The Apostle of Love
What would you do if Jesus asked you to follow him?
It’s the question that every apostle dealt with: “Should I stay or should I go?” For the apostle John, the one whom Christ loved, the answer was an immediate “Yes!” We read of how he joined Jesus’ ranks in Mark chapter 1:16-20:
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
John is most famous for writing the Gospel of John, which overflows with Jesus’ message of love for all people.
What followed from that moment on was a relationship with Jesus that transformed John’s life. We read that John found himself among Jesus’ inner circle of apostles along with James and Peter. He had the privilege of seeing Jairus’ daughter raised, of witnessing the Transfiguration and of going to the Garden of Gethesame before Jesus was betrayed by Judas.
Later on in life, John wrote his gospel and included that most famous of verses, John 3:16: “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.” It’s a verse that everyone who’s been in Sunday school knows, and many who have attended NFL games have wondered about.
For me, John is the gospel that shows us what the emotional side of a life following Jesus entails: it is a faith not built only on the intellect, but on the heart’s devotion.
Here are the books of the Bible traditionally attributed to John, via BibleGateway.com:
More on John:
Do you have any favorite passages from John’s works?
hmmm veary nicly said