ACC ~ John 21 v20 - 23

OVERVIEW:

The disciple whom Jesus loves is the priest, martyr and teacher who now sleeps at Ephesus (EUSEBIUS). Peter asks about John’s future as one with whom he would be closely bound in the subsequent history of the apostles (CHRYSOSTOM). Our text ensures our understanding of Peter’s love for our Lord even as it also ensures we know of our Lord’s love for John. But the love he has for us now is only a shadow of that love that is yet to be realized in the life to come, when there will be nothing that would hinder his love for us (AUGUSTINE). Jesus again invites the disciples to follow him, but this time they can expect to suffer and die for the name, except John, whom Jesus did not want to suffer martyrdom (AUGUSTINE). Because of this, there was an unfounded expectation that John would remain alive until the Lord’s return (TERTULLIAN). John’s writings, however, attest that he never believed there was such a promise, nor would he yield to such an empty hope (AMBROSE). Peter, as John’s close friend, is concerned about what would happen to John, but history tells us that John lived seventy-three more years after Jesus’ ascension, dying in peace and serenity during the time of Trajan (THEODORE).

21:20 | The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

THE DISCIPLE LEANED ON THE LORD’S BREAST

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: For in Asia also great luminaries have fallen asleep who will rise again on the last day of the advent of the Lord, when he shall come with glory from heaven and shall search out all the saints. … And this is also where John is, who leaned on the bosom of the Lord, who was a priest wearing the miter, a martyr and a teacher, and he sleeps at Ephesus. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 3.31.3. [1]

[1] FC 19:189.

21:21 | Lord, What About This Man?

PETER SPEAKS UP FOR JOHN

CHRYSOSTOM: Why has Peter reminded us of [John’s] reclining? Not without cause or by chance but to show us what boldness Peter had after the denial. For he who then did not dare to question Jesus but turned this task over to another was now entrusted with the chief authority over the brothers. And not only does he not commit to another what relates to himself, but he himself now puts a question to his Master concerning another. John is silent, but Peter speaks. He also shows here the love that he had toward him. For Peter greatly loved John, as is clear from what followed, and their close union is shown both throughout the Gospel and also in the Acts. [1] When therefore Christ had foretold great things of Peter and committed the world to his care and had foretold his martyrdom and testified that his love was greater than that of the others, desiring to have John also to share in this with him, he said, “And what shall this man do? Shall he not travel the same road with us?” On that other occasion, because he is not able himself to ask the question, he put John forward. Similarly, now desiring to return the favor and supposing that John would want to ask about matters pertaining to himself but lacked the courage, he himself undertook the questioning. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 88.2. [2]

[1] See Acts 3-4.

[2] NPNF 1 14:332*; PG 59:480.

21:22 | What Is That to You? Follow Me!

CONTEMPLATION AND ACTION

AUGUSTINE: There are two states of life, therefore, preached and commended as revealed to the church from heaven: the one being in faith, the other in sight; one remaining in time in a foreign land, the other residing in the eternal heavenly dwelling. … The first was signified by the apostle Peter, the other by John. … And so, it is said to Peter, “Follow me” by imitating me in the endurance of temporal evils. [But of John it is said], “Let him remain” till I come to restore everlasting bliss. And this may be expressed more clearly in this way: Let action that is perfected, informed by the example of my passion, follow me; but let contemplation that has only just begun remain until I come, to be perfected when I come. For the godly fullness of patience, reaching forward even unto death, follows Christ; but the fullness of knowledge remains until Christ comes, to be manifested then. For here the evils of this world are endured in the land of the dying, while the good things of the Lord shall be seen in the land of the living. For in saying, “I want him to remain till I come,” we are not to understand that John was supposed to remain on earth, or to abide permanently, but he was, rather, to wait. Therefore, what is signified by John shall certainly not be fulfilled now, but when Christ comes.

But what is signified by Peter to whom it was said, “Follow me,” except that his [and our] following must be done now, or it will never reach the expected outcome. In such an active life, the more we love Christ the more easily we are delivered from evil. But he loves us less as we now are, and therefore delivers us from this state of being so that we may not always be such as we are. There [in heaven], however, he loves us more; for we shall not have anything about us to displease him, or anything that would cause Christ to separate us from him. He loves us here for the purpose of healing and delivering us from everything he doesn’t love. Here, therefore, he loves us less because it is a place where he does not want us to remain. There [in heaven] he will love us in an even larger measure as the place toward which he would have us to be passing as we leave behind the place where he knows we would otherwise perish. Let Peter therefore love him, that we may obtain deliverance from our present mortality; let John be loved by him, that we may be preserved in the immortality to come. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 124.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:450-51**.

