Ad Jesum per Mariam

St. Andrew the Apostle: First Called and the Lessons He Gives to the Church

St. Andrew the Apostle: First Called and the Lessons He Gives to the Church The first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the Advent Season, . . . . . . a sacred time of preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord. While it’s common to think that Advent begins by simply counting back four Sundays from December 25th, the Church follows a different tradition. Advent’s start is actually determined by the Sunday closest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. St. Andrew’s Lessons This connection between St. Andrew’s feast and the beginning of Advent holds deep significance. Every year, St. Andrew’s feast day either coincides with the first days of Advent or stands at its threshold, marking the season’s start. Why is St. Andrew’s feast tied so closely to Advent? It’s not just a coincidence based on the date of his martyrdom. Rather, it reflects the profound witness and example St. Andrew offers to the Church—a model of faith and discipleship as we begin this holy season of anticipation. Listen more to this Meditation Media. Listen to: St. Andrew the Apostle: First Called and the Lessons He Gives to the Church ----------------------------- Image: Saint Andrew the Apostle: Flemish Artist and Painter: Peter Paul Rubens: 1611 The painting shows the calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew. ----------------------------- Gospel: Matthew: 4: 18-22 First Reading: Rom 10: 9-18

Duration:: 28m
Broadcast on:: 05 Dec 2024
Audio Format:: other

The Lord be with you, a reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen. He said to them, "Come after me and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. The Gospel of the Lord. Tomorrow the holy season of Advent begins. And as we know there are four Sundays in Advent that lead us toward the celebration of the great mystery of the Nativity of the Lord. What many people don't realize is how the church determines when Advent begins. We would think it's just a matter of finding December 25th on the calendar and counting back four Sundays. And that would work, except that's not how the church does it. The church defines the beginning of Advent in terms of the feast we celebrate today. The Sunday closest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle is the first Sunday of Advent. The church is telling us something by connecting the beginning of the season of Advent to this feast day. And so the Feast of St. Andrew is either one of the first couple days of Advent or stands right at the doorstep of the season. But basically at the beginning of Advent is the celebration of the Feast of St. Andrew every single year. Why would that be the case? In no small measure it is not simply the accident of the date of Andrew's martyrdom. It is rather the witness and the example that Andrew in particular has left the church. When we first meet Andrew in the Gospels he is a disciple of St. John the Baptist. And so we see that he is an Israelite. He is one of those who has hopes for the Messiah, has heard the word that something new is about to happen and he responded. He responds to the preaching of the baptism not simply by coming out to listen to him but by actually beginning to follow him and to learn from him. And so it is then that as a disciple of John the Baptist with one of the other future apostles they are standing by the side of John the Baptist as Jesus passes by and the Baptist simply says there behold is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and immediately upon seeing Jesus indicated in this way Andrew moves seeking after him. It's a remarkable moment this moment where the Lord is coming and that nearness of the Lord whom Andrew does not yet know whom Andrew has not yet met provokes an immediate response. In no small measure then we can see what the church is indicating to us as it connects the season of Advent where we open our hearts with hope and expectation for the coming of the Lord in his glory where we long as well to have our hearts newly opened to celebrate the joy of the holy season of Christmas. We have this marvelous example of the man who is the first to follow after Christ. He has not yet met him but now knowing that this is the one what does he do he sets out to know him. He sets out to be with him. He will not stand idly by simply waiting for him to show up again. He will move because the season of Advent is never has never been a season of merely passive waiting. It's not as if the church is sitting waiting for Jesus to come and therefore we don't do anything because we're busy waiting. It is rather this example of the Lord is already on the move. The Lord is already on the way and therefore the movement is to step out after him and to step out and beat him. And so it is then as Andrew and this other disciple arrive at the Lord because Jesus stops when he sees them moving behind him. And again this is the remarkable thing that Andrew teaches us as we move out after the Lord we think we're the ones keeping our eyes on him and that's true to a certain extent. But the big thing is