The Feast of St. John the Evangelist

Even though we count the Days of Christmas as our twelve-day celebration moves on, the Christian Calendar reminds us that the birth of Christ neither takes place in a vacuum nor does it occur without consequences.  I have heard it said, “One lights a candle, but casts a shadow.”  The story moves on, not letting the baby remain in the manger for long.  There are repercussions for the birth of a Savior.

December 27 is the Feast of St. John the Evangelist.  Many attribute the Fourth Gospel, the three New Testament letters that bear his name and the Book of Revelation to him.  It is interesting that in the gospel, his name never explicitly appears in relation to his authorship.  Many make an association between the son of Zebedee and “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”  But no matter where one stands on the issue (and I certainly have no problem with claiming that John is the author of the gospel that bears his name.  Indeed, a great lot of me wants that to be the case), the literary evidence is simply not present.  We do not want to be led astray by uninformed paraphrases such as The Living Bible where Mr. Taylor freely substitutes John’s name for the phrase the disciple whom Jesus loved.  That is neither responsible scholarship nor good churchmanship.  John’s name doesn’t appear at all in the epistles and it shows up four times in the Book of Revelation – three times in the opening chapter and once in the conclusion.

This having been said, we can hardly overestimate St. John’s contribution and influence on the church.  If he did not write any or all of the New Testament material with which we associate him, these volumes are certainly a product of the Johanine school and they are deeply indebted to him.

But, the significance of this day does not rest solely upon St. John as a literary figure.  Christian tradition holds that John the son of Zebedee was the only one of the Twelve Apostles (following Matthias’ replacing of Judas Iscariot) who lived to a ripe old age and died of natural causes.  There are stories of the martyrdom – sometimes under the most gruesome of circumstances – of the other eleven.  But the lore of the church holds that John lived well past age ninety and died peacefully in Ephesus, where he lived in his old age.

Yesterday we meditated on St. Stephen, the martyr, who because of his faith died at an early age.  Today we ponder the long and faithful life of a servant of Christ who lived to be full of days.  We can never be fully certain where the life of faith will take us.  The calendar reminds us today that it could be, it could be, that it is possible for the disciple to enjoy a lengthy and abundant life.  It would be a disservice to the Apostle to claim that he was healthy and content every day of his life.  After all, the writer of the Book of Revelation did his composing while he was in exile on the island of Patmos.  But, overall, this life reminds us of the fullness of spirit (if not of years) to which Christ calls us.