THE EXCITEMENT OF FINDING THE MESSIAH (JULY 8)

"One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which means Christ)" (John 1:40,41).

TO BE A JEW IN FIRST-CENTURY JUDEA WAS TO BE IN A CULTURE OF GREAT CHANGE. Politically, socially, and religiously, the pot was boiling with trends and movements. If you cared about what was right, you would have had a number of decisions to make.

As various individuals turned up claiming to be the Messiah of Jewish prophecy, their conflicting claims needed to be examined. Were any of these people telling the truth? You could have been cynical (as many people are today in the face of religious confusion) or, realizing what was at stake, you could have dug in, studied the Scriptures carefully, and looked for the right answers.

But think for a moment about the hope involved in these world-changing events. Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12, for example, and ask yourself how you would feel if you lived at the same time as Andrew and found out that the person in Isaiah’s prophecy had been born and was now proclaiming the gospel. Could there have been a more exciting prospect than the idea that the Messiah might actually have come into the world? If you, like Andrew, could truthfully say, “We have found the Messiah,” would you not be as thrilled as he was? Andrew did not yet understand much of what was involved in Jesus’ messiahship, but he had seen enough to know that Jesus was the One the prophets had predicted. And he was eager to share the news.

Andrew’s example is one we should meditate on. Perceiving that Jesus was the Messiah, he first found his brother and broke the news to him. As one of the twelve who would become the Lord’s apostles, Andrew would later preach the gospel to many people, but he began with his brother. Those closest to us may not listen as receptively as Peter listened to Andrew, but they should be the first ones with whom we share the exciting truth.

"Andrew is characteristically the man who was always introducing others to Jesus. There are only three times in the gospel story when Andrew is brought into the centre of the stage. There is this incident here, in which he brings Peter to Jesus. There is the incident in John 6:8,9 when he brings to Jesus the boy with the five loaves and two small fishes. And there is the incident in John 12:22 when he brings the enquiring Greeks into the presence of Jesus. It was Andrew’s great joy to bring others to Jesus" (William Barclay).