John was the son of Zebedee and the younger brother of James. They were a fishing family from Capernaum, a small village on the north end of the Sea of Galilee. He spent his youth learning all of the tasks associated with the fishing business: preparing nets, navigating vessels, and finding the hot spots around the lake. As with most men at the time, he and his brother were probably being groomed to take over the family business.

Also being from a devout Galilean family, where messianic expectations ran high, it is not surprising that these two men became intrigued by the news of a dynamic young preacher named John the Baptist, who was attracting a great deal of fanfare in the desert region by the Jordan River. Wondering if he might be the promised Messiah, it appears that these two sons of Zebedee, along with their friends Andrew and Simon, went to hear this powerful preacher who dressed in camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey. When they first heard his message of repentance and preparation for the kingdom of God, they probably thought that he was the Messiah, until the Baptist openly denied being the Christ and simply proclaimed that he was simply a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way for the promised One. They were probably baptized by John the Baptist and became his disciples.

It is also probable that they met Jesus for the first time when he approached the river to be baptized and heard John the Baptist declare, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. If this is the case, they also would have witnessed the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove and heard the voice from heaven say, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (John 1:15-42)

The Fisherman becomes a Follower (Mark 1:14-20)

After the baptism in the Jordan River, the fishermen eventually returned to their nets in Capernaum. Sometime after John the Baptist was imprisoned, Jesus went to Capernaum to select disciples and launch his public ministry. As he walked along the shore, he invited Simon and Andrew and then James and John, to leave their nets behind and become fishers of men. Here is where the fishermen officially became followers of Jesus Christ.

There are a couple of details that I would like you to see in this passage. First, notice how Mark says “James son of Zebedee and his brother John.” He refers to John with a lower status because he was probably younger. Ancient tradition tells us that John was the youngest of all of the apostles. He may have even been a teenager at the time.

Second, notice how these brothers left their father—“they left their father in a boat with the hired men and followed him.” It is a big deal today when a child decides not to carry on the family business, but this would have been like a slap in the face during ancient times. Leaving the family business was equal to leaving the family. We don’t know how Zebedee reacted to this, but it must have been very difficult for these two brothers to leave their father in the boat with the hired men. Likewise, the fact that Zebedee had hired men shows that he was a man of some means. These two brothers left it all behind to follow Jesus. Fishing for fish was safe and secure; fishing for men imposed huge risks!

And so it is today! Following Jesus is a huge risk and requires a lot of faith. Like he did with John and his brother, Jesus calls us to constantly live by faith. Sometimes he calls us to give up things to be his follower. Sometimes he calls us to forsake our families, our jobs, our possessions, our comforts, and our securities. Sometimes he calls us to leave the familiar and enter the world of the unknown.

I am not saying that Jesus wants us all to quit our jobs and move away, but I am saying that discipleship is about priorities and loyalties. If we are to be true disciples, Jesus must be the top priority in our lives! We must be willing to give up whatever he asks of us? We must be willing to go where he wants us to go and do what he wants us to do!

At the close of life, the question will not be,

“How much have you gotten?” but “How much have you given?”

Not “How much have you won?” but “How much have you done?”

Not “How much have you saved?” but “How much have you sacrificed?”

It will be “How much have you loved and served,” not “How much were you honored?”

Are you a true follower of Christ? Are you willing to sacrifice whatever Christ would ask of you? Are you willing to leave your comforts and securities behind and become a fisher of men?

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved (John 19:26-27)

Well, John became one of Jesus’ first disciples and he remained with him until the end. Peter may have been the leader of the disciples, but even though John was the youngest, he was the most faithful. John was at Jesus’ side throughout his whole ministry. He was a part of Jesus’ privileged inner circle that got to see Jesus transfigured, the raising of Jarius’ daughter, and was with him as he prayed in the garden of Gethemene on the night that he was betrayed. He was the only one of the twelve disciples that was with him as he hung on the cross. Perhaps, this is why John bore the title: “the disciple whom Jesus loved” or “the beloved disciple.”

One of the most revealing statements of the closeness of the relationship between Jesus and John was in the last moments of Jesus’ life when Jesus asked John to care for his mother after his death. John 19:26-27 says, “When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

Love was a recurring theme in much of John’s writings, this from a man who had learned about love from the master teacher of love. In John’s letters (1, 2, and 3 John), he made more than twenty-five references to love. John knew that Jesus knew him and yet loved him fully.

As we see the closeness of John’s relationship with Jesus, it should cause us to think about our own relationship with Jesus. How much do we really love Jesus? How faithful are we? Do you have the kind of relationship with Jesus where he would trust you to take care of his mother?

