by Jilene Scherenske
Andrew’s Conversion (John 1:35-40)
Joh 1:35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
Though fisherman work hard, I would think that there was also an amount of time in which they were just waiting for the fish – time to think. I wonder if Andrew would ponder the teachings of his Jewish leaders and long for more. Perhaps he knew some of the Old Testament prophecies, though the Bible calls these fishermen unlearned men. In those quiet times, did he long for the Messiah? Did he think spiritual thoughts? I think he must have. I believe he was a hungry man, spiritually, and in love with God, otherwise, why would he become a disciple of John the Baptist’s (John 1:37)? All the time that he was with John the Baptist, John would speak of the Messiah yet to come and that he was just simply preparing the way for Him. Though not stated, it is most likely that Andrew was baptized by John the Baptist. This action took boldness for I doubt that it was a popular thing to be so connected to John the Baptist in that day. Then the day came when John the Baptist pointed at Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” Immediately Andrew and, it is thought, John followed Jesus. Because of John the Baptist’s preaching, they were all excited and anticipating the Messiah’s arrival. Then it happened! John pointed to a certain Man and declared Him to be the Messiah! It took no lengthy decision to know what to do. They, Andrew and John, were going to follow after Jesus! Jesus did not invite them to follow Him, these two, out of a heart to learn from the Messiah, just took it upon themselves to follow Jesus. When Jesus questioned them as to why they were following Him, they simply indicated that they wanted to get to know Him better. For the remainder of the day Jesus taught them about Himself (John 1:38-39). If only we could know what Jesus taught them that day. If only we could have been a fly in the wall! This was Andrew’s salvation. We know Andrew got saved that day. Why? Because of what he did next. He had become convinced of Who Jesus was that he brings his brother, Peter to Jesus. The early Church would later refer to him as Protoclete, or First Called because he was the first disciple to be called by Jesus. This speaks to his character. He was not afraid of doing something out of the ordinary. He was not afraid of being the first to step into a new way of thinking. He took no thought of what others may think. He was convinced that Jesus was the Christ and he jumped at the chance to believe in Him never to turn aside again. Though at first he returned to his occupation of fishing, later, in Matthew 4:19 we find him readily, without hesitation, giving his life to full time service to Jesus when Jesus invited he and Peter, James and John, to join Him. Mt 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.