3/12/61

Scripture: Matthew 4: 12-22

In the Scripture lesson of this morning, we have read of two men, each of whom is called John. The first one mentioned was John who was called "the Baptist." He was the son of Zacharias and of Elizabeth who seems to have been a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. So John the Baptist may be called a distant cousin of Jesus and was only a few months older than the Master. He prepared the way for Jesus by his preaching and baptizing out in the wilderness. But he did not become one of the Master’s company for he was thrown into prison by order of the governor whose wife had been offended by his blunt preaching. He was executed early during the time of Jesus’ ministry, according to Matthew.

Jesus withdrew into Galilee when he heard of John’s arrest. He went for a brief time to the family home town of Nazareth; found that the Nazareth townsfolk were not willing to regard his message as anything special; moved over to Capernaum on the shore of the lake of Galilee. That fitted in with some of the Old Testament prophesy concerning the coming of the Messiah. From that time on he began to preach in the vein for which John the Baptist had already made preparation and which he had established, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

But the Master was not a preacher alone; he was a teacher and he was looking for learners, disciples. These he began gathering while at Capernaum. Walking along the shore of the Galilean lake, he saw two fishermen busy at their work of netting fish from the waters of the lake. According to Matthew, he said to these two brothers, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." And they came after him immediately.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers who were also fishermen. In fact, they were of a fisher family, for their father, Zebedee was a fisherman too. They were all mending nets when Jesus passed by. Jesus called these brothers, James and John, to follow him. And they did so immediately. They did not have to wait long for action, for Jesus was immediately busy, visiting synagogues in Galilee; preaching, teaching, healing so that his fame spread all over Palestine, and beyond. It is about this John, the young fisherman, one of the sons of Zebedee, that we shall be thinking this morning.

Apparently those first four disciples, called by Jesus, Peter and Andrew, James and John, knew each other rather well. Luke refers to Peter and John as fishing partners. They were to be close associates in Jesus’ company of disciples. Mark writes that John went to Peter’s house after the Sabbath service in Capernaum. In the last days of Jesus’ ministry it was these two, Peter and John, who were sent ahead to get an upper room ready for their observance of the Passover. They were always acting together. Peter was usually spokesman. But John had a depth of understanding that made him especially close to the Master --- perhaps closest to Jesus of any of the disciples. He and his brother, James, and Peter, were the three of an inner circle who shared some of the most intimate moments of Jesus’ ministry; moments like the transfiguration experience, and the agony of prayerful decision in Gethsemane.

For the most part, the brothers John and James are practically inseparable in the writings of the first 3 gospels. From these gospels there emerges a picture of John that is not altogether attractive. Mark tells how these two brothers schemed to get places of special importance and privilege in the kingdom which they expected Jesus to establish. Of course Matthew attributes their ambitious request to the mother of these two men. But, no matter who thought it up, the request did not please the others in the band of disciples. It illustrates a streak of personal ambition in John that was not admired by the other disciples, nor by Jesus himself.

There may have been a couple of reasons for this request for first place in the apostolic band of Jesus followers. (1) For one thing, James and John may have been from a family considered a little higher, socially, and more capable than others. Their father, Zebedee, was a sufficiently successful and prosperous fisherman so that he employed some hired servants. So these brothers may have felt themselves to be a "cut above" the rest. And perhaps they were especially close to Jesus. Some scholars even think that their mother may have been related to Jesus’ mother, thus giving them a sort of "in" with him.

(2) Not only were they personally ambitious; they were men of violent temper. When Jesus and his disciples were refused hospitality while going through Samaria toward Jerusalem, it was James and John who were so hotly indignant that they wanted to call down fire from heaven to burn up the contemptible Samaritans. Jesus had to remind them that they were followers of the one who had come not to destroy folk but to save all manner of people. Perhaps it was for this reason that Jesus nicknamed these two sons of Zebedee, James and John, "sons of thunder." They were sufficiently violent and hot-tempered to "thunder out" in denunciation and condemnation.

The late Japanese Christian leader, Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, has an interesting observation on this incident in Samaria. It is his view that Jesus made skillful use of humor. Jesus loved each of his disciples. He could, and did, joke with them. Some of his more recent followers, like Luther and Wesley, have also used humor and joking in their teaching. Kagawa thinks Jesus was speaking humorously, when he told his followers that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." [Mark 10:25]. He also thinks that Jesus was speaking humorously when he called James and John "sons of thunder" after their hot-tempered explosion: "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?"

Jesus was preaching, practicing, and commanding a religion of love. "He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love." [I John 4: 8]. Whoever lacks love lacks the religious feeling that Jesus had. We must love people, Kagawa says, before we argue with them. And it is out of this love of Jesus that He speaks to James and John, humorously, even jokingly, calling them "Sons of Thunder." [Mark 3: 17]

Well, John needed some such understanding handling by the Master. He also appears to have had an (3) intolerant streak that needed straightening out. The Synoptic gospels relate an incident that illustrates this attitude. John had seen a man who was casting out devils in the name of Jesus. The man was not one of their company, and John was offended by what he saw. Feeling some authority because of his own position in Jesus’ company, John had forbidden the man to carry on the healing work he was doing. When he told Jesus about it, Jesus gently chided him and told him to let the man alone, for he that was not against them was for them.

And so, at first sight, it appears that John, the disciple, was a man of overreaching ambition, a man with explosive temper, and a man of intolerant heart. Jesus had to work over a bristling personality in John before he could use him as He wished. He could, and did, work him over. For John had other qualities that made him worthy of the Master’s effort and trust.

