Modesty? Incase he
draw attention to himself rather than Jesus? Ironically the idiosyncrasy of it may have had
the opposite effect! But this still
doesn’t explain the specific self-titling.
Boasting? Even though John was once guilty of trying to gain
closer proximity to the Lord in an age to come, we can quickly discount the
theory that there was any sense of superiority behind it – that Jesus in fact loved
him any more than the other disciples, or even that John felt that to be the
case. John recorded that Jesus loved
Lazarus even enough to cry at his funeral, without any hint of jealousy.
Here are two suggestions:
John’s self definition!
Others might define themselves by race, gender, office, wealth or age – but not
John. One could almost imagine the words
being the simple epitaph on his headstone – in his mind they summed his whole
life up quite perfectly.John’s testimony! Based on his own very personal experience. John is rarely away from the Lord’s presence in the Gospel record and so he experienced that love directly and first-hand (see 1 John 1). It was clearly a two-way process – and so Jesus knew at the cross that John was the best candidate to love and care for his mother after His death despite his younger brother being the normal default option.
You cannot miss how love is so
absolutely paramount in John’s epistles, far more so than in the letters of
either Peter or Paul. John writes in the gospel that:
·
God is a God of love
·
that God loved His
Son
·
that God loved
Christ's disciples
·
that God loves the
world
·
that God is loved by
Christ
·
that Christ loved
the disciples in general
·
that Christ loved
them as individuals
·
that Christ expected
men to love Him
·
that Christ taught
that we should love one another
·
love is the
fulfilling of the whole law.
His writings add a critical component
to our understanding of Jesus Christ and the nature and basis of our
relationship with Him and with His Father, and the relationship between the two
of them. I recommend a detailed study of it.
John’s exposition of the
pre-incarnate Word in John 1 and revelation of the apocalyptic warrior in
Revelation 1 are theologically very important.
And one might think that having so much love might cause him to be a bit
loosey goosey on truth and doctrine – but no!
For
in the gospel of John you see this unwavering regard for the truth. Everything
with John is absolute:
·
there is light and
darkness in the gospel
·
There is life and
death,
·
there's the Kingdom
of God, and there's the kingdom of the devil
·
There are the
children of God and there are the children of the devil.
·
There's the judgment
of the righteous and there's the judgment of the wicked.
·
There is salvation
and there is damnation.
·
There is receiving
Christ and rejecting Christ.
·
There is a vine and
it has some branches with fruit and some with no fruit.
·
There is obedience to
His commands and there is disobedience to His commands.
And
that's the way it's always portrayed by John. And when you get to the epistles,
it's the same thing:
·
There are those who
are in the light, and those who are in the darkness
·
There are those who
confess their sin and those who deny their sin
·
There are those who
are disobedient to Christ and those who are obedient to Him
·
There are those who
love others and those who don't
·
those who love God
and those who don't
·
those who are righteous
and those who are sinful
·
those who keep the
commandments and those who don't
·
those who believe
and those who don't.
Despite all this very clear thinking,
more stunning yet perhaps is the thought that John clearly made a connection
with the Lord on an emotional level. As
a whole, John’s legacy reminds us of the vital combination of emotion and
reason, of head and heart knowledge.
John’s perspective should challenge
all of us: What defines us and how can our lives be summed up? What is our testimony that we share explicitly and implicitly
with everyone we meet? Can we truly say to ourselves that we are a disciple whom
Jesus loves, and loves Jesus?
