Inspiring Christian Lives

St John St John (Died late 1st Century)

Died late 1st Century
Perhaps the finest guidance on what it means to contemplate the face of God is given by St John in his Gospel. John was amongst the first disciples to be called by Jesus. Before this he had been a fisherman. He was a close witness of special events such as the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the Transfiguration and the Agony in the Garden. He had a lively temperament, Jesus nicknaming him and his brother, James, ‘Boangeres’ or ‘Sons of Thunder’.

Unlike the other gospels, John witnessed and wrote about them in a very contemplative way, in a way which seeks to see beyond the surface reality of events to a reality that is hidden but no less real for all that. He wrote in particular about the Divinity and Humanity of Christ: he was challenging ideas that said that Christ was just a spirit and not a human being as well. Above all, though, he stressed his Divinity, his ‘godness’; for Christians, Christ is both Light and Life. Love (willing the good of others) is the bond between Christ and his disciples and between the disciples themselves.

After the resurrection John followed Christ’s words to take Mary as his adopted mother and he became prominent in the early Church. He was amongst the earliest witnesses of the Risen Lord and he also shared in preaching, teaching and organising the gospel. Other stories about him suggest he was a wonderful and wise teacher up to his death, probably at the hands of a Roman Emperor. He kept reminding his followers to ‘will the good of each other’ because ‘it is the word of the Lord and if you keep it, you do enough’. He is often pictured with an eagle – because his writing soars like an eagle, so beautifully towards God. He has written amongst the most wonderful words in the history of language: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him and without him was not anything made. In Him was life, and this life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’.