A Life of St. John for the Young Part 16

_CHAPTER x.x.xI_

_Last Days_

"I John ... was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of G.o.d, and the testimony of Jesus.... And I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet saying, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches."--_Rev._ i. 9-11.

"Since I, whom Christ's mouth taught, was bidden teach, I went, for many years, about the world, Saying, 'It was so; so I heard and saw,'

Speaking as the case asked; and men believed.

Afterward came the message to myself In Patmos Isle. I was not bidden teach, But simply listen, take a book and write, Nor set down other than the given word, With nothing left to my arbitrament To choose or change; I wrote, and men believed."

From Samaria John with Peter "returned to Jerusalem." This is the last record of him in the Acts. We have but little information concerning him after that event. He suddenly disappears. We have two glimpses of him which are historic, and several through shadowy traditions.

There was a very important meeting in Jerusalem to settle certain questions in which the early Church was greatly interested, and about which there had been much difference in judgment and feeling. St. Paul was present. He says that St. John was there, one of the three Pillar-Apostles who gave to him and Barnabas "the right hands of fellows.h.i.+p." This is the only time of which we certainly know of the meeting of these two Apostles; though we have imagined the possibility of John's visiting the school of Gamaliel, and wors.h.i.+ping in the Temple when young Saul was in Jerusalem. From this time, A.D., 50, we lose sight of John and do not see him again until A.D., 68, in the Isle of Patmos. As his Lord was hidden eighteen years, from the time of His boyhood visit to Jerusalem until He entered on His public ministry, so long His disciple is concealed from our view. Leaving Jerusalem he probably never returned. Why he left we do not know. It may have been because of persecutions. Perhaps the death of Mary relieved him from the charge we may believe he had faithfully kept, and thus made it possible for him to go about like other Apostles to preach the Gospel. If so we have no hint in what direction he went. He may have gone directly to Ephesus. On reaching it perhaps he found a welcome from some who had heard him speak in their own language on the day of Pentecost. It was a populous city, wealthy and wicked. Its magnificent Temple of Diana was one of the seven wonders of the world. Its ruins give us a hint of its former glory.

All the traditions of early times make Ephesus the home of St. John in the latter part of his life. From it as a centre he ministered to the Churches of Asia Minor.

Gospel truth found its way thither, even before Paul made it the centre of his third missionary tour. He was driven from it, but he left the foundation of a Christian Church, upon which John builded. There were like foundations in at least six other important cities of Asia Minor--Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

The silence of the latter half of St. John's life is broken but once, and that by himself. He tells us that he "was in the isle that is called Patmos." It was not far from Ephesus, within a day's sail. It is a huge rock, rugged and barren, only a few miles in length.

Why was John in Patmos? He says, "for the word of G.o.d and the testimony of Jesus." What does he mean by this? Perhaps that he was led thither by circ.u.mstances of which we do not know, or by the guidance of the Spirit of G.o.d, who there would make wonderful revelations to him. But more probably he was banished thither for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, and for being a faithful follower of Him, notwithstanding the persecutions of Nero or Domitian. As told in an ancient Latin hymn,--

"To desert islands banished, With G.o.d the exile dwells, And sees the future glory His mystic writing tells."

The grotto of La Scala may have been the spot from which he looked out upon the aegean Sea, and upward into the heavens, communing in solitude with his own thoughts, or with his Lord for whom he was there. Patmos was for this a fitting place, whether he had gone there from his own choice, or had been driven thither by the cruelty of his persecutor. In such solitude did Milton muse, and Bunyan dream.

It was the "Lord's Day," says John. He alone, and at this time only, uses that name with which we have become familiar, though it may have been in common use among the early Christians. It meant much to John, even more than to us. It was a reminder of the day when he looked into, and then entered, the tomb of his Lord, and believed that He had risen from the dead.

His meditations may have been aided by Old Testament Ma.n.u.scripts, his only companions; especially that of Daniel, in which it is claimed "the spirit and imagery of the Book of Revelation is steeped."

What a contrast there was between the peaceful waves of Gennesaret, creeping silently upon the sandy beach of his childhood home, and the breakers das.h.i.+ng upon the rocky coast of his exile abode in his old age! How suggestive of the calm and turmoil of his life!

[Ill.u.s.tration: SMYRNA _Old Engraving_ Page 233]

But his musings were suddenly broken by "a great voice, as of a trumpet," giving a command--"What thou seest, write in a book." He says, "I turned to see the voice that spake with me." He beheld his Lord in greater grandeur than he had seen Him on earth, even on Hermon. As he gazed upon the divine figure he must have exclaimed,

"Can this be He who used to stray, A pilgrim on the world's highway, Oppressed by power, and mocked by pride, The Nazarene, the Crucified!"

We do not wonder that he says,--"When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead." So had Paul done when the Lord appeared to him at Damascus.

John adds, "He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not." The words seem almost an echo from the Holy Mount,--"Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid."

The command to John was renewed, to write--of things which he had seen, and what he was yet to behold. The early Christians called him the Eagle, meaning that of all the sacred writers he had the loftiest visions of divine truth.

John's writings are of three kinds, the Book of The Revelation of the secret purposes of G.o.d; his Gospel; and his three Epistles or letters.

