Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The apostolic call of Andrew by Jesus is recorded in Mark 3:18a: “And Andrew.” (We will jump back to verse 17 tomorrow). Like his brother Peter, Andrew had previously responded to Jesus’ call to follow Him (Mark 1:16-18). Prior to that event, Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist, who directed Andrew (and, we believe, John) to follow Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:35-40). Even before his call to become an apostle – which means to be a messenger or a representative – Andrew was fulfilling that role. He immediately sought out Peter: “He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, ‘We have found the Messiah,’ which is, being interpreted, the Christ” (John 1:41). Andrew demonstrated keen spiritual insight and recognized that Jesus was the promised Anointed One; most of the religious leaders could not see this truth because they would not. He also showed that he grasped the significance of Jesus as the Savior by reaching out to his brother with this life-saving truth. It is hard to speak to family members about Jesus. Some will take such words as criticism of their lives. Others will focus on our imperfect lives. Still others will show no interest, no matter what we do. However, the example of Andrew is a good one for each of us. Most people who come to Jesus for salvation are led by family members and friends, not by pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. The call of Andrew, then, is also a call for us to reach out to those beloved ones who are not yet saved through faith in Christ Jesus.