And [Andrew] brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). John 1:42
“After Andrew spends the entire day with Jesus, he does not keep the treasure for his personal benefit, but hastens to share it with his brothers.”
John Chrysostom (347-407) in Homilies on St. John’s Gospel 19.1.
Sometimes the most seemingly insignificant passages have the biggest messages for us.
There’s an expression that has been traced as far back as Augustine of Hippo (354-430), a contemporary of John Chrysostom. It goes like this.
“The gospel came to you on the way to someone else.”
Notice Andrew’s generosity today. He “brought” Peter to Jesus. As Chrysostom notes, “he does not keep the treasure for his personal benefit, but hastens to share it with his brothers.”
Let me illustrate this. Look at the header photo, my view of Petco Park from my hotel room in San Diego.
If I met you and I handed you 100 tickets to a baseball game at the ballpark, what would you do? Would you go to the game and sit in the section of 100 seats by yourself?
Of course not. You would invite family and friends to benefit from this gift.
That’s what Andrew did. That’s what we get to do. It relates to generosity because it shows that we understand that the gospel is like getting 100 tickets to a baseball game.
Not just for us but for us to share one hundredfold blessing.
So, as I participate in three conferences this week in San Diego as a learner and as an invited paper presenter ETS, IBR, and SBL, I am hear to gain wisdom from other biblical scholars to bless others.
Sometimes, when we steward faithfully such opportunities, God has us bless thousands and ten thousands.