and the protection of the government toward those who
would blaspheme the Lord. This blasphemy is not just abstract. It is
experienced by the Church. It is experienced by you in your daily interactions.
St. Andrew heard the call to follow Jesus and never looked back. It was later
revealed to him that following Jesus promised scorn and persecution at the
hands of men. For Andrew, it would also mean martyrdom.
Yet St. Andrew was not deterred. It is recorded that Andrew
was crucified on an X-shaped cross at his own request. He did not count himself
worthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus. The Greek governor who ordered
him to be crucified also wanted him to suffer. Rather than nail his arms and feet
to the cross, he was tied to it. Andrew spent three days hanging on his cross.
But even during these three days, he continued to proclaim Christ to all who could
hear him. At one time, he loudly cried, “O cross, most welcome and oft-looked
for; with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously, I come to thee, being the scholar
of Him who did hang on thee; because I have been always thy lover, and have
longed to embrace thee!”[7]
So many were hearing the preaching of St. Andrew and turning
toward Christ, that after three days, the governor ordered that the ropes be cut,
and Andrew taken down. As the last cord was severed, “the body of the Apostle
fell to the ground quite dead.”[8]
I pray the Lord would inspire such courage and such faith in all of us.
The second way to view the call of St. Andrew especially
focuses on the second part of our Lord’s call, “and I will make you fishers of
men.”[9]
This is the call into the Office of the Holy Ministry, and especially in this
case, the call to Apostleship. I will save a sermon on the doctrine of the
Office for another time, but know this: before any of the Apostles were
ordained, they were Christians. They were called to be Christians.
In this sense, there is very little that is different
between the Office of the Holy Ministry and the Office of Christian. Both are
called to follow Jesus. Both are called to be fishers of men, albeit in different
ways. A Pastor is called to make his living as a fisher of men. He is to publicly
proclaim the Word of God; rebuke the unrepentant and absolve the penitent. He
is to teach and examine the Church. He is dedicated to the Scriptures in a way
that is not possible for most Christians as they have other vocations requiring
time and effort.
And yet all Christians are called to be fishers of men.
Before Easter evening in the upper room, when Christ breathed on the disciples
and sent them to proclaim His Word, Andrew told his brother of the Messiah.
Andrew brought the prayers of the Greeks to Jesus. In the same way, by virtue
of your Holy Baptism, you have been called to follow Jesus by trusting in His Word.
Trust that His Word has forgiven you sins. Trust that His Word has changed your
stony heart into a heart of flesh. Trust that His Word has loosed your tongue
such that the Holy Spirit will guide you in sharing this Word of Truth with the
world.
Not all Christians are called to preach and teach on behalf
of the Church. That is the duty of the Office of the Holy Ministry. But all
Christians are called to preach and teach in your homes; in line at Walmart; to
your relatives; and all you meet. Such proclamation is a duty, but it is also a
joy. It is the same joy of tasting a sweet dessert and insisting your husband
try it. You want to share the cake with him because you know he would enjoy it.
Even greater is the joy of talking about Jesus with your
friends, family, and neighbors. It is true that they might scorn you or reject
this Word of God, but the joy is still yours. The joy is yours because it is
not your work to make them understand or even to receive the promises of
Christ. That is the work of the Spirit. Your joy is simply in sharing the beautiful
proclamation that Jesus has died for you and for them. Your joy is saying that
Jesus loves you. Your joy is resting in the promises of God and looking forward
to His eternal embrace.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
[1]
St. John 1:44.
[2]
St. Matthew 4:18.
[3]
St. John 1:35-40.
[4]
St. John 1:41.
[5]
St. Matthew 4:19.
[6]
William C. Weedon, Celebrating the Saints (St. Louis, MO: Concordia
Publishing House, 2016), 216-217.
[7]
John Foxe, Foxe’s Christian Martyrs of the World (Westwood, New Jersey:
Barbour and Company, Inc., 1985), 30.
[8]
Foxe, Martyrs, 30.
[9]
St. Matthew 4:19.
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