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27th December 

Feast of St.  John, the Evangelist

READ: (1 Jn 1: 1-4; Jn 20: 1a, 2-8)

REFLECT: Uniqueness and closeness of St. John, the beloved disciple of Christ…

Dear friends, today we celebrate the feast of St. John the Evangelist, the beloved disciple of Jesus. He is also called as Saint John the Divine, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is traditionally believed to be the author of the three Letters of John, the Fourth Gospel, and possibly the Revelation to John in the New Testament.

John was the son of Zebedee, a Galilean fisherman, and Salome. John and his brother James were among the first disciples called by Jesus. James and John were called Boanerges, or “sons of thunder,” by Jesus, perhaps because of some character trait such as the zeal exemplified in Mark 9:38 and Luke 9:54, when John and James wanted to call down fire from heaven to punish the Samaritan towns that did not accept Jesus. John and his brother, together with St. Peter, formed an inner nucleus of intimate disciples. The Fourth Gospel ascribed to John and known formally as the Gospel According to John, the sons of Zebedee are mentioned only once, as being at the shores of the Sea of Tiberias when the risen Lord appeared.

His later life was passed mostly in Jerusalem and at Ephesus. He founded many churches in Asia Minor, and he wrote many important works, including the fourth Gospel, three Epistles, and the Book of Revelation is also attributed to him. The Gospel of John can be divided into two categories as Book of Signs and book of Glory. The first 12 chapters of John are known as the “Book of Signs,” as the Lord’s miracles (called “signs” by John) offer testimony to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. The “Book of Glory” (Chap 13-20) focuses on the Lord’s imminent crucifixion, featuring lengthy discourses from Jesus directed to his disciples (The Farewell discourse in Chapters 14-16, following the washing of the disciples’ feet in Chap 13, preceding the Lord’s prayer for his disciples in Chap 17).

In art St. John the Evangelist is frequently pictured with an Eagle or represented as an Eagle. St.  Jerome says that John’s Gospel is associated with the eagle for two reasons: first, because his Gospel describes the Incarnation of the divine Logos, and the eagle is a symbol of that which comes from above. The second, because like the eagle, John, in his Revelation, saw beyond what is immediately present.

St. John the Evangelist is known to be a patron saint of a prolific nature, but he is mainly identified as the patron saint of love, loyalty, friendships, and authors.

Based on today’s liturgy of the word and the writings of St. John the Evangelist, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1. Uniqueness of St.  John’s Gospel:

Uniqueness is the quality of being remarkable, special and unusual. Each one of us is unique in character or in presentation of whatsoever happens in life. Certainly, St. John, the Evangelist is as well unique in ways he portrays Jesus according to his experience. Most notably John is unique because of the stories he tells that the Synoptics don’t tell. The following narratives are some of them; Jesus changing the water into wine (2:1-12); Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (3:1-22); Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (4:1-45) and Raising the son of the royal official (4: 46-54); Paralyzed man at the pool of Bethezatha (Jn 5: 1-19); Multiplication of the loaves, Jesus walking over the water  and Jesus as the Bread of life (Jn 6); Healing of the man born blind (Jn 9); the resurrection of Lazarus (11:1-44); the washing of the disciples feet (13:1-20); the garden discourse (chapters 14-17) and The post-resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene in (Jn 20).

There are also Seven “I AM” Sayings in the Gospel of John that reveal unique identity and purpose of Jesus;  I am the bread of life(Jn 6:35) ; I am the light of the world (Jn 8:12); I am the gate for the sheep (Jn 10:7); I am the good shepherd (Jn 10:11); I am the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25); I am the way, and the truth and the life (Jn 14:6); I am the true vine and you are the branches (Jn 15:1).  We see that the Gospel of John begins with the divine Logos, the word that was with God and that was God. The Eternal word has manifested in the flesh to the world, to redeem us and take us back to God. The eternal Word made flesh among us depicts the eternal love that God has for us in Jesus Christ.

In John's Gospel, Jesus’ teaching focuses much more on his own identity and his unique relationship with the Father. Jesus is the eternal Son who has come to reveal the Father. Salvation comes by knowing the Father through the Son.

The unique portrayal of Jesus’ life and purpose by St.  John the evangelist reminds each one of us is unique in our experience of Jesus and his works for us. Therefore, without fail, we need to share the experience of Jesus without any faulty ideas or ideologies that could mislead us from Jesus or the catholic faith.

