In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.

Brothers and sisters, at the heart of the gospel we find sight. Sight is something profoundly important. And indeed, this is how Christ, in fulfillment of the Gospel and the prophecy of Isaiah, frames it:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he sent me to proclaim good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, preach liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to declare the acceptable year of the Lord."

Recovery of sight to the blind is one of the most important signs of becoming the Christ, the Messiah. And although we recognize many cases when Jesus did indeed heal the blind—literally, physically blind—he did so as a sign of this, of the acceptable year of the Lord, as a sign of something much more profound and wounded than physical blindness, which is spiritual blindness: being unable to see the works of the Lord.

And this is, in fact, our condition. The human race should be able to see freely the works of the Lord. Adam and Eve in the garden had no trouble seeing the Lord when he revealed himself to them. They could freely interact with him and be glad in his presence—until they hid themselves from him, having sinned and become ashamed of their nakedness. And ever since, we have hid ourselves from the Lord, and therefore he is hidden from us.

And so it is not possible for us to see the Lord, to be in his presence truly, to know his goodness—unless the Lord makes us whole, unless he heals us, unless he restores sight to us who are blind.

And so, in that light, let us turn to what we've heard from the Gospel according to St. John today, which is proclaimed to us in celebration of this present feast day of the Holy Apostle Andrew, the First-Called.

We hear in this reading today a constant invitation to see. At the very beginning, we hear John the Baptist saying to two of his disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God" — behold, see, recognize. And Andrew, with his companion, they go to see this Jesus, the Lamb of God that they've been told about.

And when they ask the Lord, "Where are you staying?" Jesus gives the same response that we hear later when Nathanael objects when he is called. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"—where Jesus comes from. Can this really be the Christ coming from Nazareth? The answer is the same: "Come and see. Come and see."

When Jesus sees Simon—Andrew, the First-Called, brings his brother Simon to Jesus—Jesus sees him not merely as his brother, but more profoundly knows him and calls him by a new name: Peter.

And later, when he greets Nathanael, he reveals that he has seen him before Nathanael ever came to greet him—saw him under the fig tree. And that blows Nathanael away: "This makes it clear to me that you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel."

And even then, Jesus answers to this amazement, to this wonder, that Nathanael imagines now he knows exactly what he is confronting in Jesus—that he's the one. "Ah, I know all about the Messiah. I know who you must be." Jesus tells him, "You're only beginning to see clearly. This is just the beginning. So much of what you think you are seeing, you are not. And there are things that you do not see to which your eyes need to be opened. You will see the Lord coming in his glory, the heavens opened and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

We celebrate the Apostle Andrew, reading this gospel account of how he was the First-Called. And what we rejoice in is that, having been shown the truth, he responds to the call. These things go together: "Come and see." "Follow me." They're all there together. He responds, opening the eyes—the eyes of the heart—to recognize the Messiah, when John points him out—John the Baptist.

And when Jesus tells him to come and see, he comes himself, but brings his brother Simon Peter and others as well. This is what gathers together the whole company of the apostles.

Brothers and sisters, we can get stuck on earthly cares—the things that capture our sight so that we fix our gaze upon our worries, our business, our concerns, our frustrations, those things that seem to fill our day, fill our sight, so that we are blinded to the good news, the gospel at work in our midst.

And we can also look and look from wherever we're sitting down—"That's interesting. Oh, that's so moving. Wonderful things"—but never get up and respond to what it is that we are actually seeing. If that's all we're doing, then we're not seeing truly with the eyes of our hearts.

And so we need to hear and see together and respond. Come and see. Learn that you were seen first. You were known from the beginning of the world, and you will be called by your true name by the Lord who knows you best.

Come and see. Allow your vision to be corrected, to be healed, to be made what it's meant to be, so that you can see what is truly important—above all, the grace of God. Come to behold with your hearts the doors of heaven opened to you.

Andrew and his fellow apostles did indeed see this glory—in the cross, in the resurrection, in our Lord's ascension in glory into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father—where the angels told them all that they would see the Lord come again in glory as they have seen him ascend.

And as we hear in a hymn of celebration for St. Andrew: "Once Andrew called his brother, and now he calls you. Come. I have found the one the world desires."

Come, brothers and sisters. We know where to find the one the world desires. And today, this day, in this Divine Liturgy, we join an invisible host of angels, joining with the cherubim and the seraphim in worship of the invisible God. And we make an offering of humble bread and wine with our own selves. We offer them up to that same God, asking that they would all be made into Christ himself, that we would become his body, living with him and him in us—that what is unseen would be made present and transforming what is seen here in us.

And we ask that through this, our whole lives would be made luminous from the inside out—not getting stuck on the surface of things, but recognizing that what is hidden within makes real what goes out from it. So that, filled with that light from God himself, transformed body and soul, day by day in following Christ, answering that call—"Come and see"—we would find the one the world desires. That we would have the light of life to share with all those around us, and all might find the doors of the kingdom open to them.

Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever