« If They Might Be Giants Had a Song About the Great Schism | Main | Not Much, You? »
Homily for St. Andrew’s Feast on November 30
By Fr. Dennis | December 10, 2007
Of the two brothers Andrew and Peter, tradition tells us that Andrew, whose feast we celebrate today, was the older brother, the first born. Peter was the younger brother.
Andrew had originally been a disciple of John the Baptist, and when John pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God, Andrew immediately went and followed Jesus, becoming the first of the Twelve apostles.
It was Andrew, then, who likely arranged for his younger brother to meet Jesus, and Jesus called both of them to fish for people.
After that, we don’t really hear very much from Andrew. Oh, we see his name more often than we see the names Jude or Bartholomew, but it’s Peter we see most often throughout the rest of the synoptic gospels. Peter says something bold or insightful or sometimes stupid, and Jesus might chastise him or praise him or give him the keys to the kingdom or anything else. Our pastoral care professor, Dr. LaMothe, might diagram this as a family system where the youngest child is indulged and the oldest child is very obedient yet mostly ignored.
This pattern appears all through Scripture. First, God likes Cain’s younger brother Abel better. Then Abraham prefers Isaac over Ishmael. Then Jacob tricks Esau, and Isaac rewards him by giving him the blessing.
Then Jacob prefers the children of Rachel his second wife to the children of Rachel’s older sister Leah, his first. In the parable, the prodigal son’s father throws a big party when the younger son returns, while the older, more obedient son sulks. And based on personality, I’d even be willing to bet that Martha was first born and her sister Mary was the baby.
Both Peter and Andrew, however, did great things. Before his martyrdom in the Greek city of Patras, Andrew was the founding bishop of the little town of Byzantium. Later antiquity knew that church as the See of Constantinople, which for a time had greater influence than any other church save Rome itself. Of course, his younger brother Peter founded the See of Rome.
But Andrew did not sulk or complain. Jesus had not promised any of them any special treatment. Discipleship is not a rivalry to see who gets to sit next to Jesus, one on his right and one on his left. No, he only promised that they’d be fishing for people.
Jesus also promised there would be crosses for them to bear. Both Andrew and his younger brother Peter were eventually crucified for the sake of the gospel, Andrew on an X-shaped cross and Peter upside-down.
Well, whether you’re upside-down or sideways, a cross is a cross, and martyrdom is martyrdom.
One more promise Jesus made, though: that he would be with them, always, even until the end of the age. This is the promise that makes all the other promises worth it, for Andrew, for Peter, and for us. Jesus is with us. In the midst of our crosses, in the midst of our work, whether our work is publicly acknowledged and widely acclaimed, or whether we toil in relative obscurity. Jesus is with us. We’ve heard his voice calling us to leave our nets, and fish for people.
He gave his word. And his word becomes flesh not just at this altar, but then in our lives as we live out that discipleship, as we do the fishing that Jesus is sending us to do.
Through the intercession of Saint Andrew, may we work together as brothers and sisters, tending the tasks that Jesus has given us, so that we may be worthy of his promises.
Topics: Uncategorized |
December 12th, 2007 at 10:09 am
I got to babysit my sibs for free, while they all got to stay out later than I did.
December 13th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Hi, Anna!
I had a similar experience growing up. Except that babysitting my sibs was impossible because we would just fight and break things. But they did stay out later than me.
These days, my brothers and I tease the snot out of mom for being more lenient with my youngest brother. She just laughs.
Then she’ll tell me, “Dennis, just remember, you were our first one and, well, we were so young and we were so scared to make a mistake that we just didn’t let you do anything. We had to have someone to make all our mistakes on, and we got better with a little experience. Just not in time to keep from making all our mistakes on the oldest one.” And then more laughter.
December 15th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Dennis,
Let me know if you have time for me to take you to lunch during the holidays
Fred