Jesus turns and sees us. To follow after the Lord is then to be seen by the Lord in a way that we will not be seen by him in any other way. This point where Jesus stops, turns around, sees them and says what do you seek? Andrew's example, Andrew's answer again is remarkably important. Lord where do you stay? Where do you abide? Where do you remain? And he's not simply saying what is your address so I can come by and visit you. This is a statement in terms of what is the abiding nature of your heart. Where do you find your rest? And the answer is come with me and you'll see. And so he becomes this one who follows Jesus not simply because the Lord said follow me but because he desires to know the rest of the Lord. He desires to know that place where the Lord remains and abides. Why would anybody desire that? Except the desire is to be with him and to remain with him. It's a remarkable incident. He is not an apostle yet but he is that one first invited to move with the Lord that he might see where he abides, where he rests, where he stays. It's this man who receives the call on the seashore as he is casting his net with his brother. This man who already upon finding the Lord brought his brother Peter to meet Jesus. And so it is Andrew who is the first one to bring another to Christ in this way. We have found the one. This is why the early church in the east gave Andrew the apostle the beautiful name, protocletus, the first one who is called. The first of the disciples, the first of the apostles, the first to be called by Christ. And this one who is the first called is also the first to bring. And right at the very beginning of Andrew's relation to Jesus we see this. We see exactly what St. Paul is speaking about in our first letter. How can they turn and call out to him if they haven't believed in him? And how can they believe if they haven't heard of him? And how can they hear of him if no one speaks of him? And how will anyone speak if men are not sent? And we see this fundamental dynamic of Jesus is indicated. Andrew follows. He believes, he trusts, he recognizes, and in that trust and recognition and belief, what does he do? He goes. He finds his own brother. And he says, we have found that one. Let me bring you to him. And no small measure. The faith of Peter and the relationship that Peter has with the Lord is the product of Andrew's encounter. Andrew who first meets the Lord. Andrew who goes and brings the other to him saying, we have found him. You must move and come. And the great dynamic of the season of Advent is that recognition of the one whom we have been waiting for is drawing near. And the appropriate response is not to sit and wait, is to get up and move, to be ready to meet him, to seek him, to desire him, and to move with him. And so it is then when Jesus comes to the seashore, as we hear in our gospel reading, and sees Peter and Andrew casting their nets into the sea, he is not approaching strangers. They already know him. They already know him. And this is important to understand the depth of this call. Jesus doesn't call a stranger to make him an apostle. Jesus calls someone he knows. And so seeing these men who already know him, seeing these men who have already come to believe in him, he says to them, now you follow me, and I will make of you something different than what you are now. Now you are fishermen. With me, you will likewise be fishermen, but your catch will be a very different thing. But we already see the dynamic in Andrew who went, found his brother, and brought him. And so the Lord says, now you follow me, not to a place where we're going to stay, not simply to a place where I will take you and bring you, follow me into my mission. Follow me into my life. Follow me into the beating of my heart that yearns for the salvation of the world. This following is not simply follow me and I will take you to heaven. Follow me into who I am. Follow me into what I do. I am moving. I am working. Follow me into my movement. Follow me into my work. And as you do that, my work will be your work. Your work will be mine. Follow me. And as we move, you will be abiding within me because you will be moving according to the movement of my life and my mission. And as a remarkably exquisite moment to this, follow me, which is not said to a stranger. And now we pause. We pause at this moment conscious of something that sank Gregory the Great observed some 1600 years ago. Reflecting on this incident at the Sea of Galilee, he says, Jesus calls and these men who are not strangers respond and they leave behind what they were doing for him. They haven't seen his miracles yet. They haven't heard his great preaching yet. He has not yet communicated to them the promise of eternal reward that he would give those who are faithful and they follow. And Gregory says, you know, and the crazy thing is we know about his miracles. We know about his teaching and we know about the promise of reward that he holds out to us and he calls us who are not strangers and what do we do? We don't move. We cling to all of these things and we let those things hold us back. This is the other remarkable part of the example of Andrew that the