Jn 1:40-42 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

Today we are going to start looking at the apostles, the twelve who walked most closely with Jesus. We're going to start with Andrew for a reason that will become obvious.

Sometimes I hear people saying that the Bible is full of contradictions. “Oh,” they say, “one Gospel says this and another that,” as if that were proof of a contradiction. It is only a contradiction if one Gospel says one thing and the other specifically says exactly the opposite – and that never happens. What we do find with the Gospels is that different writers include different things, but that simply means we get a fuller picture. Now this is true of the first of the apostles that we will be looking at in the coming meditations.

Andrew originally came from Bethsaida on the north coast of the Sea of Galilee (Jn 1:44) Jesus had settled in Capernaum (Mt 4:13) just a few miles along the coast. Most people remember Jesus encountering the fishermen alongside the Sea of Galilee , so it is somewhere there on the coast that we see Andrew being called with his brother Simon Peter: “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee , he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him,” (Mt 4:18 -20) but that, John tells us in our verses today, wasn't the first time Andrew had encountered Jesus.

Prior to those verses we find something quite special: “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples . When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him.” (Jn 1:35-39) It is then, in our verses today, that we are told that one of these men who had been with John the Baptist was actually Andrew. Andrew had left his fishing up in Galilee, gone down to hear John, had obviously been baptised, stayed on for a while at least, and had then encountered Jesus there for the first time. Andrew was first and foremost a seeker! He meets Jesus, spends the day with him, comes to belief in him as the Messiah, and goes and finds his brother Simon, who is also obviously down there, and tells him. So now we have a seeker who has become a believer and then a messenger of the gospel – we've found the Christ!

It would then appear that at some point they go back north and settle in to fishing again, so that that is where Jesus finds them when he too moves north to start his ministry, working out of Capernaum . We'll see the incident with Simon Peter in the next meditation but for now we simply note that when Jesus starts calling disciples to leave their everyday jobs, Andrew is one of the first to follow him. References to individual disciples are often fairly few; they simply get mentioned when they stand out in some particular way.

We next see Andrew in the account of the feeding of the five thousand : “Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (Jn 6:8,9) Jesus, in teaching mode, has challenged Philip about where to get bread to feed the crowd. Philip sees the size of the crowd and concludes it is a hopeless task. Andrew is willing to step out as little bit further with, “Well we have a few resources here but I realise they are few.” Yes, he's willing to step out and look silly with his suggestion. (Had he made friends with this small boy?) Is it that he has in mind the solution but doesn't quite like to bring it out in the open? Jesus solves the problem and performs a miracle and feeds them all with these few resources.

At a later date we find another simple incident involving Andrew: “Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee , with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.” (Jn 12:20-22). It suggests that Andrew is somewhere up the seniority order. Some seekers came but approached Philip. You approach the outer members first. Philip goes to talk to Andrew. Why? To get reassurance from him that this is all right! He shows he looks up to Andrew.

We next see Andrew with the post-resurrection and post-ascension group: “Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.” (Acts 1:13) Andrew is a sticker, he's still there and is going to continue there.

Let's summarise what we have seen. Andrew was a seeker who became a believer, who was called to be a follower to serve and his faith gradually grew to the point where he was not afraid to speak what appeared humanly silly. He became a fairly senior member of the apostolic band and carried the faith on after Jesus had ascended. (Yet for some reason he wasn't included in that very inner group that consisted of James and John and Peter – e.g. Mt 17:1)

Now let's apply that to ourselves. Do we have seeking hearts? Have we become believers, followers who are willing to go where Jesus leads and live out faith, determined to go on and be continual carriers of the Gospel – even if we don't get a great deal of recognition. Andrew wasn't especially famous and didn't reach the senior ranks of the apostles – but he clearly played a significant part in life. May the same be able to be said of us!