Saint John the Apostle
BENEDICT XVI – GENERAL AUDIENCE – Wednesday, July 5, 2006
JOHN, SON OF ZEBEDEE
Dear brothers and sisters,
John, son of Zebedee and brother of James. His name, typically Hebrew, means "The Lord has given his grace." He was mending the nets on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus called him along with his brother (cf. Mt 4:21; Mk 1:19).
John is always part of the restricted group that Jesus takes with him on certain occasions. He is with Peter and James when Jesus, in Capernaum, enters Peter's house to heal his mother-in-law (cf. Mk 1:29); with the other two he follows the Master to the house of the synagogue official, Jairus, whose daughter he will raise (cf. Mk 5:37); he follows him when he goes up the mountain to be transfigured (cf. Mk 9:2); he is by his side on the Mount of Olives when, before the imposing Temple of Jerusalem, he delivers the discourse on the end of the city and of the world (cf. Mk 13:3); and, finally, he is close to him when in the Garden of Gethsemane he withdraws to pray to the Father, before the Passion (cf. Mk 14:33). Shortly before the Passover, when Jesus chooses two disciples to send them to prepare the room for the Supper, he entrusts this mission to him and to Peter (cf. Lk 22:8).
Within the Church of Jerusalem, John held an important position in the leadership of the first group of Christians. Paul, in fact, includes him among those he calls the "pillars" of that community (cf. Gal 2:9). In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke presents him together with Peter as they go to pray in the Temple (cf. Acts 3:1-4. 11) or when they appear before the Sanhedrin to bear witness to their faith in Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 4:13. 19). Together with Peter, he is sent by the Church of Jerusalem to confirm those who had accepted the Gospel in Samaria, praying for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 8:14-15). In particular, it is worth recalling what he says, along with Peter, before the Sanhedrin which is prosecuting them: "For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). Precisely this courage in confessing his faith remains for all of us as an example and an encouragement for us to be always ready to firmly declare our unwavering adherence to Christ, putting faith before any calculation or human interest.
According to tradition, John is "the beloved disciple," who in the Fourth Gospel reclines on the Master's breast during the Last Supper (cf. Jn 13:25), is found at the foot of the Cross alongside the Mother of Jesus (cf. Jn 19:25), and, finally, witnesses both the empty tomb and the presence of the Risen One (cf. Jn 20:2; 21:7).
We know that experts today dispute this identification, some of them seeing in him only the prototype of Jesus' disciple. Leaving the clarification of the issue to the exegetes, let us content ourselves now with drawing an important lesson for our life: the Lord desires that each of us be a disciple who lives a personal friendship with him. To achieve this, it is not enough to follow him and listen to him externally; it is also necessary to live with him and as he did. This is only possible within the context of a relationship of great familiarity, permeated by the warmth of total trust. This is what happens among friends: which is why Jesus once said: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (...) I no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father" (Jn 15:13, 15).
In the apocryphal book entitled "Acts of John," the Apostle is not presented as a founder of Churches, nor even as a guide of already constituted communities, but as an itinerant communicator of the faith in encounters with "souls capable of hoping and being saved" (18, 10; 23, 8).
He does everything with the paradoxical desire to make the invisible visible. He is, in fact, simply called "the Theologian" by the Eastern Church, meaning the one who is able to speak about divine things in accessible terms, unveiling a hidden access to God through adherence to Jesus.
The veneration of the Apostle St. John became established starting from the city of Ephesus, where, according to ancient tradition, he lived for a long time; he died there at an extraordinarily advanced age, in the time of Emperor Trajan. In Ephesus, the Emperor Justinian, in the 6th century, had a great basilica built in his honor, of which imposing ruins still remain. It is precisely in the East that he enjoyed and continues to enjoy great veneration. In Byzantine iconography he is depicted as very old and in intense contemplation, with the attitude of one who invites silence.
ndeed, without adequate recollection, it is not possible to approach the supreme mystery of God and his revelation. This explains why, years ago, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras, whom Pope Paul VI embraced in a memorable meeting, affirmed: "John is at the origin of our highest spirituality. Like him, the 'silent ones' know that mysterious exchange of hearts, they invoke John's presence, and their heart ignites" (O. Clément, Dialoghi con Atenagora, Turin 1972, p. 159). May the Lord help us to enter the school of St. John to learn the great lesson of love, so that we may feel loved by Christ "to the end" (Jn 13:1) and spend our lives for him.
