The third day of Christmas, 27 December, is the feast day of the apostle John.
Yokhanan bar Zavdi (English, “John, son of Zebedee”) was a first cousin of Christ Jesus; their moms were sisters, and I suspect Jesus stayed with John’s family while he headquartered himself in Capharnaum. Jesus chose him and his elder brother James to be part of
He’s widely considered the student whom Jesus loved,
Tradition has it John later took charge of the Ephesian church—either after Timothy held the job, or as Timothy’s bishop. Most Christians assume John died during his exile on Patmos, but traditions say he returned to Ephesus, where he either died of natural causes, or was murdered
Briefly, John’s biography.
John’s father Zebedee was a fisherman, who caught freshwater fish on Lake Tiberias, which the bible calls “the sea of the Galilee.” Contrary to popular belief, fishermen were not poor; freshwater fish were in high demand in the Roman Empire as the chief ingredient of garum, a fish sauce Romans put on everything, same as we Americans do ketchup or ranch dressing. (The fishermen who followed Jesus became poor as a result of quitting their jobs to follow him.) Zebedee had enough wherewithal to hire employees,
Like most devout Jewish men in their teens, John was expected to follow a rabbi for a few years and learn
Jesus made him one of the Twelve, and John appears to have been a special confidant: He was present
Because Jesus said, of John’s future, “What’s it to you if I let him live till I return?” the rumor went round John wouldn’t die till
But like most teenagers, John appears to have been emotional, impulsive, even reckless. Jesus called him and his brother James
Hence John was the one who told a miracle-worker outside their group to stop it.
After
And then there’s Patmos. During one of the persecutions, John was exiled to that Agean island. Traditions say this was during the reign of Emperor Domitian (81–96), but Revelation refers to the temple as though it’s still standing,
John in Ephesus.
Here’s where we pass from what bible tells us about John, to what Christian tradition claims. And thanks to all the fanfiction written by ancient Christians, tradition’s historical accuracy is really iffy. I’ll stick to the most plausible data.
When Paul discovered a church in Ephesus, he trained the Christians there for two years, until an antichristian riot forced him to leave town.
The Ephesians called him
Calling himself “the old man” is most of the reason some scholars wonder whether there weren’t multiple Johns in ancient Christian history: Was it truly just one man who followed Jesus, co-started the church, cured the sick with Peter, got exiled and wrote Revelation, took Jesus’s mom to live with him, led the Ephesian church, wrote a gospel and three letters, trained the church fathers Polycarp, Ignatius, Papias, and Ariston, and did all the other things attributed to him? Sounds like the work of a dozen guys! But most of the time they presume it might be two:
- John the apostle, who lived in the Galilee and Judea.
- John the elder, who lived in Asia Minor.
The most common reason people claim there were two Johns, is that John was active in Ephesus till his death in the year 98. Exactly how old was this guy?—they have to be confusing the apostle with his much younger same-named contemporary.
But bear in mind (’cause most Christians forget, thank to the art and movies) John was a teenager when he first followed Jesus. He was about 20 years younger than his Master. In the year 98 he’d have been about 80. And as any pastor will tell you, all the stories about John could’ve happened to any hard-working pastor within a five-year period; John lived in Ephesus much longer.
The next-most-popular argument is John was so well-known as “John the old man” when he really shoulda been better known as “the apostle John.” Isn’t “apostle” a greater, better title than “elder”? But again, this is the sort of worldly thinking we see among title-grubbing opportunists. John didn’t even put his name on his writings! (Someone later added his name to Revelation.) Paul had to fight for recognition as an apostle, ’cause he wan’t one of the Twelve; Peter introduced himself as an apostle ’cause his travels made him unfamiliar with the folks he wrote to. But John was well-known, well-loved, and had no such problems. The name “Old John” was fine with him; it meant people loved and respected him.
John’s writings.
As I said, John didn’t put his name on his writings. We can easily deduce the gospel is his. Tradition tells us the letters are his (and if you know any Greek, you can immediately recognize they have the same writing style and vocabulary as the gospel); and someone tacked an introduction onto Revelation naming him as the author. Altogether, John’s writings make up a quarter of the New Testament.
As a result, John’s theology makes up a significant portion of Christian belief. It’s mostly from John’s gospel we get the idea of Jesus as
There are those people who claim John is way too
John hung out with Jesus on a daily basis, and paid attention. So he understood God better than most. He didn’t use hard words. (Heck, Greek professors regularly have their students translate John’s letters first because his Greek is so basic. Plus he wasn’t given to run-on sentences like Paul.) The words are easy, but the concepts are deep. For that, we gotta turn to the Holy Spirit and ask for clarity and insight. Which he grants. John’s really not hard to understand, with the Spirit’s help. We overcomplicate him… and really that’s ’cause few of us like what he had to say. He wrote a lot of uncomfortable truths, and we want to squirm away from them.
But a lot of us really do want to understand God, and for us, the best way to do it is to read what John wrote. It’s why we introduce Jesus to unbelievers by having them read John’s gospel. It’s why we share John’s letters with Christian newbies. It’s why we struggle through Revelation—and struggle with fellow Christians who wanna misrepresent Revelation to preach their own End Times revenge fantasies instead. John’s a good and profitable read.