Ministry in Ephesus (John 20:30-31)

After Jesus’ ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, John, together with Peter, took a prominent role in the founding and guiding the church in Jerusalem. He was with Peter at the healing of the lame man in the Temple, and they were both imprisoned together. When they were released, he later went with Peter to visit the newly converted Christians in Samaria.

There is no positive information in the Bible (or elsewhere) concerning the duration of this activity in Judea. Apparently, John, along with the other Apostles, remained in this first field of labor, until the persecution of Herod Agrippa I led to the scattering of the Apostles through the various provinces of the Roman Empire. It appears that John went to Asia Minor where he began a ministry in the city of Ephesus. A Christian community was already in existence at Ephesus before Paul’s first labors there in addition to Priscilla and Aquila. John became the pastor of the church in Ephesus and had a special relationship with other churches in the area (as we know from the letters to the Seven Churches in Asia, in the book of Revelation.)

For the next few decades it appears that John primarily stayed in Ephesus, with occasional trips to Jerusalem and other places. He continued to preach the gospel, train up ministry leaders, and wrote the Gospel of John and his three epistles, all from Ephesus.

In John 20:30-31, he reveals the purpose of his book: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John was a true evangelist at heart. He preached and wrote so that people would put their faith in Jesus Christ and experience the same transformation that he did.

I don’t think that God has called any of us to make a new contribution to the Bible, but he has called all of us to join the Apostle John in his mission of sharing the gospel with the world. We can join in John’s ministry and legacy by sharing the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with those around us. We can tell our friends and family and our classmates and coworkers that we have forgiveness for our sins and the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Are you willing to share the message?

As the years went by and John continued his ministry in Ephesus, a new Roman Emperor came to the throne. Domitian ruthlessly persecuted Christians throughout the empire. He demanded that all Christian preaching should stop or the violator would face the fate of execution. John refused to stop preaching, and was therefore apprehended by the proconsul of Asia and was sent to Rome to be tried by the emperor. Domitian sentenced him to death by being boiled in a large cauldron of oil. He continued to preach as his body was baptized in the boiler, but, miraculously, he was unharmed. It is said that everyone in the Colosseum audience was converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle.

Domitian was both enraged and terrified. Instead risking another backfired execution, he exiled John to Patmos, a little rocky island in the Aegean archipelago. The Alcatraz of its day, it was a famous Roman prison colony, where no one could hear his preaching. But in what is known as the cave of the Apocalypse (located on this island), the Lord appeared to him and had him write the Book of Revelation. In trying to prevent him from speaking, the Romans helped John send the church one of its most important messages.

When Domitian died, John was released from exile and returned to Ephesus and lived there until he died in his late nineties. John was the only one of the twelve disciples who was not martyred but died of natural causes.

The great evangelist George Whitefield was relating the difficulties of the gospel ministry to some friends. He said that he was weary of the burdens and was glad that his work would soon be over and that he would depart this earthly scene to be with Christ. The others admitted having similar feelings — all except one, a Mr. Tennant. Noting this, Whitefield tapped him on the knee and said, “Well, Brother Tennant, you are the oldest among us; do you not rejoice to think that your time is so near at hand when you will be called Home?”

The old man answered bluntly that he had no wish about it. When pressed for something more definite, he added, “I have nothing to do with death. My business is to live as long as I can, and as well as I can, and serve my Savior as faithfully as I can, until He thinks it’s time to call me Home.” Whitefield accepted that word as a gentle rebuke from the Lord, and it helped him go on with his work calmly and patiently.

I hope that John will serve as an inspiration to anyone who might be a little older. All of these events took place when the beloved disciple was in his nineties. When you grow old and your body begins to break down and you can’t do all of the things that you used to do, you may be tempted to think that you aren’t worth much, but don’t believe it!

Think about John! He was old and in exile, but God still used him to influence and bless the church through his prayers and his writing. Like John, may we all continue to serve Christ until the end!

It is said that John, “Founded and built churches throughout all Asia, and worn out by old age, died in the sixty-eight year after our Lord’s passion and was buried near the same city (Ephesus).” There is a church tradition, which says, that when John was evidently an old man in Ephesus, he had to be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples. At these meetings, he was accustomed to say no more than, “Little children, love one another!” After a time, the disciples wearied at always hearing the same words, asked, “Master, why do you always say this?” “It is the Lord’s command,” was his reply. “And if this alone be done, it is enough!”

And so I leave you with these challenging words from the Beloved Disciple—Dear children, love one another!