St.Andrew
Readings
Romans 10: 9-18
Matthew 4: 18-22
Reflection
In today’s gospel account, Andrew and his brother Peter are called by Jesus while they are fishing. He asks Andrew and Peter to follow him “so they can catch people”. Why was Jesus walking by the sea? Did he expect to find these men by the Sea of Galilee? What did he know about them?
Well, we know that like himself, Andrew had been a former disciple of John the Baptist. To have been John’s follower, a man needed to be very committed. Jesus knew Andrew already and at some stage, Simon had decided not to continue following John. So had Jesus.
No doubt Simon had talked to Jesus about his brother Simon and their fishing partners John and James. The gospel account says nothing about any chit-chat. Jesus invited, asked, or called these men, and all four men made an immediate response to Jesus’ call. They left their fishing career behind to follow a man it seems only one of them, Andrew, had ever met before.
Andrew must have told his brother and friends about Jesus in a compelling way, and perhaps he invited Jesus to come to the lake to speak with them. This after all seems to have been Andrew’s gift. When some Greeks wanted to meet Jesus they went to Philip who went to see Andrew, who took them to Jesus (Jn 12:20-21). When there was a huge crowd with insufficient food, it was Andrew who identified the small boy with loaved fish John 6:8-9).
Andrew identified Jesus as the one to give his life to, and not surprisingly, he brought people to meet Jesus.
That we might be just a little like Andrew!
Brian Traynor CP has been involved in faith formation for many years especially in the form of parish missions and through the Passionist Family Group Movement. Brian is a member of the Passionist community at Holy Cross, Templestowe.