XII

ANDREW'S DISCOVERY OF THE CHRIST TO

HIMSELF AND PETER

"ONE of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ; and he brought him to Jesus.”S. John i. 40-42.

TO-DAY, brethren, we begin a new year in the services of the Church. We have come to the end of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels in the Prayerbook and of the corresponding lessons, and now we begin the order afresh. The mixed and varied instruction on the general duties of a Christian life to which you have been listening for more than five months is now put aside for a while, and you are asked to fix your thoughts once more with special intentness on the person and work of Jesus Christ our Saviour. In less than a month we shall be celebrating His birth as a child as on Christmas Day, and this preparatory season of Advent is meant to lead us to look forward in various ways to His actual coming.

Such a day, a First Sunday in Advent, occurs every year. This year, however, we make a double beginning of the new course of days to be remembered by all Christian people. This year Advent Sunday falls on St. Andrew's day, and the first of our Sunday services is mixed with the first celebration of the apostles and other holy men. It may be only by accident that St. Andrew's name is thus the first that meets us in the list of Christ's faithful servants. But, accidental or not, we shall, I think, find a special fitness in the place which he thus holds in our services.

We

The Gospel for to-day relates a well-known event in the Gospel history. "Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers: and he saith unto them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' And they straightway left their nets and followed him." On this story the Collect for the day is founded. pray God, who gave such grace to His holy apostle St. Andrew, that he readily obeyed the call of Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay,-to grant that we, being called by His holy word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil His holy commandments. In the narrative St. Peter and St. Andrew are mentioned side by side without distinction. St. Peter's name occurs first, and his after life and doings were so much more famous, that we almost think of him alone when we read the account in St. Matthew.

It is not quite the same with the beautiful story

told by St. John in which my text occurs, and which I wish you particularly to think about this morning. There, at first at least, St. Andrew's is the leading name, and we are told at least one fact about him which refers to him alone. The two stories are however not unconnected, and it is very interesting to see the light which each throws on the other. If we had only St. Matthew's Gospel to guide us, we might suppose that when Jesus called St. Peter and St. Andrew as they were fishing in the Sea of Galilee, and they at once followed Him, we might suppose I say, that this was the first time they had ever seen Jesus, and that it was only by a sudden impulse that they left the business of their lives to go about with Him in His journeys. St. John's Gospel shows however that it was not so. He brings before us an earlier scene, not in Galilee, the apostles' own home and the place where they plied their trade, but by the bank of the river Jordan, where John the Baptist was baptizing. We thus see that that sudden obedience to Christ's call in Galilee was in fact the fruit of their earlier acquaintance with Him and surely it must be most useful and most interesting to us to study all we are told about that first meeting, the recollection of which could lead two poor fishermen to so marvellous an obedience.

The first person who appears before us in St. John's account is his namesake, St. John the Baptist, he who came to prepare the way for the greater Son of God. His preaching in the wilderness had led many to repentance. Multitudes flocked to him

from far and near, from crowded cities and lonely villages. Rich and poor, great and small, learned and ignorant, were eager to hear the burning words in which he proclaimed the approaching kingdom of heaven, and besought all men to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Among the rest who clung to him as a teacher come from God, and lingered near him for the sake of his lessons of holiness, were two disciples. One we are told was Andrew; the name of the other is not given, but there can be little doubt that it was John himself, afterwards known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. These two were with John the Baptist one day when they saw Jesus walking near them. This was not the first time that the Baptist had met Jesus. He had beheld with wonder and awe the heavenly life which Jesus lived, as yet in private and unknown. And when Jesus had come to be baptized by him, and he had heard the voice from heaven and seen the descending Spirit, the thought had flashed upon him who that meek and humble Nazarene must be. But we do not hear of his telling out any such higher belief about Jesus to the two disciples who stood by his side. He merely said in their presence, “Behold the Lamb of God."

But this was enough to stir up the two disciples to seek further. Looking with their own eyes on Jesus as He walked, and hearing their own revered master speak of Him in such tender and yet solemn and awful words, they followed Jesus as He walked. The scene which came after is told in very few words; but surely we can without effort picture it to

ourselves. Jesus turned round and saw the two disciples of John the Baptist following Him. He stopped and waited till they came up and asked them simply, "What seek ye?" A difficult question perhaps to answer. Most probably they had never thought of asking themselves what they wanted of Jesus, what they were to say to Him when they should overtake Him. Only His own look and the testimony of their master's language of reverence and almost worship had led them to desire dimly to draw near to Him and see more of Him: something, they knew not what, drew them onwards to His presence. Thus much they could say to themselves in that sudden moment when He asked them what they were seeking. Though they could give no direct answer, the impulse to see more of Him led them to ask Him another question in their turn.

First they called Him Rabbi, that is, Master or Teacher. Perhaps we hardly take in the force of this name. A few months later it would have been natural enough that Jesus should be called by the name belonging to great teachers. But as yet He had not begun to teach or shown any signs that that was to be any part of His work. He had come humbly to be baptized by John just like one of themselves. He had displayed no learning like the wise scribes at Jerusalem who sat in Moses' seat and explained the law. He had not preached in the wilderness in the fashion and in the form of an ancient prophet, like John the Baptist. But still they were sure, they could not tell how, that there were deep things which He knew and they knew not; and so