The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

This title is mentioned five times in the Gospel of John and on each occasion it is a reference to the apostle John. Also, on each occasion, it is how John described himself; he is not citing what someone else said about him; even Jesus had not called him by this title. Of course, he used the description decades after the described incidents took place.

What does John mean by this expression? Did he mean that only he could be described in this way? Or are we in danger of taking the phrase to mean ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved to be with more than anyone else during the three or so years in which John enjoyed the nearness of Jesus’? Or do we take it to mean the fact that on one recorded occasion John lay on the breast of Jesus, but we wonder if that was always the posture, a special privilege given only to John? Or is John only a sample of how Jesus responded to others, and continues to respond to others?

His chosen identity

John is commonly known as the apostle of love because of the many references he makes to love in his epistles. Therefore, we would not be surprised if he had described himself as the disciple who loved Jesus. There is some information in the Bible that points to John’s love being stronger than that of the other disciples. After all, he was the only disciple of Jesus that was at the cross – the others had fled. But if he had called himself ‘the disciple who loved Jesus’ he would have been drawing attention to himself, and that is not what John is doing when he describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Rather he wants to draw attention to Jesus when he speaks about himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

His clear delight

Think of unique matters about Jesus that John has told us. Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the Bread of life, the Light of the world, the good Shepherd, the Washer of feet, and the true Vine. He tells us about the miracle at the wedding at Cana, the interactions with Nicodemus and the woman of Samaria, the concern of Jesus on the cross for his mother, his triumphant cry on the cross of ‘it is finished’, the appearance to Mary Magdalene, and the public restoration of Peter to his apostolic calling on the beach in Galilee. While he was guided by the Spirit to include those details, they also reveal the deep delight he had in speaking and writing about the One who loved him.

Striking affirmation of assurance

As we look at this description we can see that John possessed assurance when he said it. His statement is marked by certainty, is it not? Elsewhere, John wrote about Jesus, ‘We love him because he first loved us.’ There he indicates that the love of all Christians is connected to the priority of the love of Christ. But in his self-description, he is conscious of this extraordinary reality, that Jesus loved him. How did he have this strong awareness? Here are a few suggestions.

How Jesus loved John

Firstly, John knew that Jesus had loved him eternally. He had heard Jesus say in prayer to his Father in John 17 that he had given the disciples to Jesus as a gift. ‘Yours they were, and you gave them to me.’ Jesus did not say that he had been asked to help them, which would have been true. Rather, on that occasion, he said that he had been gifted them as his people. This expression of divine love speaks to us of what is called the council of redemption. John was in the heart of the Son of God then – he had been foreknown, foreloved. The Son of God had always loved him.

Second, Jesus had loved John incarnationally. It is wonderful to know about the eternal love of Jesus for John. But what did that eternal love cause him to do for John? What actions flowed from that love? John had been given to Jesus in order for his redemption to take place. For that to happen, the Son of God became a man. He had to humble himself and become a human. There were many reasons why the Son did this, indeed a number of reasons that cannot be counted, because he did it for all of the people of God. He made himself of no reputation so that John would receive eternal glory. The conception and the birth of Jesus are clear evidence that allow John to say of himself that he was one whom Jesus loved.

Third, Jesus had loved John servantly. Is there a word that describes the entirety of the earthly life of Jesus? Which word covers his visit to Jerusalem when he was twelve, his submission to his parents, his baptism, his hours of prayer, his path of perfection. The word ‘servant’ covers it all. Lovingly, he lived a perfect life, but for who? For John, and all other believers. Jesus lived a life of love, and that perfect life was credited to John when he trusted in Jesus. All the days for more than thirty years John was loved by Jesus as he obeyed the law.

Fourth, Jesus had loved John sacrificially. The three aspects of the love of Jesus that we have considered had to be revealed to John in the teaching that Jesus gave him. But concerning this fourth aspect, John had a front row position to watch it, even in a literal sense. On the evening of his arrest, Jesus takes his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, and then calls Peter, James and John to follow him further into the garden. John saw Jesus rolling about on the ground in great distress. One reason why he was doing so was his awareness of the awfulness of the cross that he was about to endure. Another reason was the fact that he was prepared to go through with it because he loved John and the other disciples. John saw the determination with which Jesus loved him.

