Andrew and the Nets
A bedtime story about Saint Andrew, a fisherman who mends his nets by the lake, hears Jesus say "Come after me," and the first thing he does is run to fetch his brother. Told from the Gospels, with a note for grown-ups on what is in the text and what is ours. For ages 3 to 8, about eight minutes read aloud. His feast day is the 30th of November.
A long time ago, beside a big blue lake in the Holy Land, there lived a fisherman named Andrew.
Andrew had a brother named Simon, and the two of them fished together. Every day they took a boat out on the water and let down their nets, and every day they pulled the nets back in, heavy and silver and wriggling, if the fish were kind.
Fishing is hard work. The nets get tangled. They get holes in them. And so, when the boats came home, Andrew and Simon sat on the pebbles in the sun and mended their nets, and mended them, and mended them, one little knot at a time.
Andrew was good at knots. He was good at waiting, too. And he was the kind of person who, when he heard something wonderful, could never keep it to himself.
One day a man was talking by the river not far away. His name was John, and people called him the Baptist, which means the one who washes people in the river. John said that someone very special was coming, someone much greater than he was.
Andrew went to listen. Then, one afternoon, John pointed at a quiet man walking by and said, "Look. That is the one."
Andrew did not say anything at first. He just followed. He walked behind that man, and the man turned around and asked him, "What are you looking for?"
Andrew did not have a clever answer. He asked, "Where are you staying?"
"Come and see," said Jesus.
So Andrew went and saw. He stayed with Jesus all the rest of that day, until the light went orange and the evening came on. We are not told what they said. We are only told that Andrew went home a different person.
Now here is the part Andrew is most remembered for.
When he got home, the very first thing he did was go and find his brother Simon. He did not wait until morning. He did not tell it slowly. He said, "We have found him! We have found the one we have been waiting for!"
And he took Simon by the hand, and brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at Simon for a long moment. And then he gave Simon a new name. He called him Peter, which means rock. Peter went on to be the leader of all Jesus's friends. But it was Andrew who brought him. Andrew did not mind that Peter would become the famous one. He was only glad to have shared the good news.
A while later, Jesus was walking beside the lake, and he saw the two brothers throwing a net into the water.
"Come after me," he said, "and I will teach you to catch people."
Now, you might think they would say, "Wait, just let us finish this net." But the Gospel says that they left their nets straight away, and they went with him.
Think of it. The nets they had mended so many times, knot by knot, lay on the pebbles. The boat rocked by itself on the water. And two fishermen walked away along the shore after Jesus, not knowing where they were going, only knowing whom they were following.
They were not catching fish any more. They were helping to gather people, the way you might gather up friends for a game, and say, Come on, there is room for you too.
Andrew became one of the twelve friends of Jesus whom we call the apostles. And all through the Gospels, whenever you meet Andrew, he is doing the same kind thing. He is bringing somebody.
Once there was a huge crowd, and everybody was hungry, and nobody had any food. Andrew found a boy with five little loaves of bread and two small fish. "There is a boy here," said Andrew, "but what is that among so many?" He did not know what would happen. But he brought the boy, and he brought the bread, and Jesus took them and fed everyone.
Another time some visitors from far away said they would like to meet Jesus. They asked one of the friends, and he asked Andrew, and Andrew took them to Jesus himself.
That is Andrew. He is the one who says, "Come and see," and then brings you to the door.
Is there someone you could bring today?
Perhaps a friend who is standing on their own. Perhaps a little brother or sister who would like to join in. You do not have to be the loudest or the cleverest. You only have to say, Come with me. There is room.
Now the lake is quiet, and the nets are mended, and the boat is tied up for the night.
Goodnight.
A prayer to say together
Saint Andrew, fisherman,
you heard Jesus call and you came.
Thank you for bringing your brother,
and the boy with the loaves, and the visitors.
Help me to notice the one who is alone,
and to say, "Come with me. There is room."
Keep me safe tonight, and everyone I love.
Amen.
For grown-ups: what is true in this story
Saint Andrew was a real person: one of the twelve apostles, brother of Simon Peter, from Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee (John 1:44) and later living in Capernaum (Mark 1:29). His feast day is the 30th of November, a feast in the General Roman Calendar. Later tradition says he preached widely and was martyred at Patras in Greece; those traditions come from late texts and this story leaves them out. He is the patron of Scotland, Greece and Russia, among other places.
What is in the Gospels. That he was a fisherman who mended and cast nets with his brother, and that Jesus called the two of them from the shore with the words "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men," at which they "immediately left their nets and followed him" (Matthew 4:18-20; Mark 1:16-18). That he had first been a follower of John the Baptist, was told "Behold the Lamb of God," asked "Where are you staying?" and was answered "Come and see," and stayed with Jesus that day (John 1:35-39). That he then found Simon, said "We have found the Messiah," and brought him to Jesus, who named him Cephas, "rock" (John 1:40-42). That he brought the boy with five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:8-9), and brought the Greeks who asked to see Jesus (John 12:20-22). Luke and John place the call differently from Matthew and Mark; the story joins them in the order that makes a gentle sequence, and does not claim to settle how they fit together.
What is ours. The sun on the pebbles, the knots, the colour of the evening, Andrew's good temper about Peter becoming the famous one, the boat rocking by itself, and the closing question are our own additions for a bedtime story. The Gospels do not tell us what Andrew and Jesus said that first afternoon, and the story says so. The prayer is not an approved text.
This story was written by Claude, an AI made by Anthropic, for the Little Lamps collection. It is not an official Church text. Parents and catechists are warmly encouraged to read it first and adapt it for their own children.