Two days after the feast of the Nativity of the Lord, we celebrate the feast of the Apostle John the Evangelist—the disciple whom Jesus loved. What do we know about the life of the Beloved of the Lord? – John came from the settlement of Bethsaida on the northeastern shore of the Lake of Galilee. His father was called Zebedee, and his mother was Salome. He was a fisherman by profession. Before Jesus called him, he was a disciple of St. John the Baptist. Among the apostles, he had an essential place in the early church in Jerusalem. After leaving Jerusalem in the year 50, he worked in Asia Minor, especially in the large and important city of Ephesus. Under Emperor Domitian, around the year 90, he was exiled to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea for his faith in Christ. We have five writings from him: a gospel, three letters, and the Apocalypse. He died around the year 100 in Ephesus. How beautiful it would be if, at the hour of our death, we heard from the lips of Christ the Lord himself the words, “Most Holy Mother—behold, this is your son; this is your daughter! My son, my daughter—look, here is your Mother Mary, who has taken you under her protection! I cannot reject you, because for whom the Virgin Mary intercedes, salvation is assured!”
The holy Apostle John, a disciple of Christ the Lord, heard these words under the Cross when the Savior was dying. According to holy tradition, the Blessed Virgin did not want to move far from Calvary. She remained in Jerusalem, and Saint John took care of her. Mary was entrusted to him at the most sacred moment before the death of her divine Son. And Saint John certainly deserved it. He alone of the apostles persevered with his master and Lord even at the moment of his greatest humiliation. He was able to face all those who killed his teacher and lord. And he did not doubt Christ the Lord even when he saw Him hanging on the cross, that Christ the Lord is the true God! The Apostle John is above all, the apostle of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Artists have somewhat distorted the image of the Lord’s beloved. In icons, Saint John is depicted as a gentle, sensitive young man with an almost girlish appearance. However, John’s spirituality was firm and even hard; his faith withstood all thunder and lightning. After all, John was a fisherman like his brother James. He knew well what it was to struggle with a stormy sea. He knew well what the struggle of life was! He remembered very well the first words that the Lord Jesus said to him and Andrew: “Come, follow me and see!”
And John truly went and saw. He saw clearly that their Master and lord led a hard, ascetic life. He saw that Jesus had no roof over his head. He saw that Christ the Lord was content with whatever anyone gave him. He saw the Lord Jesus working during the day and praying at night. Furthermore, he saw how Jesus distributed love and reaped hatred that would drive him to the cross. Like the other disciples, the apostle John had difficulty understanding that Jesus was not building a kingdom of earthly power, but a kingdom of love and peace. If he had understood it right away, he would certainly not have asked the Lord for the first “ministerial chairs” together with his brother James and his mother. However, when Jesus asked if he could also drink the cup of his suffering with him, John confessed without hesitation, “Yes, I can drink your cup!” So Saint John was no dreamer, no soft-hearted person. And yet he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. At the Last Supper, he rested on the breast of Christ, on the heart of his Master and Lord. It was the Beloved of the Lord who penetrated most deeply into the mystery of Christ’s love. In the communion of the Virgin Mary, he was even more perfected in the spirit of her divine Son. From the Blessed Virgin, Saint John learned to penetrate ever more deeply into the mystery of faith and love.
And the apostle John penetrated the mystery of faith, saying that Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of God. And he penetrated the mystery of love, which we are to show by keeping God’s commandments. Saint John begins his joyful proclamation with a magnificent vision of the Eternal Word: “En arché én ho Logos, kai ho Logos én prós ton Theon, kai Theos én ho Logos.” – which is translated: “IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD!” And when Saint John begins to write his letters, he presents Christ the Lord to us as the Word of life, who was from the beginning, whom he saw, whom he touched, and even on whose divine Heart he rested. But the most beautiful thing is when Saint John proclaims the love of Jesus: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Let us love one another, for love is from God. He who does not love does not know God!” And the Beloved of the Lord engraves a harsh truth into our hearts: “God exists; you have seen him, and others have seen him.” When we love one another, God is in us! You see your brother, so love him! He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” – Yes, this is how the disciples—sons—apostles mature in the proximity of the Virgin Mary! The Blessed Virgin teaches them true faith and love, which embraces God with one arm and their brothers and sisters with the other.
When Saint John left Jerusalem, he lived in Asia Minor in Ephesus. He had to suffer a lot for the name of Jesus. But the Lord gave him the promise that he would die a natural death. Therefore, scourging, boiling oil, and exile caused him suffering, but not death. Saint John was the last of the apostles to leave this world. At the end of his life, he only wanted to repeat the same refrain over and over again: “My little children, love one another!” When the faithful asked him why he kept repeating it, he answered them, “Because it is the commandment of Christ the Lord!” Let us ask the Lord to give us, like his beloved Saint John, and entrust us to his Mother Mary. Lord, we beg you, grant that your most holy Mother Mary may also be our Mother. We will strive to be faithful children of God and of the Virgin Mary. And then we can firmly believe and never doubt that at the hour of our death, Christ the Lord will embrace us to His Most Sacred Heart! Saint John, Beloved of the Lord, pray for us! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners—now and at the hour of our death.
