St. Andrew

AM: Psalm 34 • Isaiah 49:1-6 • 1 Corinthians 4:1-16
PM: Psalm 96, 100 • Isaiah 55:1-5 • John 1:35-42

Our gospel reading for today focuses on two brothers, Andrew and Peter, who had been disciples of John the Baptist until Andrew and one other disciple heard John say of a passerby, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”  Andrew and the unnamed disciple took out after Jesus and asked him where he was staying, to which Jesus replied, “come and see.”  But first, Andrew went back and found his brother, Simon Peter, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah.”  The gospels of Mark and Matthew tell the story a little differently:  the two brothers are fishing, and Jesus says to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Whatever the details of the story, the point is the same:  Andrew and his brother dropped what they were doing to follow Jesus.  Other references to Andrew in the gospels and Acts show Andrew only as a bit player in conversations between Jesus and his disciples.

Today is the Feast Day of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland and by extension, of Scots everywhere. Patron saints, including our own St. Paul, provide models of behavior and, for some, a source of safety and a conduit of intercessory prayer. The account of Andrew found in today’s gospel reading is the only one in scripture that tells us anything about his behavior:  Andrew introduced his brother to Jesus, who said to him, “You are Simon son of John.  You are to be called Cephas” (Peter).  Andrew stepped back as Peter gained the limelight.   Certainly, we can learn from Andrew’s modesty, even if most of us do not pray to/through him.  

Patron saints frame the ties between God and a nation, a church, or a profession (including computer programmers), but they also give us ways of understanding our own culture.  There is enough Scottishness in our own parish to welcome a local pipe band to our services on the Feast Day of St. Andrew and other times.  If you are one of those who, like Linda McFadyen McMath and me, have Scottish roots, I invite you, on this Feast Day of St. Andrew, to reflect on this modest patron saint and then to have some haggis (it tastes better than it looks) and, if you are so inclined, to enjoy a wee dram of a certain distilled beverage. 

Written by Bob McMath

…who has recently given up washing dishes at Community Meals to join St. Paul’s Caring Friends group as a caregiver.