The Beloved Disciple?
This encounter may be more controversial, but after reading some studies and checking into it myself, it makes a lot of sense that the disciple whom Jesus loved, who wrote the fourth gospel, is actually Lazarus.
Note: A lot of my thoughts on this came from reading two books – The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved by J. Philips (tdwjl.com) and The Beloved Disciple: His Name, His Story, His Thought by Vernard Eller (http://www.hccentral.com/eller8/). Both are free to read online in the above links, but also available to buy, which I did so I could more easily highlight and keep notes. I have also followed along in my Bible to ensure that what I was reading agreed with what the Bible said – I consider myself as one of the Bereans mentioned in Acts 17:11, examining the scripture daily to see if what I learn
There are several points that I’ve gleaned from the above sources. First is that the fourth Gospel never names the author, just what we are told in John 21:20–24
20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them (who also leaned back on his chest at the dinner and said, “Lord, who is the one betraying you?”) 21 So when he saw this one, Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, but what about this one?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” 23 So this saying went out to the brothers that that disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” 24 This is the disciple who is testifying about these things, and who has written down these things. And we know that his testimony is true.
Verse 20 tells us that this is the disciple whom Jesus loved, and in verse 24 we see that he is the author of the fourth Gospel. Nowhere else are we told who wrote this Gospel. There are several theories from the early church, but I’m sticking to what the Bible tells us.
We know who wrote the fourth Gospel, but not specifically. All we know so far is that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. So are we told of any individuals whom Jesus loved? Yes, we are told that Jesus loved the world in John 3:16. We also know that Jesus loved the people that He healed and cast demons out of – why would He heal people that he hated? But there are a handful of individuals that we are told that Jesus loved. In Mark’s account of the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-22), we are told in verse 21 that Jesus loved him.
17 And as he was setting out on his way, one individual ran up and knelt down before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do so that I will inherit eternal life?” 18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all that you have, and give the proceeds* to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.” 22 But he looked gloomy at the statement and went away sorrowful, ⌊because he had⌋ many possessions.
But this young man went away sorrowful and we’re not sure who he was. One theory is that he was Mark, but nothing outright says that from what I can find. Maybe he used this method to allude to the fact that this is the moment that got him thinking and began believing in Jesus as the Messiah.
The only other instance where it is mentioned that Jesus loved a named person is in John 11:5.
5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.)
Jesus loved all 3 siblings, but the only male is Lazarus. That makes Lazarus a much better candidate for being the disciple whom Jesus loved, at least in my opinion. The books referenced above really make it even more plausible. To make it even more so, in John 11:32-36, we read that even the Jews commented on the fact of how much Jesus loved Lazarus, as evidenced by the fact that Jesus wept.
32 Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and* saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Then Jesus, when he saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled within himself. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews were saying, “See how he loved him!”
The only other time that Jesus wept was for Jerusalem as He foresaw the future destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. (Luke 19:41)
There’s a lot more to this, but this chart summarizes the logic behind the thought that Lazarus was the disciple whom Jesus loved. It was taken from the book The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved, referenced previously in this page.
Here’s a brief synopsis of what I’ve read in the aforementioned books – If John is the author, which John? Remember that John Mark is most likely the author of Mark. Lazarus was also a target by the chief priests to be killed, along with Jesus. (John 12:10)
For some reason, Lazarus may have used a pseudonym in order to evade the chief priests. In this way he would be able to write about events in the fourth gospel that the other disciples weren’t witnesses to. We know that the 12 weren’t the only disciples – for one, when Jesus was asked who was going to portray Him, Jesus responds saying it is one of the twelve (Mark 14:20). This implies that there are more than 12 disciples, even at the Last Supper. Then Peter asks the beloved disciple to ask Jesus who was going to betray Him. Why wouldn’t Peter ask Jesus directly? Most likely because the beloved disciple was closer to Jesus.
To me this is a valid theory that Lazarus had to change his name to avoid the chief priests. This also let him take care of Mary, the mother of Jesus and protect her. And since he was raised from the dead, could he ever die again? It is appointed to all men to die once. (Hebrews 9:27) If so, the account of John being placed in boiling oil without being hurt could be because of that. And I don’t think that Lazarus is still around. Two other people didn’t die in the Bible – Enoch and Elijah. So when it was time, God called Lazarus up to heaven.
Going one step further, Lazarus could have penned Revelation, as well as 1, 2, & 3 John. Most of this is covered in the two books referenced above.
I’m going to close this encounter for now. Let me know what you think!
Number of Fish: 1
Total fish: 124
153 Fish 