01.16.2021 Homily

In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it is Peter who is first called as a disciple of Jesus. Peter doesn't play much of a part in the gospel of John. Andrew plays a bigger role. Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. And some would say that there's evidence that Jesus too had been part of a group that had followed with John. But John had said to the people, "I'm going to disappear so that someone else can appear. Someone is coming after me whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to untie."

So these two disciples, one of them Andrew, standing next to John and John points out Jesus. And immediately the two of them leave. And immediately the two of them follow and Jesus sees them and he turns to them and he asks them, "What is it that you want?" This is the basic question that is present before every single human being, "What is it that you want? Who is it that you seek?" Those are the first words out of Jesus's mouth in John's gospel. And those words will be repeated again in the garden of Gethsemane when they come to arrest him, he says, "Who do you seek? Who do you look for?" And the morning of the resurrection when Mary Magdalene is present in the garden and is grieving because she can't find him. He says to her, "Who is it for whom you look? Who do you look for?"

It's really the question that goes through all of St John's gospel and the pages of that gospel ask again and again, of you and me, the reader, "Who do you look for? What do you want?" Those two disciples, Andrew and the other, by the way, the other one is never named because in John's writing, the other one is you and me. We're the other disciple of John who is trying to follow Jesus. That ploy is used also in St. Luke's gospel and the evening of their resurrection. Two disciples with great sadness, they leave Jerusalem and they go a few miles to another town called Emmaus. And as they're going on the road, they're commiserating with each other and Jesus comes and he walks with them, although they don't see him. And we learned in the story that one of them's name is Cleophas, but we're never told what the other name is because the other name is you and me. We're part of the story.

So Andrew and the other disciple go into the house and they stayed with Jesus all the rest of the day. And we're not told anything about what happened, what they talked about or what they did, but something dramatically happened. Something that shook the very foundation of Andrew's life. Because the next morning he runs to his younger brother, Simon. And he says, "I have found the Messiah. I have found the Christ. I have found the one for whom we are waiting." Somehow in the course of that late afternoon and through the night in the interaction between Jesus and those two disciples.

At some point they came, Andrew came to a realization of who Jesus was. He could answer Jesus's question. "Who are you looking for?" He didn't know the answer in a day earlier, but now he knew the answer and he could go and he could invite his younger brother to come and to be introduced to Jesus. You see, this is the way the story works. John, the Baptist introduces Andrew and the other to Jesus. "Behold the lamb of God." Andrew then goes to his brother Simon and he introduces Simon to Jesus. And we find it later in that same chapter, that Philip goes to Nathaniel and then takes Nathaniel by the hand and introduces him Jesus.

And later on the gospel at the time of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, it's Andrew who takes this young boy, who's got a few fish and a few loaves of bread, and he brings him to Jesus. And just before the end of Jesus's ministry, the beginning of his passion, we're told in John's gospel, that Greeks are coming and they want to talk to him and they come to Philip and they say, "We want to see the master." And Philip takes them and introduces them to Andrew and Andrew takes them by the hand and he brings them to Jesus.

And that's the way the story goes on day after day, year after year, century after century, one introduces another to Jesus. Who introduced you to Jesus? Who opened that opportunity for you? Who invited you to walk in that journey of faith? Could be a parent, a teacher, a friend, a godparent, a neighbor, a colleague, a grandparent. There is a tradition among Middle Eastern people about how important the godparent is because the role of the godparent is to introduce the godchild to Jesus. And what is it believed is that when that child grows to adulthood and dies, the first persons that child meets are his godparents and his godparents take them by the hand and introduce them to Jesus.

Who have you introduced to Jesus? And how did that happen? How was it that you knew this was the time for you to do that? Well, as we pray today, I want you to pray with two intentions. First of all, I want you to pray in gratitude for those who opened the door for you, invited you in, who introduced you to Jesus, pray for them. I'm sure that for the vast majority of us, that person is long deceased, but pray in gratitude and thanksgiving for the gift that that person was to your life. And secondly, pray for those to whom you have introduced Jesus. Pray for those who by your word, by your example, by your encouragement, were able to follow, who stay with Jesus. To come away having known Him.