Word to the Wise
Saturday, November 30, 2019 - Nov. 30 - St. Andrew, Apostle
[Rom 10:9-18 and Matt 4:18-22]"For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent? [Romans]
We celebrate today, the last day of the liturgical year, the feast of St. Andrew the apostle. He seems to have been the subject of different traditions in the gospels. The Gospel According to Matthew, which contributes the gospel scripture for the feast, has him being called with his brother, Peter, from their fishing boat to become "fishers of men." The Gospel According to John has him meeting Jesus as a disciple of John the Baptist! [John 1:40]. Not only that, but he seems to have been a traveler of note because both Scotland and Greece claim him as a patron who somehow visited their shores.
St. Paul's words from his Letter to the Romans, which provides the first scripture for this feast, captures the very meaning of "apostle," a word which comes from a Greek term meaning "to send someone to do something." He writes: "How can people preach unless they are sent!" Andrew and the other apostles would go through a lot for the sake of their faith in Jesus, including running away from Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. After Pentecost, he and the other apostles and disciples understood what it meant to be "sent." They were the first preachers and it is on their preaching that the Church was founded. We profess faith in an "apostolic" Church!
How Andrew met Jesus and where Andrew went after Pentecost will continue to intrigue biblical scholars and historians. The important thing about Andrew is that he was SENT, and he WENT! AMEN