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John The Elder
Brian Mashburn
January 10, 2010
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The Elder John
The author of the little treasure known as 1 John in the Bible has become known by several titles. One of the Twelve, the disciple that Jesus loved, the disciple of love, John of Patmos, son of thunder, and John the Revelator, to name a few. But there is one title that he gives to himself that is rarely mentioned.
The elder. He identifies himself with these two simple words in both 2 and 3 John.
Perhaps we rarely mention this because it is so common in the modern church, and we are wary of attributing a common title to such a mighty Biblical character as John.
After all, John, along with Peter and his brother James, were the only ones allowed to witness the raising of Jairus’ daughter, Jesus’ prayerful suffering in the garden, and Christ’s transfiguration on the mountain. Only he and Peter were sent into town to prepare the Last Supper, and at that supper, John’s place was next to Jesus, and there he leaned on Jesus’ chest. He was the only Apostle who followed Jesus all the way to the cross, and it was John who Jesus entrusted with the care of his mom.
He was a mighty Biblical character. But let us remember that he was also a man, just like us. He sinned, he failed Jesus, he needed forgiveness to make it to Heaven, and grace to be qualified to serve in the Kingdom.
He was an elder.
In none of his three little letters does John identify himself overtly. It is almost as if he didn’t want to borrow on his authority as an Apostle, as Paul so often did, but wanted the authority of his letters to come from love.
That’s what true elders do. They love. As we will discover through this series, 1 John is written both about love and out of love, from an elder.