The Other Brothers

Luke 6, John 1

Let’s talk about the other brothers, Andrew and James. We know more about their siblings, Peter and John. But a study of these two just might speak to our hearts a lot more than we’d expect.

Andrew initially was a follower of John the Baptist.  This tells us he was eager for the Messiah's arrival.  John, the forerunner, points to Jesus and says, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Andrew believes that and immediately rushes to find Peter to tell him that we have found the Messiah. [John 1:35-42]

This is Andrew's first encounter with Jesus.  Andrew is a fisherman from Capernaum in Galilee who traveled all the way down the Jordan to hear John the Baptist preach because he was looking for Messiah.

After this initial meeting, Peter and Andrew went back to Galilee, to Capernaum and continued their fishing career.  It is at a later time, months after, that Jesus comes up to Galilee after His ministry in the south around Jerusalem, where He cleansed the temple.  He comes across these two brothers again.  At the same time, He comes across two other brothers, James and John.  All four of them are fishermen in the Sea of Galilee.  The record of that meeting is found in Matthew chapter 4.  It’s the same story as Luke 5 told us about the great catch of fish, except Luke doesn’t mention that Andrew was there…but clearly he was, according to Matthew. That gives us a little hint that Andrew is in the shadows.  He lived his whole life in the shadow of Peter.  They lived together, according to Mark 1:29, and yet we hear so much more about Peter.  So he was almost certainly in the synagogue on the day Peter’s mother-in-law was, after the service, healed. Of course they wanted to hear the Messiah speak.

So here these four are the first four literally called by Jesus to be disciples, and they make up the intimate circle; Peter, James, John and Andrew, the closest of all of the twelve.  So Andrew was very privileged to have met Jesus on the very day when He was announced as the Messiah. 

He appears in the intimate circle in Mark 13:3 and 4 with Peter, James and John, asking a key question about the Second Coming which launched Jesus into that great Olivet discourse on His Second Coming.  He was there when the question was asked: When are You coming and what will be the sign of Your coming?

But even though he was part of the four and even though he was first introduced to the Lamb of God before Peter and others, even though he was first called, even though he was there with all those initial privileges, he doesn't stand out like the other three.  There are numerous occasions where Peter, James and John are with Jesus, such as in the Mount of Transfiguration; such as in the garden, while the rest are a distance away. And yet he still holds a most special place. 

The first time you meet Andrew, he is bringing his brother to Christ.  Andrew is the missionary apostle.  He's always bringing people to Jesus Christ.  And for Andrew, that work began where missionary work always begins, at home.  The light that shines farthest shines brightest near the source…at home! Those who are looking to bring someone to Christ need to look where Andrew looked.  Look at home.

The next time we see Andrew is in John 6 at the feeding of the 5,000. "One of His disciples, Andrew, said to Him, 'There's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish.  What are these for so many people?'"  Andrew's already made connections in the crowd.  I'm sure most of the apostles were seeing the masses, but Andrew was seeing the actual people.  It was in the heart of Andrew to touch somebody and in the process of mingling with people, he came across a boy.  And he brought him to Jesus.  Here is Andrew bringing somebody to Christ that he believes maybe could be useful, for he’s always finding individuals, always mingling with the people, never seemingly caught away with the crowd but able to find somebody in the crowd.  And he brings him to Jesus and he's exactly what Jesus needs.  And from that little boy's lunch He feeds tens of thousands of people.

The third occasion is in the twelfth chapter of John, and it’s Passover time in Israel.  Some Greeks come to Philip, "And they began to ask him, saying, 'Sir, we would see Jesus.’”  Now Philip could have said, "Sure, come with me.  I know him personally."  He didn't, what did he say?  Philip came and told Andrew.  Andrew was the bringer of people to Jesus.  And together they went to Jesus and told him.  Philip didn't know what to do with them.  He was confused. Andrew was not confused. When somebody wanted to see Jesus, he brought them to Jesus. 

