JOHN
JOHN THE APOSTLE
One of Jesus' twelve disciples, the son of Zebedee, and the brother of
James. Before his call by Jesus, John was a fisherman on the Sea of
Galilee, along with his father and brother (Matt 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20).
His mother was probably Salome (Matt 27:56; Mark 15:40), who may have been
a sister of Mary (John 19:25), the mother of Jesus.
Although it is not certain that Salome and Mary were sisters, if it were so
it would make James and John cousins of Jesus. This would help explain
Salome's forward request of Jesus on behalf of her sons (Matt 20:20-28).
The Zebedee family apparently lived in Capernaum on the north shore of the
Sea of Galilee (Mark 1:21). The family must have been prosperous, because
the father owned a boat and hired servants (Mark 1:19-20). Salome the
mother provided for Jesus out of her substance (Mark 15:40-41; Luke 8:3).
John must have been the younger of the two brothers, for he is always
mentioned second to James in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
The brothers Zebedee were the first disciples called by Jesus after His
baptism (Mark 1:19-20). This happened immediately after the call of two
other brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew (Mark 1:16-18), with whom they may
have been in partnership (Luke 5:10). Three of the four-Peter, James, and
John-eventually became Jesus' most intimate disciples. They were present
when Jesus healed the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:37; Luke 8:51). They
witnessed His TRANSFIGURATION (Matt 17:1-2; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28-29), as
well as His agony in Gethsemane (Matt 26:37; Mark 14:33). Along with Peter,
John was entrusted by Jesus with preparations for the Passover supper (Luke
22:8).
James and John must have contributed a headstrong element to Jesus' band of
followers, because Jesus nicknamed them "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17). On
one occasion (Luke 9:51-56), when a Samaritan village refused to accept
Jesus, the two offered to call down fire in revenge, as the prophet Elijah
had once done (2 Kings 1:10,12). On another occasion, they earned the anger
of their fellow disciples by asking if they could sit on Jesus' right and
left hands in glory (Mark 10:35-45).
Following the ascension of Jesus, John continued in a prominent position of
leadership among the disciples (Acts 1:13). He was present when Peter
healed the lame man in the Temple. Together with Peter he bore witness
before the Sanhedrin to his faith in Jesus Christ. The boldness of their
testimony brought the hostility of the Sanhedrin (Acts 3-4). When the
apostles in Jerusalem received word of the evangelization of Samaria, they
sent Peter and John to investigate whether the conversions were genuine
(Acts 8:14-25). This was a curious thing to do. The Samaritans had long
been suspect in the eyes of the Jews (John 4:9). John himself had once
favored the destruction of a Samaritan village (Luke 9:51-56). That he was
present on this mission suggests he had experienced a remarkable change.
In these episodes Peter appears as the leader and spokesman for the pair,
but John's presence on such errands indicates his esteem by the growing
circle of disciples. After the execution of his brother James by Herod
Agrippa I, between A.D. 42-44 (Acts 12:1-2), John is not heard of again in
Acts. Paul's testimony to John as one of the "pillars," along with Peter
and James (the Lord's brother, Gal 2:9), however, reveals that John
continued to hold a position of respect and leadership in the early church.
As might be expected of one of Jesus' three closest disciples, John became
the subject of an active and varied church tradition. Tertullian (about
A.D. 160-220) said that John ended up in Rome, where he was "plunged,
unhurt, into boiling oil." A much later tradition believed that both James
and John were martyred. The dominant tradition, however, was that the
apostle John moved to Ephesus in Asia Minor, and that from there he was
banished to the Island of Patmos (during Domitian's reign, A.D. 81-96).
Tradition also held that he returned later to Ephesus, where he died some
time after Trajan became emperor in A.D. 98.
Stories that John reclaimed a juvenile delinquent, raised a dead man, and
opposed the GNOSTIC heretic Cerinthus survive from this era in his life. It
was also the general opinion of the time that from Ephesus John composed
the five writings which bear his name in the New Testament (Gospel of John;
1, 2, and 3 John; and Revelation).
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas
Nelson Publishers)