Chapter 53—John the Beloved
John is distinguished above the other apostles as “the disciple
whom Jesus loved.”
John 21:20
. He seems to have enjoyed to a pre-
eminent degree the friendship of Christ, and he received many tokens
of the Saviour’s confidence and love. He was one of the three permitted
to witness Christ’s glory upon the mount of transfiguration and His
agony in Gethsemane, and it was to his care that our Lord confided
His mother in those last hours of anguish upon the cross.
The Saviour’s affection for the beloved disciple was returned with
all the strength of ardent devotion. John clung to Christ as the vine
clings to the stately pillar. For his Master’s sake he braved the dangers
of the judgment hall and lingered about the cross, and at the tidings that
Christ had risen, he hastened to the sepulcher, in his zeal out-stripping
even the impetuous Peter.
The confiding love and unselfish devotion manifested in the life
and character of John present lessons of untold value to the Christian
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church. John did not naturally possess the loveliness of character that
his later experience revealed. By nature he had serious defects. He was
not only proud, self-assertive, and ambitious for honor, but impetuous,
and resentful under injury. He and his brother were called “sons of
thunder.” Evil temper, the desire for revenge, the spirit of criticism,
were all in the beloved disciple. But beneath all this the divine Teacher
discerned the ardent, sincere, loving heart. Jesus rebuked this self-
seeking, disappointed his ambitions, tested his faith. But He revealed
to him that for which his soul longed—the beauty of holiness, the
transforming power of love.
The defects in John’s character came strongly to the front on sev-
eral occasions during his personal association with the Saviour. At one
time Christ sent messengers before Him into a village of the Samari-
tans, requesting the people to prepare refreshments for Him and His
disciples. But when the Saviour approached the town, He appeared to
be desirous of passing on toward Jerusalem. This aroused the envy of
the Samaritans, and instead of inviting Him to tarry with them, they
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