John the Apostle - Before Thor was Cool

I believe that we all have some characteristic about ourselves that we don’t like. Some may chase after the "new shiny" more than we should, or spend our time fulfilling our "need" for fun and enjoyment over others, or we are not as generous as we would like to be, or we say things and react to situations poorly. No matter what it is about us that we may not like; if we seek Christ, His love can change that which we cannot do on our own.

The calling

• Mark 1:19 - 20
  • John and his brother James were both called, and responded right away.
  • It is interesting that their father Zebedee was a business man and was doing quite well at things as he not only had his own sons working with him, but he also had hired men working with them.
  • A good depiction of how boys grew up with dad
• Mark 3:17
  • James and John both had tempers to which Jesus call them "sons of thunder"
• All of the apostles were ordinary men, and each a little different from one another
• How important do you think it was that the apostles were all just ordinary men?
• Luke 9:51 - 55
  • We see the anger and temper flair up, however Jesus's "rebuke" is not explained or described at all
  • What face (Warrior, King, Friend, or Lover) do you think John as using most of the time up to this point?

Key events

• However, despite his temper and short fuse, Jesus kept John closer to him than most of the other apostles.
• Luke 8: 51 - 56
• Luke 9: 28 - 36
• Mark 14: 32 - 34
• We see that Jesus kept John close to him, why do you think He did that?
  • Could it have been to help him with his anger? To witness the mercy and love that Christ had for us?

The Changed Man

• John 19: 25 - 27

  • Christ asks John "the disciple whom he loved", to care for his mother.
  • How do you think John must have felt in that moment?

• John 21: 20 - 23

  • We see that others knew how much Christ Loved John.

• John wrote 5 gospels of the new testament, and we can see from John, 1, 2, and 3 John that he does not reflect the man with a temper. Rather he talks about the profound love Christ had and shared that earnestly.

• What face was John wearing now?

  Christ took an ordinary man with faults, and produced a man of great love and passion. Often we can only see our reflection, and we overlook the fact that we can change what we see. We only see what is present in that moment. However, Christ sees us for who we truly are, and can change us into something that we might not see in ourselves.