The First Sunday after Christmas Day
John the Apostle and Evangelist, Apostle and Evangelist
1st century
Today the Church celebrates the feast of John the Apostle and Evangelist, the beloved disciple, who bore witness to the Word made flesh and taught the Church to abide in Christ’s love.
John was the son of Zebedee and the brother of James. The brothers were in their boat, mending their nets with their father, when Jesus called them. James and John left their father in the boat with the hired workers and followed Jesus.
Jesus named them Sons of Thunder. When a Samaritan village refused to receive their Master, James and John wanted to call down fire upon it. Jesus rebuked them, and they went on to another village.
The brothers later asked for places of honor beside Jesus in his glory. Jesus asked whether they could drink the cup he was about to drink—that is, share the suffering he would endure. They answered that they could, and he told them they would indeed share it. When the other ten disciples became angry, Jesus taught them all that greatness in his kingdom meant becoming the servant of all.
John accompanied Jesus into moments few others witnessed. With Peter and James, he entered the room where the Lord raised the daughter of Jairus, a leader of the synagogue. He saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain, his appearance radiant with divine glory. In Gethsemane he heard the Lord’s call to keep watch and fell asleep with the others.
At the Last Supper, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, reclined close to him. At the cross, John stood beside Mary, the Lord’s mother. Jesus entrusted them to one another, and from that hour John received her into his home.
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene brought word that the stone had been removed from Jesus’ tomb. John ran there with Peter. John reached the tomb first but waited while Peter entered. Then John went in. He saw the linen cloths lying there and believed.
The risen Lord gathered his disciples again. Beside the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias, John recognized Jesus standing on the shore and told Peter that it was the Lord.
After Pentecost, John shared the apostles’ ministry in Jerusalem. He was with Peter when a man unable to walk received healing at the Temple gate. They proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus, endured arrest, and refused the command to stop speaking in his name. Later they went to Samaria and laid hands upon the baptized believers, who received the Holy Spirit.
King Herod Agrippa later had James killed with the sword. James thus shared the suffering Jesus had called his cup.
According to ancient tradition, John later ministered in Ephesus and among the churches of Asia Minor. Under the Emperor Domitian, he suffered for Christ at Rome. His persecutors plunged him into boiling oil, but he emerged unharmed. He was then banished to the island of Patmos.
On Patmos, on the Lord’s Day, John was caught up in the Spirit and received a prophetic vision. He saw the risen Christ in glory, standing among seven golden lampstands that represented seven churches. He fell at the Lord’s feet, and Jesus laid his right hand upon him. The one who had died was alive for ever, holding the keys of death. John received words of warning and consolation for the churches, and a vision of God’s victory over evil.
After the emperor’s death, John returned to Ephesus and continued to care for the neighboring churches. On one visit he entrusted a young man to a bishop. The bishop instructed and baptized him, but later relaxed his care. The young man fell in with violent companions and became the leader of a band of robbers.
When John returned, he demanded an account of the young man. Learning what had happened, the aged apostle rode out to find him. The robbers seized John and brought him to their leader—the same young man whom John had entrusted to the bishop. When the young man recognized the apostle, he fled.
John pursued him, calling him his son and assuring him that Christ still offered forgiveness. He promised to answer to Christ for the young man and, if need be, to surrender his own life for him, as the Lord had surrendered his life for John and for the young man. The young man stopped, threw down his weapons, and wept. John embraced him and kissed the hand he had hidden in shame. He brought him back and remained with him in prayer and fasting until he was restored to the Church.
As John grew old, his Gospel bore witness to the eternal Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. It joined the knowledge of God to love for one another and called its hearers into the life John had seen and heard in Jesus.
In extreme old age, John had to be carried into the gathering of the faithful. Again and again he told them, “Little children, love one another.” When they asked why he always repeated this, he answered that it was the Lord’s command, and that keeping it was enough.
John died at Ephesus after a long life in Christ’s service. The Son of Thunder who had once wished to call down fire had learned his Lord’s path of self-giving love and offered his life for a brother who had lost hope. May Christ draw us close to himself and teach us to remain beside those who are finding their way home.
Let us pray
Shed upon your Church, O Lord, the brightness of your light, that we, being illumined by the teaching of your apostle and evangelist John, may so walk in the light of your truth, that at length we may attain to the fullness of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.