The beloved disciple

By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic

Photography: JIM DAVIS | FC

HIALEAH | Jesus trained a dozen disciples, three of them for his inner circle. But only one was “the disciple whom Jesus loved”: St. John, whose feast day is Dec. 27.

John, probably the youngest of the 12, emphasized a blend of love and truth in his life and writings. And his Gospel especially highlights Jesus as the supernatural Son of God.

John lived in the Galilee region, where Jesus grew up. He was a fisherman, along with his brother James and their father Zebedee. James and John were among the first called by Jesus, as they were mending their nets by the Sea of Galilee. They continued their trade even after the call, but they were finally convinced one day when Jesus miraculously filled their net to the breaking point. Thereafter, they left everything to follow him.

Despite his nickname of “the beloved,” John apparently shared a quick temper with James. The two asked Jesus to allow them to call down fire to punish Samaritans who didn’t show hospitality. “Sons of Thunder,” Jesus wryly called the brothers.

On one occasion, they tried to stop a stranger from casting out demons because the man wasn’t among the 12. On another, their mother asked Jesus to give them places of honor in the Kingdom of God, drawing the ire of the other disciples.

Peter, James and John formed the inner circle, seeing events that the other disciples did not. They were there when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter and when Jesus was transfigured on a mountain. They also went with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane, unfortunately nodding off during prayers.

Still, John remained literally close to Jesus, even leaning against him during the Last Supper. When Jesus revealed that one of those present would betray him, it was John who asked the person’s identity.

John stayed with Jesus during the crucifixion, along with Mary, as the other disciples were hiding. And on Jesus’ instruction from the cross – “Behold your mother” – John took care of Mary as his own mother for the rest of her life.

John and Peter, too, had a special relationship. Jesus sent them to prepare the Upper Room in Jerusalem for the Last Supper. They ran to the tomb after women reported that Jesus’ body was missing, The empty graveclothes dismayed Peter, but John instantly grasped that Jesus had risen – the first-ever person to confess the resurrection.

After Jesus ascended, John and Peter went on missions together, introducing the Holy Spirit to Samaria, healing a lame man, and sharing time in jail.

John became a leader of the young church in Jerusalem after James, the city’s first bishop, was martyred. John also took occasional missionary journeys, founding the church at Basra, on the coast of what is now Iran.

He visited Ephesus in Asia Minor, then moved there after the deaths of Peter and Paul. From there, he founded other churches in the region, appointing and supervising their bishops. 

John continued to preach despite attempts to kill him. In Rome he was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, according to a tradition, astounding his tormenters when he emerged unharmed. Another tradition says he drank a cup of poisoned wine unharmed.

Many believe he was the “John the Divine” who received the apocalyptic visions that became the biblical Book of Revelation. If so, that means he was exiled for some time by the Roman emperor Domitian to Patmos, an island off the coast of Turkey.

When Domitian was killed in 96, John’s exile was lifted, and he returned to Ephesus. There, he took over the bishop’s post after Timothy, Paul’s former companion, was martyred. Among John’s disciples was Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna, who became a revered Church Father.

It was in Ephesus that John is believed to have written the fourth Gospel, at once a more personal yet mystical account than those of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Where Matthew and Luke begin with the Nativity, and Mark with John the Baptist, John begins with Jesus as the eternal Word of God, who created the universe, then “became flesh and lived among us.” The soaring concepts earned him the symbol of the eagle.

In that Gospel, John seems self-effacing but treasures his relationship with Jesus. He names himself mainly as “that other disciple,” also “the beloved disciple” and “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” The other three Gospels don’t have those phrases.

John is also believed to be the author of the three short letters that bear his name. In the first, he develops the theme of love that he introduced in his Gospel, even making it the basic test of Christian character.

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God,” he writes in I John. “Everyone who loves knows God and is born of God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

An anecdote from that period shows how John’s character had changed. One of his bishops confessed that a young man in his care had become the leader of a gang of robbers. Undaunted, John called for a horse and a guide, then sought out the young criminal’s hideout. When the young man recognized John, he was struck with shame and fled. Despite his age, John chased him, prompting the man to stop and weep. John then knelt and kissed the man’s right hand – the hand that often held a weapon – then gave him absolution and restored him to the Church.

The older he got, the more he centered on the theme of love. When he spoke at meetings in Ephesus, he would often speak a single sentence: “My dear children, love one another.”

He is believed to have died around 94 years old. His remains were buried on a nearby mountain, which became the site of a church, then a Turkish mosque.

John is the patron saint of love, loyalty, friendships, authors and the nation of Turkey.

St. John the Apostle in Hialeah is one of the older churches in the archdiocese, established in 1945 by Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley of St. Augustine. He was responding to a request by residents of that city and Miami Springs, who had organized their first Mass in a theater three years earlier.

The new congregation bought 10 acres at its present site. They laid the first stone in February 1949 for a new church, school and convent, then held their first Mass there that July.

Growing pains pushed the parish to add a new church building for 1,200 people, which was consecrated in 1963. The current pastor, Father Hector Perez, was appointed in August 2013.