Today in what way can we present Jesus uniquely to the world needs to studied and executed. It can either be done orally or written as a traditional practice, but in the modern scenario, with the modern means of communication, we need to make known Christ through an art, media etc. So like St. John the evangelist, let us indentify the unique features of Jesus and spread it to the world near and far.

2.     Closeness of St. John with Jesus:

Being close to the other reveals our nature and the deep relationship that we have for one another. The deep bond that blooms, the deep sharing of experiences that takes place in one another’s life, the deep love and trust that we develop in the process of our growth are the ways of being close to another.

I am sure that St. John the Evangelist would have been the luckiest of apostles along with St. Peter and St. James to be one of the closest disciples of Jesus. St. John receives an important place throughout the Gospels as one of the three apostles. John was present at the transfiguration of Jesus, John was sent to prepare a place for the Last Supper, John the apostle was present in the Garden of Gethsemane at the hour of Jesus’ passion, John was the first person to arrive at Christ's tomb following the Resurrection, John was the apostle to whom Jesus entrusted His mother from the Cross. John was also the apostle who first recognized Christ standing on the lake shore following the Resurrection.

We see that John was present with Jesus at the most significant moment and event of Jesus’ life. Having been present with Jesus for all the important moment, he had the privilege of experiencing Jesus more closely and expresses the same concretely in writing and speech and even by his life. Today we celebrate the life of Jesus as solemnities and feast days based on the scriptures. We are also given the opportunity to be with Jesus through his word although he is not physically visible to us as he was visible to St. John the Evangelist. But all that we could do today is to celebrate the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus meaningfully and get closer to Jesus to obtain life eternal.

Today when we compare our closeness to Jesus it is rather less. We are attached to persons, places, things, events and situations. Our attachment to worldly things or worldly desires hinders us to be close to Jesus. Overly attachments sicken, enslave, bother and make us to lose the peace of mind and purpose of life. So let us attach ourselves more to Jesus and experience him genuinely in the Holy Eucharist and read the word of God more to get closer to Jesus.

3. “Love” theme in the Gospel of John:

The theme “love” becomes the special feature of St. John the Evangelist in the Gospel or his epistles. Some of the following bible verses are the important verses that speak of love in the Gospel of John and his epistles. Let me point out few of them for reflection;   The famous quote of St. John 3:16 “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.”  Jn 10:10, “The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness.”

In the washing event of the feet of the disciples, Jesus says in Jn 13, “I have given you an example that as I have done, you also may do.” In Jn 14: 6 Jesus speaks of the relationship between Father and him saying, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” The relationship between Father and Jesus is substantiated with the Vine and the branches symbolism in Jn 15: 1-2 “I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower. If any of my branches doesn’t bear fruit, he breaks it off; and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit that it may bear even more fruit.”

Moreover, in 1 Jn 4: 7-8, “Let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love.” The first reading from the first letter of St. John speaks of our fellowship with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. The gospel reading speaks of the post-resurrection narrative of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene, her shock to see the tomb empty  and her desperate feel to what she could do; St. Peter and John run fast to see the empty tomb after the shocking news that they received from Mary Magdalene.

We hear in the Gospel that the beloved disciple, who is traditionally regarded as St.  John ran faster than the other disciple i.e., St.  Peter. The reason perhaps for their running could have been a shock that someone has taken him away or to see what might have happened to Jesus who was very close them while he was with them or another reason could be to make confirmation of what Jesus said and did about his resurrection from the dead. That’s what we see at the end of the Gospel reading of the day that the other disciple who had reached the tomb first went in, he saw and believed.

Yes, St. John the “beloved disciple,” who had a special relationship with Jesus, even laying his head on his chest at the Last Supper (13:23) and more importantly, who tells us at the end of the Gospel that he is the one who wrote it (21:24) loved Jesus immensely. As a result of his love and deep experience of Jesus, he could write deep theological information concerning the salvific event of God in his Gospel and is readily available for each one’s reference about God’s love for us. Yes, the love that God manifested to the world in human flesh was responded by John the evangelist by highlighting the theme of love in the Gospel. Today, how we can manifest our love for God’s love is to love him back with all that we are and all that we have. In a specific way, we manifest our love for God by loving one another. Let love be our response to God, who is love himself.

RESPOND:

Do we realize the uniqueness of God’s love and presence manifested in the unique experiences that we have in our world?

Do we make sincere efforts to get close to Jesus in ordinary events and situations of life?

Do we love God more than others or other things?

Let us understand our unique experience of God, get close to God and love him all the more in life. Amen.

Wish you all a Happy Feast of St. John the Evangelist. God bless us all…

Live Jesus

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS