Gospel (Except USA) Matthew 4:18-22 'I will make you fishers of men' As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him. Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him. Gospel (USA) Matthew 4:18-22 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 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. (i)Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle According to Paul in today’s first reading, ‘faith comes from what is preached’. We could extend that to say that faith comes through the preaching and teaching of those who believe. Who were the preachers and teachers in our lives through whom we came to believe? We can include among those preachers and teachers all those who spoke to us as children about the life of faith, about God, Jesus, Mary and the saints, about the church and the sacraments. The primary preachers and teachers were our parents; they spoke to us about the faith from our earliest years. We may have encountered preachers in church and teachers in school who helped to open up the riches of the faith to us. Books or articles written by people of faith may have touched us deeply. The preachers and teachers in our lives took many forms. We owe our faith to them. We don’t come to believe on our own. We need people of faith to lead us to faith. Today we celebrate one of the earliest preachers and teachers of the faith, Saint Andrew. He can easily end up in the shadow of his more famous brother, Saint Peter. Yet, according to John’s gospel, it was Andrew who brought Peter to Jesus. In other words, Andrew was the first preacher of the faith in the life of Peter. Andrew reminds us that we all have a role in bringing others to faith. None of us goes to the Lord on our own. We need companions in faith who help to bring us to the Lord, as Andrew brought Simon to the Lord. We are all called to be preachers and teachers in that sense, people of faith who witness to our faith in ways that help others to meet the Lord for themselves. And/Or (ii)Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle Andrew is always listed second in the list of the twelve apostles, after his brother, Simon Peter. On this feast of Saint Andrew we hear the story of the call of Andrew along with his brother Simon Peter and another set of brothers, James and John. There is a great simplicity about the passage. Jesus saw the two brothers, Simon and Andrew, making a cast with their net in the Sea of Galilee, going about their daily work, and he called out to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of people’. Immediately the two brothers left their nets and followed Jesus. The evangelist has perhaps streamlined an experience in the lives of these two brothers that, in reality, may have been a lot more complex. You would expect that there must have been some hesitation on their part before the call of Jesus, because it meant leaving what they were familiar with and good at, and heading out into the unknown. Becoming fishers of people, catching people, is a lot more challenging than catching fish. Gathering people into the net of God’s kingdom proclaimed by Jesus is much more complicated than gathering fish into fishing nets. Yet, if there was hesitation in Andrew and Simon, they obviously overcame it; they threw in their lot with Jesus. They responded to his invitation, his call and they went on to become great preachers of the gospel. The way the Lord works in our own lives is perhaps not all that different to the way he worked in the lives of Andrew and Simon. He often calls us out to us in the midst of our daily tasks. He frequently calls us beyond where we are, beyond the familiar, inviting us to take on some new task in the service of the coming of God’s kingdom. That call can come to us in small and subtle ways. We may find ourselves resisting it, but if we attend to it and allow it to resonate within us, and if we then respond to it, we will often discover that the Lord works through us for good in ways that surprise us. The Lord can work powerfully through our willingness and generosity of spirit. And/Or (iii) Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter. They both earned their living by fishing on the Sea of Galilee. According to this morning’s gospel reading, they were the first whom Jesus called to become his followers and they were the first to respond to his calling, leaving their fishing business to go where Jesus went. When the Matthew, Mark and Luke list the names of the twelve, Simon Peter is always mentioned first and Andrew second, suggesting that Peter was the more significant of the two within the circle of Jesus. Indeed, Peter was clearly the leader of the twelve, the disciple whom Jesus called to be rock on which he would build his church, the shepherd to whom he entrusted the care of his flock. Yet, according to John’s gospel, Andrew was the first to spend time with Jesus and to recognize him as the Messiah, and it was Andrew who subsequently brought his brother Simon Peter to Jesus. ‘He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah”’ (John 1:41). According to this gospel, Peter may have gone on to have a more prominent role in Jesus’ circle than Andrew, but it was Andrew who created the opening for Peter to meet with Jesus initially. The ministry of opening a door to the Lord for others is a very significant one. We can all enter into that task of creating a space for others to encounter the Lord. Whenever we take on this ‘Andrew role’ for others, it can have consequences for good beyond our imagining. And/Or (iv) Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle In the first reading, Paul declares that ‘faith comes from what is preached, and what is preached comes from the word of God’. Good preaching is rooted in God’s word and nurtures faith. The preacher needs to be a good listener to God’s word if his or her preaching is to generate and nurture faith. As Christians, we recognize the New Testament as the privileged place where we hear God’s word. The Lord speaks to us through the inspired writings of what has come to be known as the New Testament. In the gospel reading, Peter and Andrew, James and John, hear the Lord’s word as they engage in their daily work as fishermen. It was while they were casting or mending their nets that they heard the Lord’s call to become his followers. The Lord speaks to us all from within the heart of our daily experience. What we might think of as purely secular activities can have a truly sacred quality. Our attentiveness to the Lord’s word in the Scriptures can make us more attuned to the many ways he communicates with us in the bits and pieces of life. According to today’s responsorial psalm, the heavens proclaim the glory of God, as does the firmament; day unto day takes up the story; night unto night makes known the message. The Lord’s glory, story, message can be heard in all of life, if we have ears to hear. Andrew, whose feast we celebrate today, had ears to hear the Lord’s word to him as he immersed himself in his day’s work. He inspires us to have something of the same contemplative attitude to life that allows us to be sensitive to what the Lord may be saying to us in all of life’s situations. And/Or (v) Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle In the list of the twelve apostles, Andrew always comes second, after his brother Peter. He is overshadowed somewhat by his more prominent brother Peter, who became the leading member of the church that was formed after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The gospel reading refers to Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother, Andrew. The siblings of well-known people can easily become defined by their relationship to the better known member of the family, ‘the brother or the sister of…’. Yet, according to the gospel of John, it was Andrew who brought Peter to Jesus. According to the first chapter of that gospel, Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, and he and one other disciple of John the Baptist, were the first to spend time in Jesus’ company. Having spent a day with Jesus, Andrew found his brother Simon Peter and declared excitedly to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’. He then brought Simon Peter to Jesus, and looking upon Simon, Jesus said to him, ‘You are Simon, son of John. You are to be called ‘”Peter”’. Even though Peter went on to have a more significant role in the church than Andrew, it was Andrew who had the more significant role at the beginning. Indeed, without Andrew’s role in Peter’s life at that time, Peter would not have gone on to become the great pastoral leader he was. The Lord has a role for each one of us and that role is vitally important, even if it seems less prominent than other people’s role. There is something that the Lord wants each of us to do that no one else can do. Sometimes, the role he is calling us take on is that of the enabler, as in the case of Andrew who enabled Peter to begin his faith journey, which went on to bear such rich fruit for the church. Even though Andrew lived in the shadow of Peter somewhat, without Andrew the church would not have known Peter. The role of enabler is one of those modest, humble, roles in the Lord’s work that is, nonetheless, hugely significant. If we find ourselves being called to play that role at some point in our lives, we are indeed blessed.30th November >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 4:18-22 forTheFeast of Saint Andrew, Apostle:‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men’.
Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
Reflections (5)
Fr. Martin Hogan.
See Also
About Fr. Francis Martin8th May >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 14:1-6 for Friday, Fourth Week of Easter: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’.17th August >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflection on Matthew 18:21-19:1 for Thursday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time: 'How often must I forgive?’