Reading the Gospels Together The Call of the Disciples – Part 4 We have now come to John’s story of the call of the first disciples. John’s story is strikingly different from the others. John tells his readers that the first two disciples Jesus called were Andrew and an unnamed disciple. Both of them are said to be disciples of John the Witness who had heard John say that Jesus was the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the one upon whom the Spirit had descended and remained. The second time John the Witness identifies Jesus as the lamb of God, Andrew and this unnamed disciple begin to follow Jesus who turns and asks them what they seek. They say they want to know where Jesus is dwelling. Readers of John’s gospel need to hear in their question an allusion to John’s theological statement that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus tells the two to “come and see” which they apparently do and Andrew rushes out to find his brother Peter to tell him that they have found the Messiah. Andrew brings Peter to Jesus and in the process John implies that Peter too become a disciple of Jesus. Whether or not Peter had also been a disciple of John the Witness is ambiguous. At any rate John tells his readers that the first followers of Jesus were once followers of John the Witness and that all of this takes place in Judea near the Jordan River. John then tells his readers that Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and the implication from the way the rest of the story unfolds, at least Andrew and Peter go with him. Whether or not the unnamed disciple also goes to Galilee is ambiguous. If the unnamed disciple is the Beloved Disciple who will show up later in John’s gospel, that Beloved Disciple is only mention in connection with Jerusalem and Judea until the very last chapter of John’s gospel. When Jesus arrives in Galilee he finds and calls another disciple named Philip who in turn finds another named Nathaniel. The call stories of Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathaniel are very much alike. Disciples reach out to call others and bring them to Jesus. Witnessing is a major function of any disciple. If we pause for a moment and think about what Mark, Matthew, and Luke have told us there are a couple of major problems to confront. First of all, Peter and Andrew cannot have been called both in Galilee and in Judea near the Jordan River. If we throw Luke into the picture we actually have three versions of Peter’s call – on the shore mending his nets (Mark and Matthew), out in a boat catching fish (Luke), and in Judea near the Jordan River (John). We are presented with an irreconcilable difference here. We need to remember; however, that our goal is not to solve this as if it were a problem, but to ponder why each gospel writer told the story as they did. We have already talked about Mark and Matthew and how Luke modified Mark’s story. Why might John have told the story placing Peter and Andrew in Judea and likely being first disciples of John the Witness? It seems John wants to address the relationship between Jesus and John the Witness in his gospel and the clear message he wants his readers to hear is that Jesus is prominent. John knows this and testifies to it. And John encourages his disciples to leave him and follow Jesus! What better way to emphasize that than to have the most prominent disciples of all, Peter, make exactly that move! The second issue we might ponder is the mention of names. John does not create a list of Jesus’ disciples as the others do. But he does mention some disciples by name – and one mysterious one who remains unnamed and yet is known as the Beloved Disciple. John names a disciple called Nathaniel. The other gospel writers are completely unaware of Nathaniel. There are some who want to argue that they just know him be another name but that is to make the gospel writers say something they never say. The reason Mark, Matthew, and Luke name followers of Jesus is to establish the inner circle of The Twelve. John is aware of The Twelve too but he makes nothing of it. In the theological explanation of the multiplication of the bread, John tells the story of how Jesus’ words lead many to abandon him. So Jesus turns to “The Twelve” and asks them if they too want to leave. Peter, speaking on their behalf confesses that Jesus has the words of eternal life and there is no one else to whom they can go. It is in this connection only that John speaks of “The Twelve” and yet he makes little of them. John never creates a list of the Twelve and he does not tell the story of Jesus selecting them. Yet, it is very important that John mentions the Twelve in his gospel. His mention of them makes it almost certain that Jesus actually did establish this inner core of Apostles! Reading the gospels together often helps us to verify the reality of another gospel through the “off-handed” reference in a gospel in which what may be at question come up. We have seen that twice in a short time. John verifies the ministry of Jesus at Capernaum which is so prominent in the synoptic gospels even though John tells his readers absolutely nothing about that ministry in Capernaum. And here John verifies “The Twelve” which have a prominent role in the synoptic gospels even though they have little or no role in John’s. This is one of the great values of reading the gospels together. We have mentioned the existence of another unnamed disciple who is called at the beginning of John’s gospel. The identity of that disciple has remained a mystery and will continue to do so. But John does mention another unnamed disciple later on in his gospel who he will now call the Beloved Disciple. This disciple shows up in Jerusalem during the last meal that Jesus shares with his disciples before his death. This Beloved Disciple plays a prominent role in the remainder