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Whose shadow did you grow up under? Was it an older sibling? Was it a parent? Was it someone you looked up to and hoped to reflect? Everyone has been touched by someone’s shadow at some point in their life … even the brightest stars! And each of us casts a shadow of our own. A question to consider is what kind of shadow are we casting? There was one apostle of Jesus who grew up under the immense shadow of another but still learned how to cast his own – and it was pretty impressive.
Andrew was significantly younger than his brother, Simon. Together, they had grown up in Bethsaida on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee. Andrew had always lived his life in the shadow of his big brother. He was often referred to as Andrew, the brother of Simon. But that fact never seemed to bother him. He loved, respected and looked up to his brother.
Their father, John, had raised both of his sons to honor their God as whole-hearted worshipers, to provide for their families as industrious fishermen, and to love those around them as selfless servants. Their father had died while Andrew was still young, leaving Simon to take over the role as head of the family.
One day Andrew heard about a preacher teaching a message of repentance in the wilderness of Judea. After obtaining his brother’s permission to leave his responsibilities on the family fishing boat, he embarked on a pilgrimage to Bethany, along the Jordan River, where the man was preaching and baptizing. Andrew hungered to know more about God and to hear firsthand this message about the Kingdom of God. Perhaps he was even sent as an emissary by Simon to glean the truth of the message. Having once heard John the baptizer, Andrew’s heart bore witness that the truth of God was being declared through him. He decided right then to become a disciple of this “voice crying in the wilderness.”
Andrew and his fellow companion, John (the son of Zebedee), were standing with the baptizer when the wilderness preacher saw Jesus one day and declared Him to be the Lamb of God.(1) Immediately, with the full blessing of the baptizer, Andrew and John left to follow Jesus. As they did, Jesus asked them, “What do you want?” Their reply was simple: “Teacher, where are you staying?” From that moment on their lives would never be the same. Jesus invited them to “Come and see” and for the rest of that day they remained with Him. Scripture doesn’t tell us all they saw or all they heard Jesus say that day. But by day’s end, Andrew and John knew firsthand that Jesus was the Messiah – the Chosen One of God!
At that moment, we are shown three important truths about Andrew’s character in light of what he did next. First, he was a man of integrity. He had been sent with his brother’s blessing to glean the truth. And now having discovered the Truth, in the form of Jesus, his first action – without any delay – was to honor his commitment and carry that report back to his brother and family. He could have selfishly chosen to stay right where he was – there at the feet of Jesus. How many of us would have been tempted to do just that? But that wasn’t an option for Andrew; he had given a promise to his brother.
Second, he loved his brother. He was under the care and authority of his older brother. Simon apparently never lorded his authority over Andrew, instead he selflessly and affectionately demonstrated his desire for Andrew to always experience the best. And Andrew reciprocated that affection by demonstrating that his first priority was to bring Simon to meet Jesus. What greater expression of love can there be than introducing those we love to Jesus?
Third, he did not have a personal agenda – he was Kingdom-focused. That characteristic is not only evidenced in his action to immediately find his brother and bring him to Jesus, it is evidenced wherever we see him mentioned in the Gospels.
After bringing his brother to Jesus, Andrew accompanied Jesus to Galilee. There he witnessed the miracle at the wedding feast.(2) Soon after, he was traveling with Jesus when they encountered a Samaritan woman at the well outside of Sychar.(3) In both of those places Andrew learned important life lessons.
First, in Cana he learned Jesus could do the “impossible” – He had turned water into wine! There was no limitation on what Jesus could do.
Second, in Samaria he was one of the disciples sent by Jesus to the village to buy food. As those disciples walked along the path from the well to the village, they would have passed a woman who was walking toward the well with her waterpot. They would have noticed her because it would have been strange for someone to be going to the well at that time of day. But Jewish men would have had little to do with a Samaritan woman. They would have looked down upon her and very clearly turned their heads away from her as they passed by her.
Imagine Andrew’s surprise when he and the others later returned to the well and saw Jesus speaking with that very woman! i don’t believe that the lesson of the day was lost on Andrew. Jesus had come to seek and to save all who were lost – no one was to be ignored, cast aside or walked by. From that moment on, Andrew never missed an opportunity to bring others to Jesus.
The day the apostles were trying to figure out how to feed a large crowd that had gathered to hear Jesus, it was Andrew that introduced the young boy with five barley loaves and two fish to Jesus.(4) Though he had no idea what difference that modest lunch would make, he knew that he could not ignore the lad – and he knew Jesus was always able to do so much more… with so much less!
Sometime later, there was a group of Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.(5)These men were not curious visitors or casual observers, they were truth seekers. Though they first approached the disciple Philip because he spoke their language, it’s interesting to note that he didn’t take them to Jesus. Philip told Andrew about them because Andrew had earned the reputation of being the one who was continually introducing others to Jesus. Can you imagine anything better to be known for?
You see, the apostle that grew up in the shadow of his older brother cast quite a shadow himself – a shadow that led others to Jesus. It was a shadow that was never about him – but was always about Jesus. O, that each one of us would cast a shadow that points those around us to Jesus!
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This post is adapted from Walking With The Master, chapter 15, entitled “In The Shadow Of Peter”. This fourth book in the Lessons Learned In The Wilderness series is available through Amazon in print and for your e-reader. Click HERE for more information on how you can obtain your copy.
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(1) John 1:19-42
(2) John 2:2
(3) John 4:8
(4) John 6:8-9
(5) John 12:20-22
Copyright © 2021 Kenneth A. Winter All rights reserved.
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