Who are you?

John 13:23
One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.

Why was John the referred to as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”? Was it because Jesus didn’t love the others? Certainly not! I’m just not sure why, but I have an idea.

It is known that the disciple John wrote the Gospel of John. That being the case, he referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. I like this idea because it points to the realization that John didn’t just recognize Jesus loved him; he claimed His love as his greatest and most important defining quality.

It’s easy enough to say, “I know that Christ loved me so much that He went to the cross and died for me.” But it’s entirely different to define your very being by Christ’s love for you. We know that Christ loved all of His disciples, but only one defined himself by that love. Imagine if we, as Christians, labeled ourselves as John did. How different would our lives be? How altered would our perspective be?

John’s life was forever impacted by how he viewed himself in relation to his Jesus. What if we started to put “the disciple whom Jesus loved” as an addition to our names? I can only imagine how conversations and casual introductions at parties would be different!

“Hey Gary, this is my friend Joe.”
“Hi Joe, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Gary, the disciple whom Jesus loved. What’s happening?”

I found it interesting (to say the least) to find out what happened to all the other disciples and apostles after Jesus ascended to the Father, and contrast their lives’ endings to what happened to John, the one who defined himself as loved by Jesus. Let’s see:

Peter-Crucified upside down for Christ
James-Beheaded by Herod for Christ
Andrew-Crucified for Christ
Philip-Martyred for Christ
Bartholomew-Flayed to death for Christ
Thomas-Martyred for Christ
Matthew-Martyred for Christ
James (the other one)-Crucified for Christ
Jude-Martyred for Christ
Simon-Crucified for Christ
Judas (the betrayer)-Killed himself
Matthias-Martyred for Christ
Saul (Paul)-Beheaded for Christ

JOHN-Freed from prison and died a natural death as an old man.

I don’t know about you, but it sure makes me think a little bit. Why did all of the others die horrible deaths for Christ, but John (whose name means Grace) live to be an old man? Why did John die a natural death? Why was John freed from prison when the others were continuously placed in prison? I think it has everything to do with his definition of himself.

The others did wonderful things for Christianity. They started the church (John was there for that), gave great instructions, and preached Jesus throughout the land. They proclaimed Christ’s love for them and His love for the rest of the world, but they forgot to claim Christ’s love for them as their identity. Instead they became known as Paul, the Apostle and Peter, the Rock. But John? He was always John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. I’m not saying that everything was easy for John; he was exiled to Patmos for preaching the Word. But while he was there he was given the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book of the Bible, and he was eventually freed!

We need to grab onto our identity. If you want to be known as Bill, the Hell-fire preacher or Jennifer, the Proverbs 31 mom, that’s fine. For me, I’m choosing to be recognized as Gary, the man whom Jesus loved! The other disciples were all blessed by God. They all have their place in Christian history and did amazing things for the church. They all died honorably for the cause (Judas the exception). John was blessed by God too. He has his place in Christian history too. He helped get the church started. He struggled with persecution. But he died a natural death as a free man! I like his outcome better!