Lessons from the Heart
Believe and receive
By Rev. Andrew Paris

Paris

Today, Dec. 27, is a special day for many Christians around the world. From the early days of Christianity, churches have set apart this day to celebrate the illustrious career of the Apostle John. John’s Festival is so closely connected with Christmas because he, more than anyone else, has emphasized Jesus as the LIGHT of the world. In fact, as you read the Gospel of John and his three letters (1-3 John), John emphasizes the glory of Jesus in three words: “love,” “life,” and “light.”

John is known to the Church’s heart as “the Apostle of Love” and to the Church’s mind as “the Theologian.” There is little recorded about him in Holy Scripture, but a large part of the New Testament was revealed by God to him. And none of the Apostles, so far as we know, except possibly Paul, had such a wide-ranging influence over the later ages of the Church as John did.

Before Jesus called him to be an Apostle, John grew up in the little Galilean village of Bethsaida, one of the sons of Zebedee and Salome and a fisherman like his father. If his mother was Mary’s sister, which many believe, then he was Christ’s cousin.

John was one of the first disciples to be called by our Lord as a fisher of men and an Apostle (John 1:35, 40; Matthew 4:18-22). He was also one of the three privileged Apostles, along with his brother James and Peter, who as Christ’s special companions witnessed the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:37), the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1), and the agonies of Jesus at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37). He was the first disciple to reach the empty tomb after Jesus arose from the dead (John 20:1-9). He is “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in a special sense (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20), and the one to whom Jesus committed the care of His mother Mary (John 19:25-27). This obviously shows that John was highly loved and respected by Jesus.

After Jesus ascended to heaven and the Church was born (AD 30), John became one of the “pillars” of the Jerusalem Church (Galatians 2:9). He and Peter performed the first miracle of the Church (Acts 3:1-11). They also were the first Apostles to suffer persecution for their Lord (Acts 4:1-3, 18-21) and to preach the Gospel beyond the borders of Judea (Acts 8:14-25). For the first three decades of Christianity, Peter, Paul, and John formed a holy trinity of teaching and working in the churches. Some time during this period.

John left Jerusalem and traveled throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), preaching the Gospel and serving Jesus. After Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome (AD 67), John took over as the grand leader of Christianity. He settled in Ephesus and became its bishop. From that great city as his headquarters, John became an influential power for Christianity, directing the churches and evangelizing throughout Asia Minor by sending out missionaries to many places. Near the end of his life he wrote his Gospel and three letters. During the latter part of the reign of Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96), John was persecuted by being exiled to the island of Patmos where he recorded the visions of the end-times in his Book of Revelation. John was set free and returned to Ephesus where he continued preaching in the churches and overseeing the churches of Asia Minor until his death in about AD 100. Thus he was one of the first disciples to be called and the last one to die. Because they believed John was the greatest theologian and the most profound philosopher of the early Church, the Church Fathers named him “the Theologian.”

As we think of the Apostle John today, may we remember his outstanding character traits. He had a passion for purity and holiness. He was capable of fiery zeal for the truth. He was humble, quiet, contemplative, and never pushed himself into the foreground but was willing to play “second fiddle” to Peter and Paul. But most of all, as the “Apostle of love,” John emphasized love in his writings and in his lifestyle. A famous story is told by the church leader Jerome: Toward the end of John’s life, when he was so weak that he had to be carried to church and could not preach, often he would say no more than this,

“Little children, love one another.” His hearers at last wearied of this and said, “Master, why do you always say this?” And John replied, “It is the Lord’s command and if this alone is done, it is enough.” May that be true of all of us.

“Merciful Lord, we ask You to send Your bright beams of light upon Your Church, that being enlightened by the doctrine of Your blessed Apostle and Evangelist John, we may so walk in the light of Your truth that we may attain to the light of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Andrew Paris is minister of the Delphi Christian Church (paris46923@yahoo.com).

Pray for our nation to seek God

And many more believed because of his word. John 4:41 Pd. Adv.