John, A Son of Thunder

He was the last one.

He had been there at the beginning, when all was new and amazing.  He and his brother had quit the family business and followed.  He could still recall the throngs of humanity seemingly everywhere they went, crying out, reaching out.  When he closed his eyes, he could still picture his friends around the fire, laughing as each new day brought forth even more amazing  experiences.  Even now, all these many years later, he would just shake his head in wonder when people would ask him to describe all that he seen....It would take volumes of books to recount all the wonders he had witnessed...But he was the last one...

He could picture all of their faces, including his own brother, reflected in the dancing firelight as Jesus taught, his eyes bright and his voice strong.  In many ways, it seemed as if it were just yesterday that they ate together, traveled together...  In some ways, it seemed an eternity since he had watched his friend die horribly on that hill.  He had kept his word.  He had taken care of Mary, treated her as if she was his own mother.  He remembered vividly the shock, the indescribable emotions he felt three days later..Joy, confusion, excitement, amazement, all and more as his beloved friend stood before them, alive!...He was there at the beginning...

He had been there at the beginning, when all was new and amazing.  He had stood next to Peter as he preached, transfixed as his friend held thousands captivated by the words he spoke...But Peter was dead, crucified upside down.  He remembered the intensity of Paul, the questions he asked, the long discussions deep into the night.  He had witnessed Paul tirelessly spreading the word, leading thousands and thousands into The Way...But Paul was dead, beheaded for his efforts...  His brother, James,  had been the first to die, but then, one by one, they had all been killed.  He was the last one.

He had seen the rise and fall of the politicians, the rulers, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero...He had watched as each one had rose to power only to fall, despite their claims of divinity.  But he still lived.  He had seen his kinsmen abused and discriminated beneath the weight of an unjust and oppressive government.  The Temple where his family had worshiped as a child, he could still picture its grandeur....It was gone, destroyed, and he knew in his heart his people would never again offer worship in that amazing and beautiful place. He heard daily the accounts of  followers of The Way being persecuted, killed for their faith.  From his home in Ephesus, he offered encouragement to those families mourning terrible loss.

He remembered Jesus telling them that He would return, but he had not returned yet...And so they were asking him to write it all down before he was gone also, to add his voice to those who had written it down before him, friends he remembered fondly, but whose voices lived on only in their writings.

But where so you begin?  How do you describe the indescribable? How do you tell people that the amazing was not the miracles but The Man?!..How can he describe what it was like to watch Him interact with the broken, the hurting?  How can you communicate how He made the self righteous cower beneath His words?..What do you say regarding your friend who you loved with all your heart?..But he was the last..

And so he took up his quill, and thought, and prayed, and the old man began to write with a trembling hand.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it....
 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth...."




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