Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” – John 21:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 4, 2017): John 21

There are hidden messages in the Bible, they just probably aren’t the ones that you were expecting. I have never quite understood the “if you take every twelfth word in the book of Matthew you will receive a special message” movement that seems to have taken hold of our culture. Maybe we desire to find that hidden revelation of what is yet to come. Or perhaps it is just our foolishness, but the truth is that there is enough meat in the Bible (often that we seem to want to ignore) that makes me wonder why we want to bother trying to come up with secret messages.

But that does not mean that there aren’t messages in the Bible that we miss. And often it is because we have never really learned to read the Bible. And one of those messages is in the closing words of John 21.

When we (or maybe better I) read these words, I can see the scene. It is early May in the year 30. Two men are walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee with a younger man trailing behind. The names of the two men up front are Jesus and Peter, and the younger one trailing behind is John. There is no surprise to John’s presence. He has been inseparable from Jesus for most of his ministry. He sat next to Jesus at the last supper. (Yes, that figure that some have argued was Mary Magdalene at the table in Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” was not Mary, it was John, the youngest of the apostles.) Of all of the disciples, it was only Peter and John that showed up at Jesus’s trial. Of all of the disciples, it was just John that was present at the crucifixion. In a strange twist, Jesus bequeaths John to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, from the cross, while it is likely that John’s birth mother was also present. After the resurrection of Jesus, John is the first of the disciples to arrive at the empty tomb, apparently narrowly beating out Peter.

Do you see the theme? John, with Peter coming in a close second, has never been too far from Jesus. He seemed to want to maintain a physical presence with Jesus. And why not, after all, he was his teacher and friend over the past few years. So it is easy to understand this scene of Jesus and Peter, with John trailing not far behind.

Jesus has just given a vision to Peter of how Peter will die. Peter will not die gently of old age; he will die violently as a martyr to the cause. And then Peter wonders about John. What kind of death is this young man going to suffer? I am not sure what Peter’s motive is in asking the question, but Jesus’s answer is clear. “Peter, mind your own business. There is enough on your plate without going and worrying about John. If I want him to live until I return, what is that to you.” And from that point on the rumor spread that John would not die. Two thousand years after the conversation, there are still a few diehards who believe that John is still alive, living like Gilligan on some deserted island.

Can you see the scene? This scene that I have painted for you is the one that I believe most of us know. So, where’s the hidden message? It is in an alternate scene, one that we don’t see as quickly when we read the passage. In this alternative scene, it is not the year 30, but the year 95. Sixty-five years have passed since that conversation took place on the Sea of Galilee. On old man in his eighties holds a quill and is writing on parchment by candlelight. His body has been burned and broken. At one point his enemies poured hot oil on him as a form of torture, and he has never been the same since. He finds it hard to walk, so his friends usually carry him from place to place. He has spent so much time alone, at one point he was even exiled to a remote island because of his political views, that he is often more comfortable leading a solitary existence than he is in the company of others. So when he speaks, his words are few.

But he can write. And as the quill squeaks over the page, he writes what he remembers. And now his job is just about done. There is just one more story to write down, a story that happened along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He remembers hearing the conversation between Peter and Jesus. Peter could be so obtuse at times. He recalls Peter’s question – what about him. And he remembers Jesus’s answer.

His name is John, but he is no longer the youngest of the apostles. Now his claim to fame is that he is the only apostle left who hasn’t died. John has suffered, but he has never been martyred. The quill squeaks. He has to tell them, find some way to let them know. John knows that the time is short, and as he starts to end his story he needs his friends to understand the truth. John is dying. It might not happen right away, but John knows that his time on the planet is short. Soon he will go and join his friends from so many years ago. His friends will be left with this story and the truth that Jesus came to earth as the living Word of God, the Logos from heaven. He lived and ministered doing many wonderful things. He was crucified, died spending parts of three days in the grave before he rose again to life. The risen Jesus has been with John for all of these years, and he will not leave John now.

But all of us die. Even apostles who were once young. But that doesn’t stop the message. With each generation, the story is renewed and sent out one more time. This is John’s hidden message. But it is also one that he hopes his friends and readers will understand. He has finished his race, but that only means that it is now their time to start running.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 1