PETER FOLLOWS, JOHN REMAINS

AUGUSTINE: The Lord either said what he said to Peter about his martyrdom, or he said it about the gospel of John. As regards the martyrdom and this “Follow me,” [he means] suffer for me, suffer what I did. Because Christ was crucified, Peter too was crucified … while John experienced none of this. That is what is meant by, “It is thus that I wish him to remain.” Let him fall asleep without wounds, without torment, and wait for me. You, Peter, “Follow me,” suffer what I did. That’s one way these words can be explained… .

As regards the Gospel of John, though, this is what I think is meant: that Peter wrote about the Lord, others too wrote; but their writing was more concerned with the Lord’s humanity. … But while there is something about the divinity of Christ in Peter’s letters, in John’s gospel it is very much to the fore. … He soared above the clouds and soared above the stars, soared above the angels, soared above every creature and arrived at the Word through which all things were made. SERMON 253.5. [1]

[1] WSA 3 7:150*.

21:23 | The Rumour About John Not Dying

AN UNFOUNDED RUMOR

TERTULLIAN: John underwent death, although concerning him there had prevailed an unfounded expectation that he would remain alive until the coming of the Lord. ON THE SOUL 50. [1]

[1] ANF 3:228

A TRADITION OF JOHN’S BURIAL

AUGUSTINE: But still, as I began to say, if some deny the death of Moses, whom Scripture itself, in the very passage where we read that his sepulcher could nowhere be found, [1] explicitly declares to have died. How much more may occasion be taken from these words where the Lord says, “Thus do I wish him to stay till I come,” to believe that John is sleeping but still alive beneath the ground? In fact, we have a tradition about him (which is found in certain apocryphal scriptures) that he was present, in good health, when he ordered a sepulcher to be made for himself. And that, when it was dug and prepared with all possible care, he laid himself down there as in a bed and became immediately dead. And yet, as those think who so understand these words of the Lord, [he was] not really dead but only lying like one in such a condition. And while he was considered “dead” he was actually buried [according to this tradition] when asleep and that he will so remain until the coming of Christ, making known meanwhile the fact of his life by the bubbling up of the dust, which is believed to be forced by the breath of the sleeper to ascend from the depths to the surface of the grave. I think it quite superfluous to contend with such an opinion. For those may see for themselves who know the locality whether the ground there does or has done to it what is said regarding it, because, in truth, we too have heard of it from those who are not altogether unreliable witnesses. [2] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 124.2. [3]

[1] Deut 34:6.

[2] Augustine reports an almost supernatural phenomenon that was supposedly taking place at the ground where John was buried, as having an almost living and breathing appearance of the soil.

[3] NPNF 1 7:448**.

NOTHING TO FEAR IN DEATH

AMBROSE: There is, then, nothing for us to fear in death, nothing for us to mourn, whether life, which was received from nature be rendered up to it again, or whether it is sacrificed to some duty that claims it, and this will be either an act of religion or the exercise of some virtue. And no one ever wished to remain as at present. This has been supposed to have been promised to John, but it is not the truth. We hold fast to the words and deduce the meaning from them. He himself in his own writing denies that there was a promise that he should not die, that no one from that instance might yield to an empty hope. But if to wish for this would be an extravagant hope, how much more extravagant would it be to grieve without rule for what has happened according to rule! ON HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.49. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 10:181**.

PETER WANTS TO KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO JOHN

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Peter turned to the secret decision of providence and saw from a distance the disciple John, son of thunder, who followed slowly, admiring the great and sublime promise made by our Lord to Peter. … Since John lived long, that is, seventy-three years after the ascension of the Lord to the time of Trajan, and died after all the other apostles in peace and serenity by natural death, the Lord alludes to this by saying, If I want him to live long enough so that he may remain until my return, you do not need to investigate this. Only pay attention to what is yours, that is, take care of your work and follow me. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 7.21.20-23. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:363.