"What About Him?"

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

From John 21:20 today we read, Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”

Who is this disciple whom Jesus loved? He remains nameless but if we examine the four Gospels, we find that this terminology is used not by Mark nor Matthew nor Luke. St. John is the only one who does so on five separate occasions (John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7 and 21:20). When I first started pondering this, I thought of John as being egotistical, but then I could see how difficult it was for him to write about himself. I couldn’t fathom why Jesus who I thought loved us equally would have a favorite or two, but then I could see the human side of him revealed. It revealed to me how at times I’ve favored one of my three sons just a tad more than the others – maybe because of one’s misfortune in landing a good paying job over the others or maybe because of one behaving much better that the others.

It took a Cistercian monk, who lived way back in the 1100’s to open my eyes as he commented about Spiritual Friendship and how in Peter and John there was unity in diversity. Saint Aelred of Rielvaux points out that there are some people who think they are not loved because they cannot be promoted, and think that they are despised because they aren’t entrusted with responsibilities. I’ve seen many friendships come to an end because of one person getting promoted or selected over another.

St. Aelred points out that to Peter Jesus entrusted the leadership of the church and to the disciple whom He loved (John) he entrusted His mother. To Peter he gave the keys of his kingdom; to John he revealed the secrets of his heart.

Peter & John running to the tomb

Jesus knew and put to use the most important quality of each man, much like He does with us. He knew Peter was more of a doer, while John was one reserved for love.

The question uttered by Peter in today’s Gospel, “What about him?” is one that I imagine any parent that has more than one child has heard a number of times.  I heard this question not only at home but also in my job as a supervisor and manager of a small group of people. There is always someone challenging your judgment or decision making process especially when he is perceived to have been treated not the same as the others. It’s good to see this side of Jesus and makes me realize that he did experience more in three years of his public ministry than we will in a lifetime.

I wonder if it will stop some of us from questioning or complaining about the injustices we perceive to be foisted on us.

“How Come?”

“Why?”

“Why me?”

“What about him?”