Saturday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 22, 2021

John 21:20-25

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.” So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die. But Jesus had not told him that he would not die, just “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours?” It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.

“The disciple . . . whom Jesus loved.”  The Lord Jesus loved all of his disciples, but inasmuch as he possessed a human nature, one disciple may have stood out for him as more lovable than the others.  St. John, in his Gospel, does not explain this; he simply states it as though it did not need to be explained, as something already known and accepted by those for whom he was writing his Gospel.  St. Augustine states openly that Jesus had a greater, more familiar love for him.  “The disciple whom Jesus loved” may also be an idiom for “the disciple who loved Jesus very much”, or “the disciple who felt Jesus’s love most acutely”.  The phrase, at any rate, indicates that John had a greater capacity for love than the other disciples.    

“Lord, what about him?”  It helps us to keep in mind that at this point, the Apostles and disciples still believed that Jesus, after his Resurrection, was going to restore the kingdom of Israel.  When Jesus tells Peter that he, Peter, will die through crucifixion, Peter concludes that the Lord means that he will die before the kingdom is restored.  He tries to reconcile the fact that the Lord has declared that he is the Rock on which the Lord would build his Church with this foretelling of his death.  He then wonders about the other Apostles and especially about John, who would seem to have a rank among the Apostles second only to Peter.  “What about him?”  The Greek literally says, But what this one?  The Vulgate has, What shall this one do?  The Lord answers Peter’s question with a question: “What if I want him to remain until I come?”  Jesus reminds Peter that his next work will not be to restore the kingdom of Israel and rule it, but that he will come again to judge the living and the dead at the end of time.  Jesus also redirects Peter to the calling he has received — he is to be the Rock for John and all the others.  As for John’s end, “What concern is it of yours?”  

“So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die.”  It seems that only Peter heard the Lord’s words, and so he would have been the source of the others knowing this.  The “brothers” may not mean the Apostles, but certain disciples, especially those who followed John after Pentecost.  John, who does not misinterpret the Lord’s words, which Peter must have told him at some time, clarifies what the Lord actually said, lest his followers lose hope when he died and the end of the world did not occur.

“It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.”  This phrase may have been inserted in its entirety into an early copy of John’s manuscript, or John may have authored the first part of it, in which he says that he, the “beloved disciple” is the author of this Gospel, with one of his disciples adding “and we know that his testimony is true”.  

“There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”  The Gospels give us the highlights of the Lord’s words and deeds upon the earth.  We are provided hints of great works he accomplished, like that of his casting seven demons out of Mary Magdalene, but they remain only hints.  Until that day when all things are revealed, we must rejoice in what we do know, and take advantage of it by more firmly becoming the Lord’s followers.