The Daily Office: John 1:29-42

John 1:29-42

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. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1:41-42)

"He findeth first his own brother" and so became the first missionary. We do not know much about Andrew; but we know a great deal about his brother, and he was Andrew's convert. Who shall say that Peter did more for His Lord than Andrew who brought Peter to Him? It is ever so. We never know who is doing the greatest work for God. Here is a man who holds great office in the Church and preaches to multitudes; yet at the end, all he has done is to keep things from falling back. And there is a girl, poor and uneducated, of whom no one ever thinks; but because she is loving and devout she sows the seed of life in a child entrusted to her care who grows up to be a missionary pioneer, or Christian statesman, or profound theologian – shaping the history of nations or the thought of generations. Andrew "findeth his own brother"; perhaps it is as great a service to the Church as ever any man did.

From Readings in St. John's Gospel, by Archbishop William Temple