In the fourth gospel, the gospel which we know as the book of John, this man does not appear at all as "John." But there does appear in the fourth gospel a man who is called "The Beloved Disciple." There has been some disputing among scholars as to whether this "beloved disciple" was John the apostle, or someone else. Early writers appear to have had no doubt at all that it was he. But later writers have speculated that the "beloved disciple" may have been Nathaniel; or the young man who, being present when Jesus was arrested, slipped out of his garment and the clutches of the one who laid hand on him and fled naked away; or perhaps Lazarus; or possibly the rich young ruler; or even Judas. All of this speculation as to just who the "beloved disciple" was, arises from the difference in characters. How could the beloved disciple be the same fellow who was so ambitious, so angry, so intolerant, as the John of earlier accounts?

William Barclay believes, however, that the traditional view that the "beloved disciple" is really John is the correct view; and that it is at this very point of John’s life that Jesus Christ wrought in John that change which transformed him from a son of thunder to the apostle of love.

Let us see, then, what the New Testament has to say about the "Beloved Disciple." At an ancient feast, people reclined on low couches with feet stretched out away from the table. Leaning on the left arm, the right arm was left free to deal with the food. At the Last Supper, the "Beloved Disciple," it is said, "leaned on Jesus’ breast," which means that he must have been placed at Jesus’ right hand. It was to him that Peter signaled to ask Jesus who the traitor was.

At the crucifixion, it was to the care of the "Beloved Disciple" that Jesus entrusted his mother, Mary. It was the "Beloved Disciple" who arrived before any other apostle at the empty tomb on resurrection morning. The "Beloved Disciple" was at the lakeside when Jesus appeared there to his disciples; it was he about whom Peter asked, "and what shall this man do?" only to be rebuked by the Master: "What is that to thee? Follow Thou me."

One more bit from the gospel narrative is worth noting before we turn from the New Testament account of John. When Jesus was arrested, Peter, and an unnamed disciple, followed to see what would happen. They were able to gain entry to the courtyard of the high priest’s house, because this unnamed disciple was known to the high priest. An early writer of about 190 AD named Polycrates, refers to John as having priestly connections that would make his entrance to the high priest’s house easy.

Another writer makes mention of a dark little hovel in Jerusalem that tradition says was owned by Zebedee, a fisherman of Galilee, who, from this "branch office" supplied fish to the family of the high priest. If this were true, it would explain how John, a son of Zebedee, had access to the household of the high priest. These traditions are interesting though hardly to be regarded as proven truth. But there does seem a strong probability that it was John who, with Peter, followed the arrested Jesus to see what would become of their Master.

Moving from the New Testament accounts of this man of the Master’s company, we must rely on tradition for information as to what John did with the rest of his life. It is said that he was faithful to the final trust which Jesus reposed in him by commending his mother, Mary, to John’s charge. He cared for her, like a son, so long as she lived. Then he is believed to have found his way to Rome. There he fell under persecution but survived. It is said that he was banished to the Isle of Patmos. On being liberated from there, he came to the people of Ephesus where he became a unique figure in the Ephesian church. There was a heresy there to the effect that Jesus never really had a flesh and blood body, but was only a phantom walking in the appearance of a man. John opposed this heretical idea with all the force of his old fire!

There are other traditions about his ministry -- how a very promising young leader deserted his trust and became head of a robber band only to be brought back by John’s courage and love in risking his life to find and persuade the fellow to return to what is right.

John tarried at Ephesus to extreme old age. In his feeble old years, the burden of his message was; "Little children, love one another." He would say that when he had strength to say little else. And the writer, Jerome, recounts that some of the Ephesians would become weary at the same old message, saying, "Master, why do you always say this?" To which John would reply: "It is the Lord’s command, and if this alone be done, it is enough."

It may be well for us to examine this word "love." In our day, the word "love" has been well-nigh perverted out of its earlier meaning to denote only romantic attachment or sentimental affection. It has a much more powerful meaning that that, when used in the New Testament sense. It has a selfless quality far different from the all-too-often selfish note of romance or sentiment.

Kagawa illustrated it in the story of a Japanese blind man who came to see a Christian Japanese philanthropist named Mr. Juji Ishii. The blind man was an illiterate and ignorant massage man. But he asked Mr. Ishii how he could learn about Christianity. Ishii told him: "If you practice massage, and are paid for it, you give the money to other blind men, poorer than yourself; then you will see God." So the blind man practicing massage every day in Okayama city, would go, after one o’clock in the morning, to a place where many blind men came together after their ill-paid work. Moving among the sleeping blind men, he would put 2 sen pieces in the kimono sleeves of each of the poorest. He continued this every night for some time. Gradually his understanding opened and his heart was opened. After 2 weeks he came back to Mr. Ishii and said, "Teacher, I have come to understand that God is love."

He learned to know that God is love, by his own loving action in the serving of other men. "In modern life on earth," says Kagawa, "Love is all dried up like a dry desert. But we want to restore once more a World of Light, Freedom, and Love, saturated with the power of the Grace and Love of Jesus, which is like the soft rain of Spring."

John is a supreme example of how Jesus Christ can take a man as he is, and use his natural gifts and powers and temperament for greatness. Power itself is neutral. It becomes good or bad by the mind and heart and purpose of the user. In John there was always power. And the power was united with loveliness when it was so controlled by Christ that John became the Apostle of Love.

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Dates and places delivered:

Wisconsin Rapids, March 12, 1961

Wood County Infirmary, March 15, 1961