church holds out to us. The Lord speaks to him and because he knows the Lord, he can leave what he is doing behind. Because you can't do that for a stranger. Because he knows the Lord and he trusts the Lord and he believes in the Lord, he can respond to the Lord in freedom. And what a remarkable challenge then that that place is before us. Do I flatter myself thinking I know the Lord when maybe I don't? Do I know the Lord in such a way that I trust him that fully? Do I know the Lord enough to risk leaving all those things I think I need for his sake? It's a powerful and a mighty example and it's sobering and humbling to recognize that a man who is not simply canodized a saint but has been given the title "The Great" is the one who says and we don't move because he's including himself in that way. That there's something about this response of Andrew. There is something about this generosity. There's something about this desire to be with the Lord. And as we follow through the Gospels we continue to see this. Andrew is the one who has a very peculiar relationship with the Lord. Because Andrew is that one more than any of the other apostles who enables people to meet the Lord. On the day when the great crowd is there and Jesus says let's go give them something to eat and Philip pipes up and says Lord that's not possible. 400 days wages isn't going to buy enough for these guys. Andrew is the one who shows up with the boy with the loaves and fish. Not knowing what good this will do and yet he brings him to the Lord saying there's somebody here who has something. It's not enough but it's something. And it's from this boy that Andrew brings to the Lord that Christ receives the loaves and the fish that he multiplies. And later as the Lord stands on the doorstep of his passion in Jerusalem for the holy days a group of Greeks are in the city and they want to meet Jesus. They go to their friend Philip the guy with the Greek name thinking Phillips the guy will get us there. And what happens? Philip brings them to Andrew and Andrew gets them to Jesus. We also see here the invention of church bureaucracy. But note how marvelous this is. It is Andrew even even the other apostles go to Andrew to get somebody close to the Lord. Andrew is recognized as the patron saint of vocation directors for this reason. But again this this instance of Andrew seems to know where the Lord stays. He knows where the Lord is in a way that the others don't quite. And so it is that when someone wants to meet the Lord they go to the guys to the guy who knows where he is. How marvelous to have that sense at the beginning of the season of Advent. Where again we wait for the Lord we long for the Lord to avail ourselves of the intercession of the one who knows where he is. He's on the way but there's somebody who knows where he is. And this notion then that there is one whose example whose life and whose prayer can carry us forward. And so the church avails the intercession of Andrew at the beginning of the season of Advent for all of these reasons. Andrew as we know is also one of those who is called, claimed and sent. And even after the ascension of the Lord and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost when the apostles dispersed to bring the gospel to the world. And we see this marvelous fulfillment of that statement from the Psalms, the same Paul quotes. Their word has gone out to all the world. In the Psalm that refers to the witness of the stars and the sun and the moon and the great things of creation proclaiming the glory of God. And Saint Paul rightly recognizes that a greater witness is now given. Not by sun, not by moon, not by the majesty of the natural world, but by the witness of those who know the Lord, who go forth in the strength of that mighty word which made all those other things. And that just as the sun in the sky shines over the entire world and brightens it and warms it, a greater brightness and a greater warmth begins now to cover the world in the witness of the apostles who go forth. Andrew goes north into into Cythia, over into Achaia and Greece, preaching the gospel with incredible boldness and incredible effectiveness, winning entire civilizations to faith in the Lord. But he does so always as that one who even though he is sent has never stopped following. That's the other element here. Sometimes in our minds we have trouble holding the two ideas together, that there's a guy who sent to us to go and do because he started out as a follower. But you never stop being a follower. And so everything that Andrew is doing is following and the other thing that never stopped in Andrew's life was he never stopped seeking. And he came seeking the hearts of men and women to win them for Christ, but he never stopped seeking Christ in everything that he did. So much so that when the moment of his martyrdom was at hand in the region of Achaia in Greece, and he is brought before the Proconsul who is not simply angry at Andrew for witnessing to this new religion and winning the hearts of the people, he's especially angry at Andrew because Andrew converted his wife. And so breathing murderous threats, he has the apostle arrested, he