St. John wore three hats – beloved of Jesus, apostle, and evangelist.
First, St. John was the Beloved of Jesus, the trusted one, whom He asked before he died on the cross to take care of his Mother Mary. Jesus said to his Mother Mary, “Woman, behold your son”, and to St. John “Behold your Mother” (John 19:26-27). From then one, instantly, Mary became the mother of all Mankind, the basis of Marian theology.
eastwind journals
December 28, 2022 (archives = tr334)
By Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
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Whereas the other apostles were martyrs, St. John lived to be more than a hundred, retiring in Ephesus where she took care of Mother Mary until she assumed into heaven, and where he completed his obra maestra, the Book of Revelation, as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Second, St. John was one of the 12 apostles, who was on one of the three closest to Jesus. They were always together, “Peter, James, and John”, who witnessed the Transfiguration and the Agony in the Garden.
Third, St. John He was the premiere writer of Jesus in his Gospel and Epistles, and he was the ‘pen’ of the Holy Spirit in his Book of Revelation.
He was the most poetic and eloquent evangelist of the Gospel. Whereas the Synoptic Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Luke, and St. Mark focused on events and anecdotes in Jesus’ life, St. John stood apart, articulating the deep theological reality of salvation. He begins his Gospel in a unique poetic style so different from the Synoptic Gospels, shown below.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him, and without Him, nothing came to be. What came to be through Him was life, which was the light of the human race. The Light glowed in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome the Light. He was in the world that came to be through Him, but the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, but his own did not accept Him. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:1-14).
He equates God to the Word. Jesus personalizes the Word. He wrote in prophetic symbolic form, as he would in the Book of Revelation. Light and Darkness were the symbol of the Theology of Salvation. Jesus was the Light, and Satan and the forces of evil were the darkness that could not overcome the Light.
“He came to what was His own, but his own did not accept Him.” This summarizes how Judaism rejected the Messiah and the new order. Judaism, the old religion dating back to Moses and Abraham, was to be replaced by the new order, the Old Testament of external rituals by the New Testament of internal piety.
The Pharisees and Sanhedrin of old were threatened by a ‘rebel’ who taught not only through Words but through actions, healing the sick, raising the dead, source of his charisma. They had to kill him to safeguard the old system from which they thrived. Ironically, killing Jesus triggered the birth of Christianity, the new world religion, to replace Judaism.
“The world knew him not” referred to the fact that the Jews were expecting a Messiah who was a military genius to save them from oppression through the centuries by powerful neighboring tribes like the Assyrians and Babylonians. They had no idea that the Messiah was not a soldier. Todate, the Jews are still waiting for their Messiah.
St. John wrote 5 volumes in the Bible, the most prolific evangelist, equaled only by St. Paul with his voluminous epistles. His 5 books were – his Gospel, the Book of Revelation, and 3 epistles. The Book of Revelation is the symbolic prophecy of things to come – the 4 horsemen, the angel of death, the beast to ravage the earth, his obra maestra.
Finally, St. John writes his famous line (John 3:16) that summarizes the Theology of Reincarnation, as shown below –
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MORE INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES – eastwindjournals.com.
FOR THOSE WHO NEED HEALING, spiritual or physical (depression, anxiety, loneliness, terminal cancer, covid, diabetes, etc.) – say an online healing prayer with one or both healers below. Terminal patients have been healed in cyberspace –
1) Father Fernando Suarez – www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UP3LHBgtIc.
2) Sr. Raquel Reodica, RVM – www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAZcwNimBSg
Download free e-book ‘Healing Stories of Sr. Raquel’ at eastwindjournals.com/2021/08/13/healing-stories-of-sr-raquel-e-book-free-download/).
Author’s Credentials. Blogger – ex-Columnist (Inquirer) – Healing Ministry – ex-Professor (Ateneo University) – Documentary Producer-Director (freelance, ex-ABS-CBN, ex-TVS Tokyo) – ex-Broadcaster (Radio Veritas) – Facebook “Bernie V. Lopez Eastwind” / Pages “Eastwind Journeys and Journals” and “Mary Queen of Peace”.
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