Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist
Given his beautiful prologue which sits like a gem atop the crown of Gospel readings proclaimed during our celebration of the birth of Jesus, it is fitting that St. John’s feast falls so close to Christmas itself. Given, too, the association between him and the Book of Revelation, it is fitting that his feast is also so close to the end of the secular year. Let us reflect, then, on the faith of St. John and consider why it might have been that he, rather than St. Peter, looked into the empty tomb and believed that Christ had risen from the dead.
Though we are in Christmastide, think to Easter and Holy Thursday night: all the apostles, even John, flee Gethsemane when Judas comes with soldiers to take Jesus away. Peter and John turn around and follow Jesus from a distance, entering into the courtyard of the Sanhedrin, John being an acquaintance of the high priest (John 18:15) and able to get himself and Peter inside. But there in the courtyard Peter denies Jesus three times and runs away weeping (Luke 22:62), leaving John alone. Later John is the only apostle there at the Cross with Mary and the other women. When we begin reading the different stories of the resurrection of Jesus, only John among the apostles believes Jesus has risen from the dead. What makes him different?
He witnessed the death of Jesus. He saw the death of Jesus first hand. St. Paul would later write to the Romans “…God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8): John saw the ultimate proof of God’s love. Furthermore He not only saw Jesus die, but in his Gospel and his Gospel alone he writes of the soldier piercing Jesus’ side with a spear, noting that blood and water poured out. Why did he include this beautiful detail? He writes, “An eyewitness has testified, and this testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe,” (John 19:35). The thrust of the spear and the pouring out of the Heart of Jesus proved He was utterly dead; when John looks into the tomb and sees the head cloth neatly folded and put off to the side he knew, instantly, that it was no case of grave robbery; robbers would be too hasty and leave everything a mess and, further, they would not have messed around with the Roman guards posted there. There was no body in the tomb, and having ruled out robbery there was only one more conclusion: Jesus had kept His word. The Jesus that died showing John such love, the Jesus whose every word had come to pass—even the words about the manner of His betrayal and death, John being the only disciple to have witnessed it all—was the same Jesus that, surely, would keep the rest of what He had said, about His rising from the dead.
As we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the beginning of God’s promises being kept, let us take a moment to thank God for the gift of St. John’s Gospel, and its powerful witness to God’s love for us, that we might, through his Gospel and his intercession, likewise be beloved disciples of Jesus.