Shirin McArthur

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Over the years, on many Maundy Thursdays like today, Fr Henry and I have sat in vigil at church after the service. I love this tradition of taking turns to “stay awake” with Jesus, whose disciples fell asleep while he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.

One year in prayer, I found myself thinking about the “big three” disciples who fell asleep when Jesus asked them to keep watch: Peter, John, and James. Then I wondered how the other disciples felt, having been left further behind in the garden. What were they doing? Did they fall asleep? Did they feel left out when Jesus took just those three with him—or were they happy to just be followers, hanging out in an olive garden on a warm spring night and talking about all the events of the past few days?

Andrew in particular came to mind, in part because of two Presbyterian churches named after St Andrew that have factored into my life. The first, here in Tucson, is where I was baptized at one year old, and the other is in Albuquerque, where I grew up and was confirmed. So, I looked up Andrew on my cell phone (the handiest Bible concordance!) and found thirteen results, including listings of the twelve apostles and the fact that Andrew was Peter’s brother. Mark 3 states Andrew shared a home with Peter and his mother-in-law. Mark 13 has the “big four” (Peter, James, John, and Andrew) asking Jesus privately about when the Temple will be destroyed.

But the Gospel of John has more. John tells us that Andrew was one of two disciples of John the Baptist who heard him say “That’s the man!” about Jesus and followed him. Scripture thereby makes clear that Andrew was already searching, seeking, repenting, and presumably baptized before Jesus’ ministry even started. Andrew was already on the spiritual journey.

Andrew was also the one to point out that there were fish and bread available when Jesus asks Philip how the five thousand will be fed. Andrew notices, he speaks up, he finds a starting place. He forges a path for transformation.

Then there’s John 12:20–22. Some Greeks come to Philip and say, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” But Philip doesn’t immediately go and tell Jesus. Instead, he goes first to Andrew. Perhaps this was because both Philip and Andrew were from the fishing village of Bethsaida. Perhaps it was because Andrew was one of the “big four.” Perhaps it was because he knew Andrew (whose name is Greek) would know how to handle the fact that these Greek gentiles wanted to speak to a Jewish teacher.

The Greek Orthodox church names Andrew Prōtoklētos (Πρωτόκλητος), or the First-called—which makes sense if he was initially a follower of John the Baptist. So, if he was already—perhaps always—a seeker, did it bother him that Jesus didn’t include him in the “big three” that night in Gethsemane, or did he recognize that being singled out was not that important? Perhaps he wasn’t looking for a place beside Jesus “in his glory,” like James and John were. Perhaps being a follower was enough.

As you can see, my thoughts ranged widely during that vigil—but I did stay awake!

I hope you will attend a Maundy Thursday service today, whether at Saint Philip’s, another local church, or online. I hope you also will take some time in vigil (whether at home or in church) and keep awake with Jesus. Perhaps you also might ponder what it was like to be one of his disciples.

Peace,

Shirin

A version of this message first appeared on my blog on May 7, 2017.