What kind of person was John? We often think of John as the guy laying his head on the Lord’s breast during the last supper. Couple that picture with his emphasizing love for the Christian brethren in I John and you may come away with the idea that John was kind of an effeminate wuss. But that is kind of like describing Anakin Skywalker as a bald, frail old man based upon the removing the helmet scene in “Return of the Jedi”. There is so much more in view here. If you don’t see the whole picture then you are missing a great story of spiritual growth and redemption.
John was a fisherman with his Brother James and Father Zebedee. I am also convinced that John was the unnamed follower (John 1:35-40) of John the Baptist that left with Andrew to follow Jesus seeing how John never mentions himself in his gospel; preferring to conceal his name instead. (See John 13:23 and John 20:3 for example) Andrew, fellow disciple of John the Baptist runs to tell Peter (his brother) after spending the day with Jesus that he and John have found the Messiah. This tells us John, James, the brother of John, Andrew and Peter all knew each other and were possibly disciples (of various degrees) of John the Baptist. Jesus later comes by the Sea of Galilee where all four of them are fishing/mending nets to bid them to follow Him. (Matt 4:21) Also note that John (concealing himself yet again in John 18:15) is able to gain entrance to Jesus’ trial because he was “known to the high priest”. This is a man who has connections in high places. Taking this all into account we can surmise that John was a spiritual man, a good Jew and someone who was actively looking for the Messiah.
John and his brother James, the sons of Zebedee were known as “Sons of Thunder” and rightly so. John is revealed in the gospels as a man of quick temperament who has a rather high opinion of himself. We see this when John asks Jesus for permission to call fire from heaven to consume a Samaritan village for rejecting him. In the passage before that one we see John telling Jesus that he and the other disciples had forbade someone from casting out demons in Jesus’ name just because that person “does not follow us”. In the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew we see John and James (through mommy), asking Jesus for thrones at his left and right hand side. In all three instances Jesus rebukes this hot-headed, smug disciple. But something happens to John while he follows Christ; his heart softens. This once boisterous disciple learns humility. He learns that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. He learns to love Christ supremely and dearly. (John was the only disciple to stick around after Jesus was arrested and crucified.) In I John we get an intimate look at what John has taken away from the his time with Jesus Christ and it isn’t a call to burn Samaritan villages with fire from heaven. Instead we get a call to love Christ and our Christian brethren.
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Ok, so there is more than one John? I'm only familiar with John the Baptist. Which book of the bible should I read to learn about the John you speak of?
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ReplyDeleteYou have John the Baptist cousin of Jesus, the forerunner to the messiah.
ReplyDeleteThen you have the disciple John who was a disciple of John the Baptist, Brother of James whom both became disciples under Jesus. This is the John that wrote The Gospel of John, I John, II John, III John and Revelation.
The major passages concerning John are found throughout the gospel. You can start in Luke 9:46-56, John 19:25-27, Mark 10: 35-45 and John 19:25-27. You can also find out more about John if you read the gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He is often mentioned in the gospels with the other 12 disciples of Christ.
It is kind of nice to know that the very men who physically walked with Christ floundered and flailed in their faith. It often amuses me to read how much they argued amongst themselves, worried about silly things like who would be first or sitting on which side of Christ's throne, and how often they simply did not understand or recognize Christ. Yet, God continued the process of sanctification and used these imperfect men to spread his gospel.
ReplyDeleteIt gives me hope when I fail or lose focus on Christ.
I have post this on facebook. There is a great discussion going on here about this post here as well:
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