The Apostle of Love: What does Saint John the Theologian teach us?

The Apostle John lovingly calls a lost disciple to repentance. Photo: UOJ

When speaking of saints, we often focus on how closely they lived in accordance with the Gospel ideal. Yet the life of the Apostle John the Theologian, who was granted the title Apostle of Love, itself became the most eloquent Gospel for his contemporaries.

Everything he said and did was a living and convincing sermon of Christian Truth.

He learned the three main traits of a true disciple of Christ: he knew how to listen, how to contemplate, and how to love.

The one who listens and contemplates

The path of the Apostle John began with listening. Hearing the call of the Savior on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he immediately left his fishing nets and, together with his brother James, followed the Divine Teacher. He listened to every word, every teaching, every parable of Christ. Nothing in the Lord’s speech was unimportant to him. He trusted Him completely and believed without a shadow of doubt that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

For this faithfulness and purity of heart, the Lord made him not only a hearer but also a beholder of His divine glory.

Together with Peter and James, John became a witness of the wondrous Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. He was near the Teacher during His solitary prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, moments before His arrest.

Finally, it was he – the beloved disciple – who, at the Last Supper, reclined on the breast of the Savior, listening with particular reverence to His final commandment on the Holy Eucharist, unable to believe that one of the apostles would betray Him.

The preacher of Divine Love

But the foremost quality of the first theologian, of course, was love.

It is impossible to be a Christian – and especially a theologian – without knowing how to love.

By listening to the Word of the Lord, a truly faithful person fills the soul with love. “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16) – these words, which perfectly express the essence of God’s nature, belong to the Apostle John.

His own love for Christ became so perfect that he, unafraid of persecution, was the only apostle to stand by the crucified Teacher at the Cross. In response to this boundless devotion, the Savior rewarded him by entrusting to his care His grieving Mother.

All of John’s subsequent Gospel preaching was built upon love – love for God and for man, whoever he might be: a saintly righteous one or a fallen sinner.

His heart had room for everyone who needed help and guidance. Every human soul was precious to him. Saint Clement of Alexandria recounts how once the Apostle converted a young man and entrusted him to the care of a local bishop. But the bishop neglected his duty, and the youth became a drunkard, a thief, and the leader of a band of robbers.

When John the Theologian returned, he went to search for the lost one. Finding the robbers’ hideout in the mountains, he saw the young man, who, recognizing his teacher, fled in shame. Despite his old age, John ran after him, crying out: “My son! Why do you flee from me, your father? Do not despair – there is still hope for salvation. I will answer for you before Christ!” These words of love touched the heart of the fallen sinner. The young man stopped, fell at the apostle’s feet in repentance, and John, with fatherly tenderness, brought him back to the Church, “rejoicing that he had found the lost sheep.”

A fading virtue – and our response

Sadly, love has become a fading virtue today. People attach many meanings to it, yet rarely the one that Christ and His faithful disciple intended. Love is often confused with passion, infatuation, or mere physical attraction – but these are only imitations, not love in its true, divine sense.

So what is genuine love?

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), the Apostle John conveys to us the words of Christ.

He does not demand that everyone literally die for others, but he teaches us to treat one another with compassion, sacrificing our time, strength, and comfort for the active good of our neighbor.

Let us always strive to follow this commandment. We can draw near to God – and lead others to Him – only when we learn to love. To love selflessly, as the Apostle John loved, and as Christ Himself commanded, saying: “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

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