He had no older brothers.. So He had to  learn from the men around him what to say and  how to behave. He was  not in the capital city but Galilee.  that back- -woods town that Jerusalem looked on with amusement. Neither did He grow up among the rich and powerful. He was the Son of a carpenter.

Jesus grew up in that environment. He saw other boys and men and with a flawless conscience, He observed what He liked and disliked in their talk and behavior.  This is how He defined Himself.

Later on:  in His brief ministry years, H e was a matured man, who spent many, many hours reflecting on human thinking and   behavior. He knew what made and unmade friends and He knew that others, all others, did things He liked and did, and also did and  thought things He did not like or do.

So, when He went public, He gathered friends around Himself.  Surely in those early mornings on the shore in  Capernaum, He had  “shore breakfast” ready for the quartet when they pulled in from fishing Peter and Andrew, James and John.

Yet, Andrew drops out of the   quartet and leaves a trio. . For most of His preaching life, it’s only Peter, James and John.  The became good and intimate , friends.  So, Jesus can ask them:  What are people saying about me?   

Well, Andrew didn’t like that kind of talk.  So he dropped out. and gives  us  a model of another kind of generous, loving behavior. He seems to be the one to whom the  remaining six could go to  when they needed to approach Jesus with something new and dicey.  And he was content  in this role.

So, this is how we can learn to be an apostle of Jjesus the Christ. When you pray the gospels, notice how the men and the women around Him behaved not only towards Him but towards one another.  All but one of them was learning to love and imitate the Master, who told them this towards the end: I no longer call you servants; I all you my friends.