“Yohanan” was among the most popular male first century Jewish names, meaning “Yahweh is gracious.” For most of Christian history the authorship of the Johannine writings (John, I, II, & III John, and the Book of Revelation) has been assigned to John the apostle — son of Zebedee, brother of James, Disciple Whom Jesus Loved and adopted son of Mary. Today’s responsible scholars disagree with this synopsis.

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved appears only in the Gospel of John and he doesn’t show up there until the Last Supper, resting his head on the bosom of Jesus. Always faithful, he follows Jesus from Genthsemane to the court of the high priest and all the way to the cross. He races to the tomb Easter Sunday morning (letting Peter enter first) and recognizes the Risen One at the shore of the Sea of Galilee when the others in the boat (including John the son of Zebedee) do not. In both incidents the Beloved Disciple believes before any of the others, including Peter.

It is never suggested in the Gospels that the Beloved Disciple was named John, although plenty of scholars including the great Raymond Brown, profess that he was probably the founder of the Church at Ephesus which seems to be his headquarters. As a founder his possible recent death (in the last decade of the first century) seems to have spurred on the writing of the Gospel of John and his prominence in the last chapters of that glorious book.

Okay. So what? A good question to ask! Let us look at the actions of the Beloved Disciple as a model. Can we envision ourselves resting on the bosom of Jesus? Might we, too, faithfully follow through his trial and stand with his mother at the foot of the cross? Will we take Mary into our family and into our home? Do we immediately “believe” as he did and race to the empty tomb? Do we recognize him, even from afar, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and all the other shores and harbors of life?

The literature of the Beloved Disciple portrays the churches of Asia Minor that he founded as unsettled, in a state of flux, unsure of the future with infighting and even uncharitable actions of Christians one to another. Sound familiar? Yet here we are, 2000+ years later finding ourselves not much different from them.

May this give us hope that, despite it all, it is the Lord who continues to steer the ship.
Like the Beloved Disciple may we exclaim, “It is the Lord!” through the trials and the joys of life.

-Timothy J. Croni