That's all there is, folks.  I wish I could say more. Andrew is more a silhouette than a portrait.  But in these three incidents we do learn some things about Andrew.  He was a missionary.  He brought people to Jesus.  And he had no prejudice.  He brought Gentiles.  He knew that Jesus had first declared His messiahship to a Samaritan woman. He also had faith.  Philip had not the faith to believe that Jesus could feed the crowd, and Philip failed the test.  Andrew passed.

I think it's also fair to say that Andrew exhibits humility.  I mean, the very fact that he went to get his brother Peter, for you know, human nature might have been tempting him to say, I've been hidden in this guy's shadow my whole life, I've been dominated by my brother, and now I have found the Messiah, and I think I'm just going to bask in my singular privilege.  He knew that as soon as he told Peter that he would stay right in the shadow of Peter as he had his entire life. 

I grew up being Pastor Jim’s son. I was called that more than by my name. I thought my legal name was ‘Fetch Wood’. But here it’s a few decades later and my dad is known as Jerry Shirley’s father! It's amazing what happens if you live long enough isn't it?

Well Andrew was always known as Simon Peter's brother.  He was in the shadows.  There are some people who won't play in the band unless they can be the featured performer.  James and John were like that, but Andrew wasn't.  He was more concerned about bringing people to Jesus than about who got the credit, or who was in charge.  He had no craving for honor.  He's never seen in the big debates.  He's one of those who labors quietly in the background, not to be seen.  Peter, James and John are referred to in the Bible as pillars of the church. Not Andrew.

All of us who are Peters desperately need Andrews, those self-forgetting souls, content to occupy a small sphere and are free from self-seeking ambition.  Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. I hear there’s a golf course there. [St. Andrews]

Andrew did become a preacher.  That's what an apostle did.  And he was given power later on to heal diseases and cast out demons because God can make much out of little.  Andrew suffered, by the way, for his loyalty to the gospel.  Tradition says that Andrew did a very dangerous thing. He shared salvation with the wife of a provincial Roman governor, and this infuriated her husband.  He demanded that his wife recant her devotion to Jesus Christ and she refused, and so that governor had Andrew crucified on an X-shaped cross. He is said by tradition to have been suspended in excruciating agony for two days, constantly preaching the gospel to all who passed by for as long as he could speak.

There's another silhouette here that I want you to look at; James.  Peter and John, of course, get the highlights.  We have a fairly well colored portrait of them.  But we have mere silhouettes of Andrew and James.

We'll look at his brother, John, next time.  They were sons of a man named Zebedee.  Zebedee had a fishing business and James and John were fishermen in that business. When the two names of the brothers are together, James and John, James is first, which could indicate that he was older and could indicate that he was the more dominant of the two.  James never appears at any time in the gospels apart from John.  We don't have any information about James without John. Unlike Andrew, James was in the intimate three.  He was there on the Mount of Transfiguration.  He was there in the special place in the garden with the Lord praying. 

The best way to get a look at James is probably to note that Jesus gave the brothers a name. He called them Boanerges, Mark 3:17. It means "sons of thunder."  Now when you call somebody a son of thunder, you are defining their personality in very vivid terms.  This fits James, zealous, thunderous, passionate, fervent. 

James was a fiery, passionate person.  He seems to have been able to make enemies rapidly.  While Andrew was quietly bringing people to Jesus, he was driving them away.  I'm sure he well remembered that Jesus had made a whip and cleansed the temple when those people in the temple were doing what dishonored God.  And I'm sure James was convinced that his fury was really righteous indignation, protective of the holiness of God.

But sometimes his zeal was less than righteous.  We don't have many glimpses of James, but I'll show you the ones we have.  Here is a typical response of a son of thunder.  Luke 9:51, Jesus is now going to ascend into Jerusalem for the final Passover, for His death, burial, resurrection.  He sets His face to go to Jerusalem.  They have to go through Samaria. Samaritans and the Jews hated each other with a passion.  Samaritans were people who had intermarried with Gentiles.  They were Jews who disregarded and disdained their heritage, like Esau had, and they had intermarried with pagans, and thus they had polluted the line of Israel.  So Jews wouldn't even go into Samaritan areas.

