An Ordinary Lover Named John

God loves ordinary people, because He made so many of us that way. I love being ordinary. I often thank God that I am not world-renown for anything; I don’t want the pressure of a national or global audience. It is humbling enough being a part of an elder team tasked to shepherding this congregation.

Paul reminds us in II Corinthians 4:7 – “But we have this treasurein jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” We are, at best, broken, brittle baked pots. All of us are lowly and replaceable.

The point? God can use an ordinary person for an extraordinary task. And that was certainly the case for the Apostle John (Acts 4:13).

Where Did John Come From?

John was the younger brother of the disciple James. His mother’s name was Salome (Mark 15:40), who was Mary’s sister. Thus, John and Jesus were 1^st cousins.

His nickname – given to him by many Bible scholars – is the “apostle of love,” because he wrote more on love than any other N.T. writer.

There are only 2 other N.T. writers that wrote more of the N.T. than John: Paul (who wrote 13 epistles) and Luke (who wrote 2 very lengthy books). John wrote a total of 5 books in the N.T.: the Gospel of John, Revelation, I John, II John, and III John.

John was ambitious, but he would learn humility.

In Mark 3:17, John and his brother James were given the nickname “sons of thunder.” They were volatile and explosive. In Luke 9:51-56, John asked Jesus if it was time for them to call down fire from heaven to consume some nearby Samaritans – those they perceived as disobedient.

Another example of John’s arrogant ambition comes from Mark 10:35-45. Imagine coming to Jesus and saying, “I need you to do what I want you to do.” That is the context of this passage. Their request? Allow us to sit in the most honorable places in heaven.

John would learn humility. He showed that by his choice to maintained anonymity. He was “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” That nickname that John gave himself is acknowledged as a humble title, because it appears 5x in his Gospel (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20), and only His Gospel. John is quick to give glory to Christ for loving such a disciple like him. John does not refer to himself by name but gives himself anonymity.

John would teach humility. While John 13 is the account of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples and exemplifying humility, no other Gospel writer records the event. Clearly it made an impression on John. His humility is also evidenced in the way he addresses his readers. He calls them “little children” 7x (I John 2:1, 12, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21) or “my beloved” (I John 2:7; 3:2, 21; 4:1, 7, 11; III John 1-2, 5, 11) 10x. Those are terms of tender compassion and humility. In the final book he wrote – Revelation – he calls himself a fellow partaker of suffering and brother in suffering to his readers (Rev 1:9).

John was “black and white”, but he became a man of truth and love.

Given his quickness to want to call fire down from heaven, I would not be surprised if John was a “tad-bit” legalistic. Certainly, he is black-and-white in his writing style.

• darkness and light (I John 1:5-7; 2:8-11)

• life and death (I John 3:14-16; 5:11-20)

• children of God and children of Satan (I John 2:13; 3:1-2, 10; 4:4; 5:2)

• love and hatred (I John 2:9-11; 3:10-15; 4:16-21)

You were either born of God or of the devil; you were either in the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness.

John may not have seemed like a good candidate for being the apostle of love early on in his life, but 3 years with Jesus changed all of that. And one of the clearest examples of that spiritual progress is the scene in John 19:23-27 when Jesus asked John to care for His mother after His death.

John was prejudiced and vindictive, but he became a faithful witness.

No one used the word “witness” more than John – some 70x in his writings. How ironic that Jesus saw fit to send John back to Samaria to confront Simon the magician but also to preach the Gospel (Acts 8:9-25). He wouldn’t send someone who lacked love, but a disciple that had grown in his love for the lost.

What Does Church History Teach Us About John?

Historians tells us that after Mary, the mother of Jesus, died about 10-12 years after Jesus ascended into heaven, and that John traveled to Rome (via Ephesus, where he became a key leader in the church). It was here the persecution of this faithful disciple began to take form. On occasion, he was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil for testifying the name of Jesus Christ.

His faithful proclamation of truth led him to being exiled by the Roman Emperor Domitian, whose brother Titus destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This exiling to Patmos (Rev 1:9) took place around A.D. 98 when John was in his 90’s. It was here that John wrote Revelation.

John was a lover. He loved Jesus. He loved Jesus’ mother, Mary. He loved the church. He loved the truth. He was the one who said God is love (I John 4:7). He is the one who recorded the phrase “love one another” more often than any other writer in Scripture. Love dominated his theology.