Matthew 15:16 (Amp)
“One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.”
John 13:23
In John Mac Arthur’s book Twelve Ordinary Men, he says that Jesus “chose to work through the instrumentality of those few fallible individuals rather than advance His agenda through mob force, military might, personal popularity, or a public – relations campaign.” Jesus was not about using strategies to enlarge His group of followers. He did not use marketing techniques. He preached the truth, confronted the religious establishment, and focused on transforming individual lives.
The most amazing part of His strategy is that not only did He use twelve disciples who were not perfect, at times, they were difficult to tolerate. In Luke 8, the disciples wake up Jesus who is sleeping through the storm because they think they are going to drown. Jesus rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and the storm subsides. Then He asked them disappointedly, “Where is your faith?” In Luke 9, when Jesus comes down from the Mountain of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, the other nine disciples cannot cast the demon out of the boy – even though they had cast out evil spirits previously. Jesus said, “O unbelieving and perverse generation. How long shall I stay with you and put up with you?” Also in Luke 9, the disciples argued about who would be the greatest. Jesus tells them that whoever is the least will be the greatest. In Matthew 15 when the disciples do not understand the parable, Jesus asked them, “Are you still so dull?” In John 14, on Jesus’ last night with them, Philip asked Him to show them the Father and that would be enough. Jesus answered him, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
They were slow learners. They could be spiritually dense. They made mistakes. Their faith failed. They may have frustrated Him and abandoned Him when He needed them the most, but they were His disciples. And He loved them. They knew it. Above all other emotions, the prevailing one Jesus demonstrated to them was love.
The disciple John refers to himself by a title which underscores Jesus’ prevailing attitude toward this group of frustrating men. He repeatedly calls himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, John 20:2, John 21:7, John 21:20).
In a recently released movie, a man is recounting the love story of two young people to a lovely woman with Alzheimer’s disease in a nursing home where they live. The man is her husband telling her the story of how they fell in love. Every day, he tells it to her in the hope that she will remember him for a few moments. The majority of the movie is scenes from their youth when they fell in love. However, by the end of the movie, the interesting part of the story is no longer the couple in their youth but the couple at the end of their days. The love of the elderly couple had built a life together, endured time, survived hardships, and the loss of physical and mental abilities. While the circumstances of their physical life had worsened, their love for each other had grown even deeper. The love between a man and a woman can be different from God’s love in some ways. In other ways, it gives us a picture of God’s heart for us and our response to His love. Usually, the love in movies is a dream. No person can love another like that! However, God can. He can love us better than our dreams.
John was taught much about love. He changed from one fighting to be the greatest to one who talked repeatedly about Jesus’ love and loving each other. Decades after Jesus left, John still identified himself in his writings by the description meaning the most to him throughout his life - “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” This love grew deep roots and invaded his entire being. This love endured time. This love deepened through the hardships. This love built a life together. This love defined who he had become.
Oh, precious one, do we really understand Jesus loves us this deeply, too? He wants His love and our love in return to grow deep roots. He wants this love between Him and you and between Him and me to invade our entire being. This love should sustain us through hardships. This love should build a life together. This love should define who I am and who you are. Does it? Has it invaded you? Is it shaping who you are becoming? Oh, how I pray that we let this love shape every part of our being.
Pray with me: Almighty God, thank You for loving us so much! We know that we can be frustrating at times. We know we can be slow, dull, and faithless. Thank You for being patient with us. Thank You for loving us more than we can imagine. May this love build a life together with You, define who we are, and last a lifetime. It’s in the Name above all names, in Jesus’ Name, Yeshua’s Name, we pray. Amen.
Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study
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