John Profiles

JOHN

John 13:23-25; 1 John 2:7-8

Being loved is the most powerful motivation in the world! Our ability to love is often shaped by our experience of love. We usually love others as we have been loved.

Some of the greatest statements about God’s loving nature were written by a man who experienced God’s love in a unique way. John, Jesus’ disciple, expressed his relationship to the Son of God by calling himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20). Although Jesus’ love is clearly communicated in all the Gospels, in John’s Gospel it is a central theme. Because his own experience of Jesus’ love was so strong and personal, John was sensitive to those words and actions of Jesus that illustrated how the one who is love loved others.

Jesus knew John fully and loved him fully. He gave John and his brother James the nickname “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17), perhaps from an occasion when the brothers asked Jesus for permission to “command fire to come down from heaven” on a village that had refused to welcome Jesus and the disciples (Luke 9:54). In John’s Gospel and letters, we see the great God of love, while the thunder of God’s justice bursts from the pages of Revelation.

Jesus confronts each of us as he confronted John. We cannot know the depth of Jesus’ love unless we are willing to face the fact that he knows us completely. Otherwise we are fooled into believing he must love the people we pretend to be, not the sinners we actually are. John and all the disciples convince us that God is able and willing to accept us as we are. Being aware of God’s love is a great motivator for change. His love is not given in exchange for our efforts; his love frees us to really live. Have you accepted that love?

Strengths and accomplishments	One of John the Baptist’s disciples before following Jesus One of the 12 disciples and, with Peter and James, one of the inner three that were closest to Jesus Wrote five New Testament books: the Gospel of John; 1, 2, and 3 John; and Revelation
Weaknesses and mistakes	Along with James, shared a tendency to outbursts of selfishness and anger Asked for a special position in Jesus’ Kingdom
Lessons from his life	Those who realize how much they are loved are able to love much When God changes a life, he does not take away personality characteristics, but puts them to effective use in his service
Vital statistics	Occupations: Fisherman, disciple Relatives: Father: Zebedee. Mother: Salome. Brother: James. Contemporaries: Jesus, Pilate, Herod
Key verses	“Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” (1 John 2:7-8).

John’s story is told throughout the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation.