Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter Mass in the Morning

Lectionary: 302

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.
 

On this penultimate day of the Easter season, our lectionary brings us to the last sentences of the Acts of the Apostles and Saint John's Gospel.

The gospel gives us clues to the identity of the anonymous disciple who "testifies to these things." Traditionally, we know him as Saint John, one of the twelve; and we imagine him as the youngest of the apostles. In Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, he is the beardless youth on Jesus's right hand, hearing Peter's whisper, "Who is the betrayer?" 

I believe -- and this is my own pet theory -- that this "beloved disciple" plays a role similar to that of Horatio in Shakespeare's Hamlet. As a fellow student and close friend, Horatio appears early in the play, and often with Hamlet. He sees and hears everything, and is the only major character to survive the play because he must tell the story. Likewise, we can suppose, the anonymous disciple first appears as a disciple of Saint John the Baptist and silent companion of Andrew. As an eyewitness of the life and career of Jesus, he survives to write the Fourth Gospel. 

But John is also you and me. He sees and believes that Jesus has been raised from the dead even when the only evidence is an empty tomb. Travelling with Jesus from the first chapter like you and me, he knows and accepts the testimony of John the Baptist; he obeys the unnamed Mother when she says, "Do whatever he tells you." 

He is also like Horatio, you and me when he survives to tell the story. Or, to use the gospel expression, he testifies to these things. He is clearly still alive as the Gospel text goes to the copyists and is distributed to the churches. That's also why Saint Paul, now a prisoner in Rome, survives the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. That's what we do.

This is always our mission. Many people have not survived, not because they're dead but because they were scandalized at what happened to Jesus. The nameless disciple is given his identity and mission, "the one whom Jesus loved, at the critical moment, when Jesus declares, "“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

Many enthusiastic people belong to families and claim membership in groups; they don't hesitate to make sacrifices for others. They lend freely, go the extra mile, and give the shirts off their backs -- until they're betrayed. And then they quit, often with great anger and threats of reprisal. 

The beloved remain despite all the betrayals our long history can name, plus those we have personally suffered, because the Holy Spirit remains in us. We endured the scandal with all its anger, resentment, and bitterness but found that the Spirit of gratitude, hope, faith, and joy remained with us. We saw dear friends and members of our own families quit -- but we stayed. Nor could we explain why. 

We asked with, "Judas, not the Iscariot, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” And we heard his reply, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him."

That's it; that's all we know. And so we go on to witness 

"...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."