Although The Revelation is the last of the books of the Bible, it is probably the first of those by John. It contains messages from the Lord in Heaven to the seven churches in Asia, which we have mentioned, concerning their virtues and their failings. To each was given a special promise of reward to those who overcame sin, and were faithful to Christ. From this Revelation of John we get our imagery of Heaven, helping us to understand something of its glory.

His Gospel is supposed to have been written next. Why did he write it?

As we have noticed, Matthew, Mark and Luke had already written their Gospels. But there was abundant reason for John's writing the fourth Gospel. We need not doubt the tradition that he was urged to do so by the disciples, elders and bishops of the early Church. They had heard him tell much concerning Christ of which the first three Evangelists had not told. These things were too precious to be forgotten, or to be changed by frequent repet.i.tion after his lips were silent. That must be soon, for he was very old, having long pa.s.sed the limit of human age.

They had listened to the story of the early call of the disciples, and of the first miracle at Cana, and of the night visit of Nicodemus to Jesus, and of the talk by the well of Samaria with the Samaritaness, and of the was.h.i.+ng of the disciples' feet, and of many other things which Jesus said and did of which no one had written. In John's talks with Christians, and his preaching in their churches, he explained fully and simply the teachings of Jesus, as no one else had done, or could do.

They longed for a record of them, that they might read it themselves, and leave it to their children, and those who never could hear the words from his lips.

So St. John wrote his Gospel, giving to his first readers his great reason,--"These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of G.o.d; and that believing ye may have life in His name."

For the writing of his first Epistle he also gives a reason, saying,--"That which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the word of life, ... that ... declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellows.h.i.+p with us."

Through these words John draws us very near to his Lord and ours, Whom we behold through his eyes, and hear through his ears. We almost feel the grasp of a divine yet human hand.

The great theme is the love of G.o.d, or as Luther expresses it, "The main substance of this Epistle relates to love." John's Gospel abounds in declarations and ill.u.s.tration of this greatest of truths, but it does not contain the phrase in this Epistle in which he sums up the whole Gospel, "G.o.d IS LOVE." Because of John's deep sense of G.o.d's love, and because of the depth of his own love, the Beloved Apostle is called, The Apostle of Love.

John's second Epistle should be of special interest to the young. From it we infer that there were two Christian homes, in each of which John took delight. The mothers were sisters. His letter is addressed to "The elect lady"--or as she is sometimes called the Lady Electa--and her children. John tells of his love and that of others for them,--Mother and children--because of their Christian character. He tells of his great joy because of the children "walking in the truth"--living as children should live who have learned of the teachings of Christ.

From the group of children around him in the home where he wrote, he sends messages to their aunt, saying, "The children of thine elect sister salute thee." How the children of Electa must have prized that letter! How little they thought that nineteen hundred years after they received it, other children would read it, and think how happy were those who had the Apostle John for their friend.

This letter is one of the things that revealed his child-like spirit. We remember the time when he did not have that spirit. At last he did have it because he became so much like his Master who loved the little ones, and taught His disciples to do the same.

John thought of the child-spirit as the Christ-spirit, whether it was in the old or the young. He called all who had it children. He called those to whom he ministered in his old age his little children. This he does in the last sentence of his last letter to the Christian church,--"My little children, guard yourselves from idols."

Because of his own child-like spirit and his seeking to cultivate it in others, and because of his manifest interest in children, he may be called the Apostle of Childhood.

There is a beautiful tradition concerning him, that in his old age, when he was too feeble to walk to the church or to preach, he was carried thither, and said again and again,--"Little children, love one another."

Some said, "Master, why dost thou always say this?" He replied, "It is the Lord's command, and if this alone is done, it is enough." Of his death at the probable age of about one hundred nothing is known. It is claimed that there is a sacred spot somewhere among the tangled thickets of Mt. Prion which looks down on Ephesus where his body was laid.

There is a tradition, inconsistent with the supposition that Mary died in Jerusalem, that she accompanied John to Ephesus and was buried near him; her eyes having been closed by him on whom her Son had looked with dimming vision, commending her to his loving care.

No magnificent tomb marks the place of John's burial. None is needed.

But there are richer and abundant memorials of St. John the Divine--an imperishable name because that of the Beloved Disciple of Him Whose name is above every name.

_CHAPTER x.x.xII_

_A Retrospect_

How wonderful and charming a history is that of St. John! Our glimpses of him have been few and often-times indistinct; but they have been enough in number and clearness to reveal a n.o.ble and lovable character.

We saw him first on the sea-sh.o.r.e of Gennesaret, not differing from any other Galilean boy. We watched him playing and fis.h.i.+ng with his Bethsaidan companions, none of them thinking of how long their friends.h.i.+p would be continued, or in what new and strange circ.u.mstances of joy and sorrow, hope and fear, disappointment and glad surprises, that companions.h.i.+p would become closer and closer.

We saw John in his rambles about his home, amid scenes beautiful in themselves, which became sacred because of what he there beheld and heard.

We discovered his relations.h.i.+p to a child in Nazareth whom he did not know at first as the most wonderful being in the world.

We entered his home and visited the school where he was taught of Him who was called the coming Messiah; but who had already come, though his parents and teachers knew it not.

We followed him as a Jewish boy into the Temple, whose glories were to become more glorious in his manhood by what he beheld therein.