of John’s gospel. Whether or not the unnamed disciple from the beginning of John’s gospel and the Beloved Disciple are the same person is ambiguous. A case can be made for either alternative. It is my judgment that they are the same person. John mentions one other disciple by name – Joseph of Arimethea. He is the man who provides for Jesus’ burial along with Nicodemus who is not specifically called a disciple by John but can perhaps be thought of as one by implication. John tells us specifically; however, that Joseph of Arimathea is a disciple – though he is a secret one because of his fear of the Jews. Mark, Matthew, and Luke also know Joseph of Arimathea. They know him as a respected member of the council – a religious leader – but they do not identify him as a disciple even though he takes the same positive action in all four gospels by providing for the burial of Jesus. The last time John mentions disciples by name is in the last chapter of his gospel. The story is of a resurrection appearance of Jesus. The location of the appearance is at the Sea of Galilee at an unspecified time following the resurrection of Jesus and his two resurrection appearances to the disciples in Jerusalem. Peter has decided to return to fishing. Others have joined him. John names seven disciples – Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, the sons of Zebedee, and two other unnamed disciples. Though John does not named them we can assume that he is indicating that James and John are the two sons of Zebedee who are present. A bit later John reveals to us that one of the unnamed disciples is in fact the Beloved Disciple. Of course an argument can be made that the Beloved Disciple is one of the unnamed sons of Zebedee. This is the traditional understanding and became prominent in the early church. It is the one place where an argument could be made that either James or John is the Beloved Disciple and the early church settled on John. But, as one reads that gospel of John carefully, the argument becomes incredibly weak. The Beloved Disciple is said to be a friend of the high priest. Could John have been such a person? John is clearly associated with Galilee and known as a fisherman. Yet, the Beloved Disciple never shows up in Galilee and is known only in Jerusalem and Judea in John’s gospel. The one exception to that is here where he is along with the others at the Sea of Galilee, but that is very weak evidence that he should be associated with the Galilean ministry. The evidence is far stronger that the Beloved Disciple is not one of the sons of Zebedee. That is the conclusion that I have come to. As we begin to compare this list with the lists of the synoptic gospel writers we note that there are four names in common – Peter, Thomas, and the sons of Zebedee (James and John). Only John knows of a disciple named Nathaniel and we have met him earlier at the beginning of John’s gospel. The other three gospel writers do not mention Nathaniel. And then there are the two unnamed disciples. We have already established that one of them is the Beloved Disciple and the remaining one must remain unknown. What are we to make of this? For one thing this is further evidence that “The Twelve” were of little importance to John. Nathaniel apparently was not one of them. Apparently neither was the Beloved Disciple. Of course this does have impact on the story of the last meal which we will look at later. The clear implication in the synoptic gospels is that it was the Twelve who gathered for that meal. We will not be able to reconcile these two differing versions. But, as we will see there will be larger issues to deal with at that time. We can wait to sort all that out when we get to hearing all four gospel writers tell their story of the last meal. The importance of John’s story of the disciples gathering at the Sea of Galilee is to do two things. First, as mentioned earlier, this story is really about the “recalling” of Peter. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Here Jesus calls Peter three times to a return to discipleship. And Peter responds by following Jesus. It is very important that we remember that Luke used this very same story in telling about the initial call of Peter. The story of the great catch of fish is a call story in both the gospel of Luke and the gospel of John. Though each one uses the story in a different context they agree that in some way Peter was called through a great catch of fish. Once again reading the gospels together helps to see both the possibility of a story reflecting at least in some way the reality of what happened and also how creatively respective gospel writers use a story. We need not worry about the context and the apparent contradiction between Luke and John. We can rather marvel at the skill each used in taking a story from the tradition available each of them and letting it help them proclaim the gospel. The final thing that this story in John’s gospel does is speak about the destiny of the Beloved Disciple. Apparently a belief had grown in some circles that the Beloved Disciple would not die until Jesus returned at the end of time. Also from what we read in this last chapter of John, apparently the Beloved Disciple has now died. And the writer of John’s gospel – a gospel that claims to be based on the testimony of the Beloved Disciple – ends his gospel by dispelling the rumor that the Beloved Disciple would not die. We have looked at how all four gospel writers view the calling of the disciples. We have noticed some great differences among them. Our task is not to reconcile those differences but to learn from them how each gospel writer used the stories to further their message and to proclaim the gospel that was their main concern. We have gained much in our encounter of reading the gospels together. We can build on those gains as we move forward.