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.