Herb
ert Lockyer, author of All the Apostles of the Bible, writes, “If Peter and James were the first among the twelve, John (“Jehovah has been gracious”) was the first in the affections of his Lord. . . . John knew something of Jesus’ heartbeat.” When most Christians think about the apostle John, they probably imagine a quiet, young man, perhaps in his early twenties, who always said and did the right thing. After all, it is common knowledge that he was the disciple “whom Jesus loved,” wasn’t he?
Interestingly, up until the passion of Jesus, we know basically three things about this young man. First, he was one of the two “sons of thunder” who, along with his brother, James, questioned if fire should come out of heaven to strike the Samaritans. (Ref. Luke 9:54). Second, he was involved in the bold request that he and his brother be given special privilege to sit beside the Lord Jesus at his throne. Third, his only recorded spoken words were those of an elitist young man: “Teacher, . . . we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us” (Mark 9:38).
Certainly young John was “wet behind the ears” and in need of some necessary guidance. But John did learn. During his three years at the feet of Jesus, John’s nature changed from a brash young man to a gentle and caring individual.
John never mentioned himself by name in his gospel. He frequently replaced it with the description, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” His humility would not allow him to speak of himself, but rather he wished to divert all attention to his loving Savior. Five times we read in the book of John:
“One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him”(13:23).
“When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby . . .” (19:26).
“So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said . . .” (20:2).
“Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter . . .” (21:7).
“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them” (21:20).
Jesus and John shared a truly unique relationship at the foot of the cross. It resulted in John being given the honor of caring for Jesus’ mother. “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (19:27). Thus John was the last of the disciples to whom Jesus spoke before he died. Church tradition claims that John did not leave Jerusalem while Mary was still alive.
There is more. Not only was John loved, but he also preached love! Within the five chapters of 1 John, the word love appears 35 times, 21 times in chapter 4 alone. He wrote about the love of God for the world. He wrote about God’s love for his Son. He wrote about Jesus’ love for his followers. And he wrote about the love we should have for one another. If one theme carries through all of John’s writings, it is that of love!
A story is told about John as an old man of nearly 100 years and living in Ephesus. John was bedridden, and needed assistance to attend church. There the people loved to ask him questions concerning how a Christian should live. John’s answer was always the same: “Little children, love one another.” When he was pressed as to why his answer was always the same, John would tell them that that was the command of the Lord, and if that alone would be followed, it would be sufficient.
John was the last surviving apostle who witnessed the life of Jesus Christ. His brother, James, was the first of the apostles to die. It must have pained John to hear again and again about the deaths of those with whom he shared so much at the feet of the Master. But he never lost his hope. And he never lost his love. What a powerful message for us today!
O, how I love Jesus, because he first loved me!
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