26/06/12

The one whom Jesus loved

-


I have read and heard people giving many possibilities to the person written in the Gospel of John as being one of the following people: John Zebedee, Lazarus or James (Jesus's brother).

Today as the Lord put this before me I was surprised to see this as being so simple and wondered why people complicated it so much.

Yesterday someone shared a video with regards of Israel and Jesus as the first Israelite for He alone kept the instructions the Lord had given through the Prophets and in that video the preacher gave a good illustration of how we study scriptures.

He spoke of a man who sees many arrows and all of them hit the perfect center of the targets and he was surprised as to how excellent that archer was so he approaches the archer to congratulate him. After some query he found out that the archer would blindly shoot the arrow and then draw the target around the arrow. That is exactly what we do with scriptures. We first conclude and then twist and turn scriptures to support our conclusions.

We need to list all the scriptures in John quoting the person/s Jesus loved.

John 11:5 - Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

Here Jesus is stated as He loved not only Lazarus but also Martha and her sister Mary.

John 13:1 - Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

Here Jesus is stated as loving His own which are in this world that includes every child of God.

John 20:2 - Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
John 13:23 - Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
John 21:7 - Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
John 21:20 - Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

Here we see John the coordinator or narrator of the Gospel (during Jesus' time education was free and must so every girl and boy had to study up to the age of 12 and 14 respectively, so almost all knew to read and write unlike what people assume) is talking of himself as being the one whom Jesus loved and this he is doing so, not because Jesus did not love the others but simply because he did not want to put his name. If we read the New Testament there are names like Simon, James, Judas and even John where either a substitute name was given to them (like the name Peter was given to Simon) or the place of their origin or their father's name was always linked to their names. Simon and John were very common names at that time that it is said if one threw a stone in a market place there were very high changes of the stone hitting a Simon or John. That is the reason John Zebedee preferred to refer to himself as 'the one Jesus loved'.

John 19:26 - When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

Here is the only scripture where there are issues as to who this person 'whom He loved' is referred to there, if we go by thumb rule taking the previous scripture than this person would be John. But when if we read the scriptures before and those of the Old Testament with regards to this event which state none of His disciples stood by Him for all (ALL) forsook Him. Thus like some historians claim this person who was companying the women would very well be James the brother of Jesus who was yet not a disciple believing in Jesus as the Saviour. Jesus being the elder (head) of the family handed over the responsibility of taking care of His mother to the next elder son that is James. That is why in Jesus' absence (when He went to Hell/Hades as spirit and was not in the flesh Mary was referred to as not Mary the mother of Jesus but Mary the mother of James and Joses in all the 3 Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

In today's message the Lord Jesus Christ is telling us He loves us also very much as He loved John Zebedee, James His brother or Martha, Mary and Lazarus. We too can call ourselves as 'the one whom Jesus loves' and He has already demonstrated His love for us. What greater love is there than what He did for us.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, You loves each and every one of your own as such as the other. Our missions may wary, the grace on our lives may wary according to our faith and mission, but the love does not vary for all are given the same quantity of love. It is only the lack of knowledge that makes us not to experience it. Lord, let us every day of our lives remember your love and confidently call ourselves like John Zebedee did as the one whom Jesus loves...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Matthew 26:31 - Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

Matthew 26:56 - But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

Ephesians 4:7 - But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Ephesians 5:2 - And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Philippians 2:2 - Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)