Christian Saints Podcast

Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

December 26, 2020 Darren C. Ong Season 1 Episode 10
Christian Saints Podcast
Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist
Show Notes Transcript

Saint John, the "disciple whom Jesus loved" was one of the Twelve Apostles, and wrote five books in the Bible, among them the Gospel of John. Significantly, he was the only one of the Twelve Apostles present with Jesus during the crucifixion.  Saint John was the longest-living of the twelve apostles, and had a strong influence on the generation of church leaders who succeeded them. 


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God is glorious in his saints! 
 
 Welcome to the Christian Saints Podcast. My name is Darren Ong, recording from Sepang in Malaysia. In this podcast, we explore the lives of the Christian saints, from the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Today, we will discuss St John the Apostle, one of Jesus’ closest followers, and known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Though perhaps we should clarify that this is a title that John gave himself haha. He is also known as John the Evangelist, because he is the author of one of the Gospels (since Gospel in Greek is Evangelio). Traditionally, John is believed to be the author of five books of the Bible. His Gospel, the three epistles of John, and book of Revelation. 



 John was initially a follower of Saint John the Baptist, and when John the Baptist recognized Jesus as the Son of God, John the Apostle started following him instead. The gospel of John notes, 1:35-39
 
 “Again, the next day, John [the baptist] stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?”

They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”

He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day “

 
 John and his brother Andrew were known as the “sons of thunder”, and they are introduced as such in list of Jesus’ 12 disciples in the gospel of Mark. A hint as to how they earned this name is found in the Gospel of Luke, 9:51-56
 
 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village.
 
 Nevertheless, John became one of Jesus’ closest followers, and was present in almost all of the big moments in Jesus’ ministry. He, together with Peter and his brother James were the only disciples present during his transfiguration, Luke 9:28-36:
 
 Jesus took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.
 
 John plays an especially prominent role in the events leading to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. He was reclining next to Jesus during the Last Supper. After Jesus was arrested, only Peter and John followed him, John’s gospel says he was allowed into the high priest courtyard where Jesus was taken, because the high priest knew him. And finally, when Jesus was taken to be crucified, only John among the twelve apostles was with him, standing at the foot of the cross. Jesus entrusts to him the care of his mother. In John 19:25-27
 
 Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home

 Then, after Christ is resurrected John and Peter were the first two of Jesus’ 12 Apostles to discover his empty tomb. He reaches the tomb first (hilariously, John seems keen to emphasize here that he was a faster runner than Peter), but Peter is the first to enter. From John 20:1-10
 
  Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
 
 John is also present in a moving encounter after Jesus’ resurrection. Some of the Apostles were fishing, and they end up encountering Jesus in the beach, who miraculously grants them a huge catch. This episode has a rather peculiar ending, relating to John. From John 21:20-23:
 
 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” 23 So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”
 
Indeed, John ended up being the last of Jesus’ 12 apostles to die. He was a big influence over the leaders of the early Christian church. His disciple, Saint Polycarp was a bishop in Smyrna in modern-day Turkey, and another disciple Saint Ignatius was a bishop in Antioch. These two (together with Saint Clement of Rome) were regarded as the most important of the apostolic fathers, the “second-generation” leaders of the Christian church after the ones who knew Jesus first-hand passed away.
 
John is particularly influential through his writings. Let’s begin by discussing his gospels. 
 John’s gospel is markedly different from the other three by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. For one thing, the gospel of John has a bigger emphasis on Christology, that is, describing who exactly Jesus is. The gospel of John records several “I am” statements where Jesus describes himself in several ways

 John also describes Jesus as the “logos” or Word, a concept taken from Greek philosophy, which refered to some ordering principle of the cosmos. The concept of Jesus Christ as Logos (or Word) is especially prominent right at the beginning of John’s gospel:
 
 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 (John [the baptist] testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
 
 John’s gospel is also written in a more intimate way than the other three gospels. It records first-hand eyewitness accounts of Jesus more often. John appears in his own gospel several times as a major character in it (always refered to as the disciple whom Jesus loved) and he emphasizes individual interactions with Christ more than the other gospels. Some of those individual interactions are by John himself, but John records how Jesus speaks personally with other people too. For example, a previous podcast episode focuses on Jesus’ encounter with Saint Photini, the Samaritan woman by the well, which is only recorded in John’s gospel. Another famous encounter is between Christ and the pharisee Nicodemus, from which the famous John 3:16 verse appears- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Let us read about this encounter in full, from the third chapter of John:
 
 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

 The Bible also records three epistles (or letters) written by John. For the first epistle, it is unclear who exactly the intended recipients are, indeed it reads more like a sermon than a letter. This first epistles carries on some of the themes from his gospel. It has a very strong emphasis on love, both love between god and man, and love of humans with each other. And it also says a lot about the relationship between God and humans, and speaks of that relationship in a close, loving and intimate way. For example, from 4:7-12
 
 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

The second and third epistles are very short, and address briefly the gnostic heresy in the early church, and the need to show hospitality toward Christian missionaries.

 John is also believed to be the author of the Book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible which is mainly a prophecy about the end times. John is on Patmos, an island in the Aegean sea and the book is another letter, addressed to seven churches in Asia. The book is heavy in symbolism and very difficult to understand, and several of the apocalyptic images from this book have become well-known even among non-Christians. John introduced the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the seven seals, 666 as the mark of the beast, and so on. As a summary, the book predicts many disasters and tribulations that the world will have to go through, before Jesus returns and wins his final victory over evil, and all his followers are brought into a New Jerusalem, where God again dwells freely with his people, as he did in the Garden of Eden.
 
 from Revelations 21:1-7:
 
  Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’

5 He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’

6 He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Christian Saints podcast. Look for our page on Facebook or Instagram, or look for us on Twitter at podcast_saints. All music in this episode was composed by my good friend, James John Marks of Generative Sounds. 

John called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, and indeed love is the thread that ties together all of his writings. So I think it fitting to end with this passage from his first epistle, which famously declares that God is love. From 1 John 4:16-21
 
 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

 We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.