John’s Gospel makes a brief, mysterious reference to the day when he and Andrew met Jesus for the first time (John 1:35-41). The context of this event is important: it takes place a day after John the Baptist’s testimony regarding “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). The story involves two disciples of John the Baptist, one identified as Andrew. The other disciple is not named, but the familiar nature of the account has generally favored the assumption that it was the author of the Gospel himself, Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist. Scripture scholars have various theories about his identity, and about how to integrate the multiple “vocational narratives” (in different Gospels) regarding the famous fisherman and family business partners Peter and Andrew, John and James. We cannot address these theories here. It suffices to note that the relatively humble status of running a fishing business based in Galilee would not have prevented these men from joining the large “popular movement” that John the Baptist engendered. It was precisely the “ordinary people” who followed the Baptist, passed through the waters of the Jordan, and took his preaching to heart. This is a story about two such people:
“The next day John [the Baptist] was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’ The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah’” (John 1:35-41).
What happened here? Two men follow Jesus. A brief conversation. They stay with Jesus. It was four in the afternoon. But then Andrew seeks out his brother and says, “We have found the Messiah!”
Why was his heart so moved, so engaged, so convinced about this man he had just met? Jesus had no disciples yet. No miracle is recounted here (the fish-catching episode would come later). Andrew hardly knows what “Messiah” means (and it will take a long time for him and the others to learn) but he knows something after this first encounter with Jesus. It’s enough to change his life, and lead him to share what he and ‘the other disciple’ have found.
What happened, on that day, at four o’clock in the afternoon?
It was a human encounter in which Andrew and John met the Person through whom and for whom they had been created, the Word made flesh.
It was the beginning of the story of conversion, the story of meeting Jesus, following Jesus and sharing him with others.