But John saw more because while the other disciples ran away John followed Jesus after he was arrested. John saw what happened to Jesus in the high priest’s house and how he was mistreated and mocked. Every slap and every taunt revealed the commitment of Jesus. And when Jesus went to Calvary, John went there. We are not told if he had followed Jesus as he was taken back and fore between cowardly rulers. But he was at the cross and there he saw the degree of Jesus’ love as he became a curse by hanging on a tree.

There John saw that Jesus had loved him superlatively. His love was such that he would not hold back from paying the penalty for John’s many sins. John may not have been there when Jesus cried, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ because he had been instructed to take Mary away from the cross. Yet he would have heard of what had occurred and how Jesus had paid the penalty for his sins as he suffered the wrath of God on the cross.

John also knew that Jesus had loved him sanctifyingly. Six decades exist between the experiences John describes with Jesus and when he wrote about them in his Gospel. What had Jesus done for John during that time? He had continued to show his love for John in ensuring that he experienced the grace of sanctification. John was a new creation, but he became a progressively better new creature as Jesus worked in his life as his prophet, priest and king. No doubt, one reason why Jesus loved John was because of his work in him as well as his work for him. In his work in John, Jesus saw the reproduction of his own likeness in the heart and mind of a sinner as John grew in grace and became the apostle of love.

John had once wanted to call down fire from heaven on some Samaritans who had rejected Jesus, a request that Jesus rebuked him for. Indeed, because of his temperament, he had been called the son of thunder by Jesus. What a great change had taken place in the outlook of John! On another occasion, John with his brother James had asked that Jesus would give them very prominent positions in his kingdom once it arrived. They wanted those places at the expense of others and were at that time marked by the confidence that they would remain loyal to Jesus no matter who opposed them. That awful self-confidence of John had to be dealt with by Jesus, and it was during those six decades in which Jesus had been changing him. 

In Revelation 1:5-6, John records a doxology he had composed about his Saviour: ‘To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.’ In those verses, he focuses on the love of Jesus and what Jesus had done for him. John says that Jesus had liberated him from the penalty and the power of sin when he suffered on the cross. But Jesus had done more than that for him. In addition, Jesus had made him a member of a special kingdom and he had given to John, and all Christians, a special role which was to serve as priests in the Father’s presence where they offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to the Father for providing such a Saviour as Jesus. The outcome of his experience through those six decades was that he wanted Jesus to be exalted forevermore. John knew that in the unending future he would experience the riches of the love of Jesus, that whatever heaven involves and whatever is found in the new heavens and new earth would be expressions of his amazing love.

Some responses

The love of Jesus was the motivation for John’s service as a saint. Paul writes on one occasion that the love of Christ constrained him, compelled him, as a believer to serve Jesus with all that he possessed. John shared that outlook. And when we think about it, what higher motive can there be for serving the Lord? Obviously, there is a sense in which our service of Jesus flows out of our love to Jesus. But John discovered, and as all Christians discover, a stronger influence is needed, and that stronger influence is Christ’s own love.    

We mentioned earlier that John’s assurance level was high. How was that the case? Because he looked at Jesus. Often we look within ourselves for reasons for assurance and obviously there is a necessity to do so. But we should not make inner change the most important source of comfort. We have all heard of McCheyne’s comment which said that for every look within, we should have ten looks at Christ.

John used this self-description because he had a message he wanted to share, because it was love shown to a sinner. The love of Jesus displayed in the various ways we have thought about did not make John silent about it. While it was a personal love, it was not a love to be secretive about. John wanted people to know that Jesus loved sinners. His discovery of Jesus made him want to declare who Jesus is and what he had done for him. John’s whole life, indeed his whole eternity, had been changed because of what Jesus had done for him.

So John is not drawing attention to himself by this self-description. Rather he is pointing to the Saviour who revealed his love for him in a very personal, costly, endless and amazing manner. He is assuring us that we can know a similar experience of the love of Christ.