Andrew who?

He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah”    (John 1:41   New King James Version)

Moses and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David and Goliath, Peter, James, and John are all Bible characters whose names are familiar to church goers. Then we have Andrew. Remember him? You know, Ol’ Andrew. The brother to Peter also called Simon. Peter had no interest in religion as he fished for a living. He did however know about the Messiah. Every little Hebrew boy was taught about the One that would one day deliver the entire Nation from oppression. The Savior, the Anointed One of God, the Christos, the Messiah, He was promised by the Prophets to one day come. So here on a mundane Tuesday morning perhaps, Peter may have been preparing his boat or his nets for a day of fishing, or he may have been cleaning his nets following a night trip. In the middle of his busyness his brother comes running up to him and says, “Hey Bro, lets go; we have found the Messiah!” If there was a discussion of how Andrew knew He was the Messiah it is not recorded in Scripture. There is no evidence that Peter delayed in going with Andrew. It could have been because Peter knew Andrew was into that stuff. Who knows? What we do know is there was something about Andrew that caused Peter to go with him and the rest is history.

Have you ever said that to anyone? Have you ever said to someone, “We have found the Savior.” I have learned over the years that we as Christians talk to people a lot about Jesus. We talk about His love and forgiveness. We tell them about His grace and His mercy. We explain to them why He died on the Cross and how God raised Him from the dead that we can be saved. We encourage them to accept Him. But I wonder what would happen if we just went to them with the same excitement that Andrew had that day when he came to his blood brother and said, “We have found the Messiah.” There was something about Andrew and his confidence in who Jesus was that caused a non-religious fisherman to quit what he was doing and go with him to meet Jesus.

Let Andrew’s testimony encourage us today. Instead of concentrating our efforts on winning people to Jesus, maybe we should just introduce them to Him. He will do the rest.