Ask someone which of Jesus’ disciples is their favorite and most will say Peter or John. Peter is often admired because of his boldness and John because of his love for Jesus. Rarely does anyone say that Thomas is their favorite because he was a doubter. Personally, I think Thomas is treated unfairly, haven’t we all had doubts at one time or another?
My favorite disciple is Andrew. Andrew is in the background for much of the New Testament Gospels and we know little about him. But one thing I am positive of and that is that I wish I were more like Andrew.
In John’s Gospel, Andrew first appears in John 1:36-42. https://biblehub.com/niv/john/1.htm This is the story of where two of John the Baptist’s followers decide to follow Jesus. In these verses, Andrew finds his brother, Simon, and tells him that they have found the Messiah. Taking Simon to Jesus, Jesus says, “You will be called Cephas (Peter).”
Andrew again appears in John’s Gospel at the feeding of the five thousand. This story is found in John 6:1-15. https://biblehub.com/niv/john/6.htm As you may recall, having heard this story multiple times, Jesus had been speaking to, and healing, a large crowd of people for much of the day. The scriptures record a brief conversation, between Jesus and Philip, about how they will feed the multitude of people gathered. Andrew brings a boy to Jesus who has “five small barley loaves and two small fish”. Peter then asks how many can be fed from this small amount of food. From the boy’s meal, Jesus fed the multitude of people by dividing the bread and fish with what found to be an over abundance of what was needed once the uneaten portions of bread and fish were collected.
Andrew’s name again appears in John’s Gospel in verses 12:20-21. https://biblehub.com/niv/john/12.htm In this story Jesus had recently entered Jerusalem, riding on a young donkey, and the roads had been lined with people waving palm branches and shouting praise. In the quieter moments following, some Greeks, who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the upcoming Passover festival, approached Philip and asked to speak to Jesus. Philip then told Andrew that the Greeks wished to speak to Jesus and both, Philip and Andrew, introduced the Greeks to Jesus.
Andrew was quietly in the background and we really know very little about him. Still, when John wrote his Gospel, he considered it important to tell us what Andrew was doing in that background. Three times Andrew appears in John’s Gospel and in each appearance Andrew is taking someone(s) to meet Jesus. I admire Andrew simply because he was focused on introducing people to Jesus.
I wish I were more like Andrew.