The feeling was mutual. The Samaritans not only hated the Jews, they hated the worship of Jerusalem.  They had their own worship on Mount Gerizim.  They hated the messianic gospel.  They didn’t want Jesus to come. And James and his brother say, "Lord, do we pray for these dear folks that they'll be enlightened?"  No, that’s not what they said. Instead, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"  This is not the seeker-friendly mentality.  Lord, give us the power and we'll incinerate them.  This is the son of thunder. The fact that they wouldn't accept the Messiah infuriated James and John. 

Let’s rewind the tape: Andrew would have said, bring them to Jesus.  James said, burn them up.  Not exactly the missionary spirit.  But isn't it interesting that the Lord called a guy like this as one of the apostles?

Jesus rebuked them. You have a bad attitude, guys.  "The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but save them."  Be more like Andrew. 

There's something about it that I like.  Better to get fired up with righteous wrath than to allow insults to Christ.  I like the fact that they don't allow an insult to the Messiah to pass without a reaction. But Jesus helps them grow and redirect their fire in a better direction.

There's another insight in Matthew 20:20.  This is one of the more bizarre incidents in all of the gospels about the apostles.  James was not only fervent, passionate, zealous, insensitive.  But he was also ambitious, driven to achieve the highest places.  This is when their mother asked Jesus to make her two boys sit beside Him in heaven, in the premier seats.  Any idea where they might have gotten their sons of thunder attitude?  I don't know what Zebedee was like, but Mrs. Zebedee was a handful.  She's commanding the Messiah.  This is not a meek and quiet spirit. Poor Mr. Zebedee.  I'm sure he spent a lot of time on the boat. 

Jesus said those seats are for those who suffer the most. Can you drink from that cup. They boldly said, yes, we can! Jesus said, ok, indeed you shall. But that doesn’t guarantee you the best seats. Well this ridiculous ambition created all kinds of problems because verse 24 says, "Hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two."  Now everybody's caught up in the spirit of rivalry.  And you know the story.  This becomes the big debate the whole time they're together, clamoring for honor. 

James wanted a crown, Jesus gave him a cup.  He wanted power, Jesus gave him servanthood.  He wanted to rule, and Jesus gave him a sword, not to wield, but to be the instrument of his own execution.  Fourteen years later, after this, heaven was found by James beneath the shadow of the sword.

The 12th chapter of Acts has the end of the story.  Here outside the gospels we see him alone, even though he's identified as the brother of John. 

verse 2     When Herod wants to stop the growth of the church, who does he kill?  Peter?  No.  John?  No.  He kills James.  By this time James is a force for God.  By this time James is spiritual power personified.  That son of thunder had been mentored by Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, shaped into a man whose zeal and ambition was for God and the kingdom of God, whose strength and intolerance was for divine purposes and the protection of the truth.  Somewhere along the line he’d learned to control his temper, bridle his tongue, redirect his zeal, eliminate revenge, and completely lose personal ambition.  Courageous, zealous, sometimes loveless, insensitive, ambitious, a man of passion, he had now turned into an instrument of God.  And his strength was so great that when people wanted to stop the church, he was the man who they had to kill.  He drank the cup, his life was short. And, you know, one historical writer says that he was taken to the place of execution by an officer who became so impressed by the courage he displayed that he repented of his sin and fell down at that apostle's feet and begged pardon for the part he had played in the rough treatment he had received.  The apostle, according to this report, raised up the officer from the ground, embraced and kissed him and said, "Peace, my son, peace be to you in the pardon of your sins."  Immediately transformed, the officer, publicly confessed his surrender to Jesus Christ and was beheaded alongside of James.  James became a little more like Andrew, bringing someone to Jesus even in his death.

God wants passionate, zealous, front-running, dynamic, strong, ambitious people, but not with insensitivity.  God has to do a wonderful work to tenderize people like that. 

But if the Lord is allowed to harness our zeal, it can be greatly used, and it will take death to stop us. God needs His Peters, He needs His Andrews, and He needs His Jameses, as well. Andrew and James may be the ‘other brothers,’ but their stories are our stories, and we look forward to meeting them one day.