has the apostle scourged. And the day finally comes to end his life and the Proconsul is proud of himself. I will silence you. I will rid myself of you. You will die a failure just like the Lord that you follow. And he's puzzled because Andrew just smiles and says that's what I've been waiting for. And so on the day of his martyrdom, there's this remarkable moment. And he can spend your whole life in the Catholic Church and never hear these words, so I'm just gonna read them. And as he spake thus and yet more into straddocles and them that were with him, they came to the place where he was to be crucified. And seeing the cross set up at the edge of the sand by the seashore. Know where he dies. Called by the seashore, he dies by the seashore. And he sees this as another call. He left them all and went to the cross and spake unto it as unto a living creature with a loud voice. Hail, O cross, be glad indeed. Well know I that thou shalt henceforth be at rest thou that hast for a long time been wearied being set up and waiting for me. I come unto thee whom I know belong to me. I come unto the thee that has yearned after me. I know thy mystery. For the witch thou art set up. For thou art planted in the world to establish the things that are unstable. And the one part of the stretches up toward heaven that thou may signify the heavenly word. And another part of thee is spread out to the right and to the left, that it may put to flight the envious and adverse power of the evil one and gather into one the things that are scattered abroad. And another part of thee is planted in the earth and securely set in the depth that thou may join the things that are in the earth and that are under the earth unto the heavenly things. O cross, device of the salvation of the Most High. O cross, trophy of the victory of Christ over the enemies. O cross, planted upon the earth and having thy fruit in the heavens. O name of the cross, filled with all things. Well done, O cross, that has bound down the nobility of the world. Well done, O shape of understanding that has shaped the shapeless. Well done, O unseen chastisement, that sorely chastises the substance of the knowledge that has many gods and drives out from among mankind Him that devised it. Well done, thou that didst clove thyself with the Lord and did bear the thief as a fruit and did call the apostle to repentance and did not refuse to accept us. But how long delay I speaking this way and embrace not the cross that by the cross I may be made alive and by the cross win the common death of all and depart out of life. Come hither ye ministers of joy unto me. This is what he calls as executioners. Come to me, you ministers of joy accomplish the desire of us both and bind the lamb unto the wood of suffering, the man unto his maker, the soul unto its savior and the blessed Andrew having thus spoken standing upon the earth looked earnestly upon the cross and bathed the brethren that the executioner should come and do that which was commanded them, for they stood afar off. Note the remarkable character of that depiction of Andrew's martyrdom and especially that sense that even as he looks at the cross he sees in the cross the great desire that Jesus has for him. He speaks out to the cross as if it stands in for Jesus. You have come for me. You've been waiting for me. This is where you were leading me and by means of this you will lift me from earth to heaven, from death to life. You are planted in the earth but you bear your fruit in heaven and I will be by your goodness that fruit born into heaven. What a remarkable vision, what a remarkable sense of what it is to be always seeking after the Lord and what do we see as his final lesson? Lord where do you stay? The cross. The Lord is found with his cross. The Lord is found on the cross and those who seek after the Lord eventually come to the cross but they come to it not simply as a sorrow, not simply as a suffering but as a victory, the true tree of life and what a remarkable fruit it bears. A soul born into the glory of heaven and a joy, a happiness and a rest that cannot be taken away. Lord where do you stay? And the final answer is come and you will see. Come to my cross and indeed you will be with me. In just a few minutes that same Jesus Christ is going to be on this altar. We're not strangers and what Father is going to say when he holds up the consecrated host and the transformed chalice he's going to say the words of John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." Note what else Andrew teaches us because shortly after hearing those words what do we do? We do what Andrew did. We get up and we come forward to meet him even as he moves toward us. When you hear those words the body of Christ and you say you're a man. Have in mind what Andrew asked the Lord, "Heart show me where you stay. Show me where you stay." And the Lord is going to say to you even as you receive him come with me. Come with me and you will see. Let him lead you into the mystery of your own heart and your own life in that way. Don't receive Jesus into you. Let Jesus lead you into your true self. Come with me and I will make you fishers of men. Amen.