The first sentence in our service of confirmation states that one of the primary purposes of the church is to be an instrument of God in the conversion of the world.^[1] What I understand this to mean is that our goal as a church and as church members is not merely to enlist more members in this religious organization. Our goal is to be an instrument of God in transforming the world from the way it is to the way God in Christ has shown us the world is supposed to be. 

How can we fulfill this goal? How can God use us in the conversion of the world? I think Andrew can be one of our role models. 

In the story we read today, John the Baptist was with Andrew and another of his disciples when Jesus walked by. John said to these two: “Look, there is the Lamb of God!” These two men were what we might call “interns”, students who were trying to learn what John had discovered about the ways and wisdom of God. So, when they heard John the Baptist say, in effect: “Look, there is the Messiah,” it really got their attention, and they began to follow Jesus. 

When Jesus saw these two following him, he asked: “What are you looking for?” That is to say: “Why are you following me?” They did not answer his question. I suspect they did not know the answer. Sometimes we humans have a deep sense of what we are longing for, but we cannot find the concepts to express it. I suspect these two men could not express in words what they wanted, but it is evident they thought, they hoped, Jesus might be the key to finding it. After all, John the Baptist had called Jesus “the Lamb of God.” So rather than answering Jesus’ question, they asked a question: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus understood, and he invited them to come with him. 

And so, these two seekers of deeper truth followed Jesus to where he was staying. We do not know what they talked about. What we do know is the impact of that encounter—especially on the intern named Andrew. 

The first thing Andrew did when he left Jesus was to tell his brother Simon that he and his friend had found the Messiah—the one all Judaism had been longing would come bringing hope and healing to the world. But Andrew did more than just tell his brother what had happened that day. Andrew took his brother to Jesus. When Jesus saw Simon, Jesus said: “Simon, you are to be called ‘Rock.’” Or as we have translated it, “You are to be called Peter.” 

We know about Simon Peter. We know about the leadership he gave the early church after Pentecost. Peter is an important figure in the history of Christianity. But so is Andrew, and most of us have more in common with Andrew than with Simon Peter. As the Gospel of John tells the story, if it had not been for Andrew there may well have been no Simon turned Peter. 

Very few of us—if any of us—are ever going to impact history in ways similar to Peter. But all of us, each of us, can be like Andrew. Andrew’s story is our story. Regardless of our age or abilities, each of us can have the kind of impact on history that Andrew had. 

Let’s go back and look at the story a little more closely. Andrew was like us in that he knew what it was to have to earn a living. He was in the fishing business with his brother. That is how they supported themselves and their families. But even as a fisherman, Andrew was a seeker of God. This is why he was a disciple of John the Baptist. He was searching for God and the ways of God. He was seeking God’s will for his life. Like Andrew, as we go about doing whatever we must do in our daily living, we too have the possibility of being seekers of God, seekers of the ways of God, and seekers of God’s will for our lives. 

And like Andrew, none of us find our way by ourselves. Each of us in our faith journey need persons in our lives who help point us in the right direction. We humans were created to have need for one another, and we have been given the gift and possibility of helping one another. Andrew needed John the Baptist to point the way, and Simon needed his brother Andrew. 

But Andrew needed more than the information John the Baptist gave him. Andrew had to discover for himself that what John the Baptist said was really true, And for Andrew to be able to do this, he had to be willing to invest time and effort learning what he could learn from Jesus. 

And so it is for us. It takes more than someone telling us Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. For us to discover what God is offering us in Jesus Christ requires us to be like Andrew. We, too, must make the effort to follow Jesus. Sitting in pews will not get it done. Like Andrew we have to go to where he is. We have to go where he leads us, and that requires us to invest time and effort. 

Andrew followed Jesus, trying to discover for himself whether or not what John the Baptist said was true. The result was Andrew became convinced Jesus really was the Messiah. Although, at this point in the story, Andrew, like the others who were to become the first disciples of Jesus, did not fully understand. In fact the writers of all four gospels make it clear that the first disciples understood very little and misunderstood a lot. But regardless of Andrew’s limited comprehension of who Jesus was, regardless of Andrew’s lack of an adequate understanding of what following Jesus entailed, Andrew understood enough to know Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. Andrew’s understanding was incomplete and to some extent inaccurate. But he understood enough to know that what was being made known in Jesus not only gave hope and meaning to his own life, but also hope for the world and meaning to life. 

Like Andrew, our understanding of Jesus may be inadequate, we may even have some significant misunderstandings about him and about the implications of his life for our living, but, like Andrew, this much we can understand: what was and is being made known in Jesus gives us hope for ourselves and hope for the world. Like Andrew, we may not accurately understand it all, but like him we can understand enough to be convinced in our hearts that what has been made known in Jesus is what gives our lives meaning and what gives meaning to life. 

When, like Andrew, we are convinced that hope for ourselves and hope for the world resides in what has been made known in and through Jesus, we, too, are ready to call him Christ, Messiah, Savior of the world. And, like Andrew, when we discover this hope for ourselves and for the world, it is such good news we have a deep desire to share our good news with anyone who will listen, and especially with those as close to us as Simon was to Andrew. When we have discovered not only what gives hope and meaning to our lives, but also gives hope for the world and meaning to life, we have something worth sharing with all our brothers and sisters. 

We can be like Andrew, and we can share with others what has given our lives meaning and purpose. Like Andrew, we can share what enables us to live with hope—hope for ourselves and hope for the world. 

And who knows what use God will make of the persons with whom we share what we have to share? I have a fantasy that is not really a fantasy as much as it is a parable about the way in which our lives make a difference, the way in which we are involved in the conversion of the world, the way God uses us in changing the world. 

Once upon a time there was a person just like you and just like I am and just like anyone else on this planet. This person had an experience just like the one Andrew had and shared that experience with others. Whenever there was an appropriate opportunity, this person would share with others that what he or she had discovered through Jesus had not only given meaning and hope to his or her life, but also had given meaning and purpose to life in general. 

And then some of those persons told others, and some of them told others, and the process was repeated again and again. Along the way, every once in awhile, a person with the right abilities in the right place at the right time made a highly visible contribution to life—just as Andrew’s brother Simon was to do. 

I think this is the way it works. I think this is the way the conversion of the world happens. And Andrew’s story is a good illustration of the way the world is converted from the way it is to the way God intends it to be. Andrew’s story is our story. It is a story that gives us hope for our lives and hope for the world. 

God, help us discover what Andrew discovered so that our lives can matter the way his did. Amen.

 

Pastoral Prayer:

God, as our nation remembers Martin Luther King, we are aware of how far we have come toward having a nation in which all persons are of equal worth. And for this progress we are profoundly grateful. But at the same time, we are also aware of how far we are from the fulfillment of the ideals on which our nation was founded. God, there is so much that still divides us and sets person against person and group against group. We are still struggling with the tyranny of all sorts of prejudice. We are still wrestling with our envy of what others have and our destructive pride in what we have done or obtained. All too often we still find it easier to be self-centered and selfish rather than to be sensitive to others and generous. Too often we close our minds and steam full speed ahead, unwilling to think new thoughts or chart a new course. God, it is all too often easier to react in anger rooted in fear than it is to respond with forgiveness rooted in hope. It is easier for us to self-righteously identify and condemn the faults and failures of others than it is to face and confess our own contribution to what is wrong in our society.

God, we need more than forgiveness. We need transformation. And it is our confident hope and faith in the healing and transforming power you have made known in Jesus that we offer this prayer and strive to live as he was teaching us to live when he taught us to pray: “Our Father …”