THE APOSTLE JOHN , “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (six times in John’s gospel, cf. John 13:23), lived a long and fruitful spiritual life. He left a testimony of his relationship with Jesus that gives remarkable insight to Christian spiritual formation and patient endurance. (cf. Rev. 14:12) Scripture records two versions of his first encounter with Jesus. One shows our John, along with Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, as a disciple of John the Baptist hearing his testimony of the Messiah upon seeing Jesus nearby, “Look, the Lamb of God!” (John. 1:36) John, in his usual anonymous and self-deprecatory expression, says in his own rendition of this gospel that he and Andrew “followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him.” (John 1:37-39)
Matthew’s account of this incident is a quite a bit different, though in respect to biblical integrity and historicity, this is merely a matter of the referential framework of the storyteller. Here, Jesus is walking by the shore of Galilee as various fishermen are plying their trade. He calls out to Simon and Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” (Matt. 4:19) Jesus then called out to James and our John, in their father Zebedee’s boat, “and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” (Matt. 4:22)
Whichever version of the tale most accurately describes John’s first sighting of Jesus, he is completely captivated, and the journey that will change his destiny, and to some lesser or greater extent our own, now begins for him. He has committed himself to following Jesus, and his journey will take him from seeing signs and wonders, into the fellowship of a select cadre of men who will change the world through signs and wonders, through the shattering impact of Jesus’ death and to the miracle of his resurrection, on into the formation of the Christian church, past the calumny of religious leaders and kings, and finally into the grace and wisdom of a long life lived consistently in one direction.
There is a particular set of snapshots in time that compress the forces that will shape John for the rest of his life. These occur in less than a twenty-four-hour period. We see John with Jesus in the evening at the time of the Last Supper, when Jesus is about to be betrayed. “The disciple that Jesus loved was reclining next to him.” (John 13:23) Prompted by Peter, John asks “Lord, who is it?” (John 13:25) And Jesus takes him into confidence. “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread.” (John 13:26) At this same time, John hears something he cannot yet understand. “Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)
Through John’s eyes we see these inexorable events take place as we witness Jesus’ arrest (cf. John 18:2-9), Peter’s denials (cf. John 18:16-17, 18:25-27), and the questions of the high priest (cf. John 18:19-24). The outcome is unavoidable; in our enlightened understanding it is God’s sovereign plan for redeeming mankind.
The quickening events that will see Jesus crucified during the next day begin to accelerate. Through John, we witness the sham trials before Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate, and by mid-afternoon in the light of day we see and hear through John life-altering specific significant events surrounding Jesus’ death. One is deeply touching. “Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby. He said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:26-27) Another is more significant than John can understand at this time. He hears Jesus say, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) In less than a day, John’s hopes and dreams built up over more than three momentous years seemingly lie destroyed.
Then there is a three-day period of confusion, terror, and despair, when all seems lost. John’s record of the disciples, men and women alike, show them completely severed from a future of hope. And here we have the miraculous turning point, immediately seen not only through John’s eyes, but also those of Mary Magdalene and Peter. Afterwards, there will be a growing number of the early disciples who will be drawn forward by their remarkable witness, as will countless others in the stream of Christians who encounter the living Lord Jesus. This includes you and me.
John, having heard the impossible news from Mary, ran and “reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there, and also went inside.” (John 20:3a; cf. John 11:44) In an instant, the cycles of the tension and compression of life-events that John has been struggling with are released. “He saw and believed.” (John 20:3b) John is drawn through a never-before-opened portal of understanding into literally a different realm of physics. The creator of the universe gives him, and along with him you and me, the key to the understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The language of the young John is forever changed by the sum of these events. His exalted later view of Jesus is more transcendent than the event of the Transfiguration, in which all three of the synoptic gospels attest to John’s presence when Jesus’ “clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.” (Mark 9:3, Matt. 17:2, Luke 9:29)
The older John of his own gospel says, “In him was life, and that light was the light of all mankind.” (John 1:4) And he continues, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) An even older John, in his first letter, continues “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, so that you also may have fellowship with us.” (1 John 1:1-3) This is what John sincerely, even desperately, wants to share with us.
The John of old age, from a vision given him while imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos, says “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. I turned around to see someone like a son of man. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” (Rev. 1:10, 12-16)
This John then shares with us the uncovering of God’s ultimate resolution of the plight of the fallen world as the new creation begins. And through the subsequent blasts of the angels’ trumpets and the bowls of God’s wrath emerges a heavenly vision that brings us a peaceful understanding that surpasses all the chaos of the world below. Finalizing John’s vision is the voice of the Lord, whispering tenderly “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. Yes, I am coming soon.” (Rev. 22:17, 20)
John’s final thoughts towards encouraging us can be summed up from his first letter. “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” (1 John 2:28)
Q. Do I have the eyes to see what John saw?
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