Now we may just glance at what John’s character was by nature, or before he was a Christian; and what it was by grace, or after he became a Christian.
From what we read of this apostle in the gospel history, we see that there were three things in John’s natural character which show that he was not the weak, womanly sort of man he is represented to have been in most of the pictures that have been made of him.
For one thing, it is clear that John was naturally an ambitious man. This is evident from the request to Jesus by John and his brother James, through their mother, that they might have the highest places in his kingdom. St. Matt. xx: 20-23. Their mother made the request. But she probably consulted them about it first. And if they had not agreed in it, she would not be likely to have done it. This shows that they were all ambitious together. And so we are right in saying that John was ambitious. He wanted the best place in Christ’s kingdom for himself, without thinking whether others might not be better fitted for it. Our Saviour’s reply shows that he was wrong in giving way to this ambitious feeling. But then this shows that there was a good deal of strength in John’s natural character. He was ambitious.
And then he was narrow-minded, as well as ambitious in his natural character.
Persons of this character are accustomed to think that all those who think, or feel, or act differently from what they do, must certainly be wrong. And this was the way John felt when he first became a disciple of Christ. He came to Jesus one day and said, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not us.” Jesus rebuked him for giving way to his narrow-mindedness, or bigotry, or uncharitableness. It was wrong for him to think that no one could be doing good, or be serving God acceptably, unless it was done in just the same way in which he was doing it. This was a wrong feeling to have, but it shows there was a good deal of decision and strength about John’s natural character.
And then another thing about John before he became a Christian, was that he was an angry, or passionate man. As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem on one occasion, in the company of his disciples, they came to a Samaritan village.
When the Samaritans in the village found that he was going to Jerusalem, it stirred up all their prejudice against the Jews, and they refused to receive him. They would not let him stop for rest or refreshment. This made the disciples very angry, and John and his brother James showed their anger by saying, “Lord, wilt thou that we call down fire from heaven, to consume them, as Elias did?” St. Luke ix: 51-57. But Jesus rebuked them, and showed them that this was not the right spirit for his disciples to have.
These traits of John’s natural character, although they are not to be approved or admired, yet show that he was a man of a good deal of force of character, and very different from what his pictures represent him to have been. But when we turn from considering what he was by nature, or before he became a Christian, and think of what he was by grace, or after he became a Christian, we see a wonderful change. The apostle Paul tells us, “that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things have become new.” And it was so with this apostle. When he learned to know and love Christ, the old things about his character passed away, and all things became new. After this we see no more of his ambition, of his narrow-mindedness, or of his passion.
The one thing that marked his character as a Christian was love. He seemed to get nearer to Jesus than any of the other disciples. And it is always the case, that the nearer we get to Jesus and the more we learn to know him, the more we shall love him. John’s love to Christ seemed to take entire possession of him. It filled his whole soul. And so we think of him as the apostle of love. He is spoken of particularly as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” It was he who sat nearest to his Lord and leaned on his bosom at the last Passover. Peter was great for his readiness in serving Christ; Paul was great for the learning and the labor with which he served his Master; but John was great in the love for that Master, which ran through all he did. And this great love made him useful both in his life and in his writings.
It made him useful in his life. There is nothing that will lead to such earnest and devoted labor as this principle of love. We know but little of the life of this loving apostle after the ascension of Christ. We have no report of his missionary journeys, as we have in the case of the apostles Peter and Paul. But we know he was so earnest in the cause of his Master that he was sent a prisoner to the island of Patmos to stop his labor, but in vain. He was willing to be an exile, a prisoner, and, as some say, a laborer in the mines, but he was not willing to give up working for his Master. Tradition tells us that he had to take his choice between stopping his work for Jesus and being thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil. He could not cease from his work. He was thrown into the boiling oil; but came out uninjured and kept on with that work which his love constrained him to do. He lived the longest of all the apostles, and was the only one of them who died a natural death. And in the closing days of his life, when too feeble to do anything else, we are told that he used to be carried into the church at Ephesus, where his latest labors had been performed, and, standing up in the midst of the congregation, would stretch forth his trembling hands and say, “Little children, love one another.” What a beautiful close to the life of this loving apostle! Truly his love made him useful in his life.