The Disciple That Jesus Loved

Did a Fisherman's Son Write a Gospel?

Who indeed wrote the Gospel supposedly created by John?
In fact, who wrote the Book of Revelation, or the three Letters of John?

Top-notch scholars are by no means agreed, and they have a variety of theories backed up by selected facts and erudite opinions. It seems to some of them utterly fantastic that a young fisherman from the Sea of Galilee could grow up to write the most astounding and powerful theological book (Gospel) in the realm of Christianity, then go on to write the very different and thunderous Revelation of John.

How Many John's could there possibly be? Here's a partial list.
1. An unnamed disciple of John the Baptist and friend of Andrew,
2. The young John son of Zebedee, the fisherman brother of Simon Peter,
3. The unnamed "beloved disciple" who claims to have written John's Gospel (Jn 21:24),
3. John the Evangelist, by tradition the anonymous writer of the Gospel of John,
4. The unnamed elder who wrote the three letters of John,
5. John of Patmos, who wrote Revelation in a cave on the island of Patmos,
6. At least one man known as John, who was buried in Ephesus.

As I said, various scholars have come up with good, or at least logical  reasons for separating out these individual characters. But not one of them has come up with enough data to eliminate the traditional view which asserts that all of these men are the same person, that is, the younger son of Zebedee who was a disciple of the Baptist,  then a disciple of Jesus, who wrote the Gospel of John, the three letters of John, and indeed, the Revelation of John. This is the view I support.

Last Supper Detail by Jacopo Bassano 1542

Tradition: Was John the Youngest Disciple?

Another strong tradition has been held over the ages that John was the youngest of the 12 central disciples of Jesus, and this was in part why he became "the disciple that Jesus loved." I have begun to doubt that, because of the possibility that Thaddeus may have been the youngest disciple, for reasons that I will lay out in my next blog post. In this post I'm going to examine some of the traditional portrayals of John son of Zebedee in famous paintings.

Tradition: John the Disciple of Jesus had no beard.

Let's be clear about this: Judean and Samaritan men wore beards. Romans, especially Roman soldiers, did  not. At least that is the traditional portrayal. But there's a problem with the AD 1542 painting above. John is front and center in this painting of the Last Supper, and appears to be, say, 12 to 15 years old. But by the time of the Last Supper, the disciples had been with Jesus for over three years. If John was only a 9- to 12-year-old child when he became a disciple, that would be a public scandal worthy of  being noted in the gospels.

Another Last Supper Detail

On the other hand, if he had become a disciple after his "bar Mitzvah" at age 13, there would be nothing of note in his age. Being a "son of the Law," he was considered a man and would no longer be called a child. But that would make him 16 years of age or more, and should be sprouting at least a hint of some facial hair.

Realistic Last Supper

I like the painting above, the best of the available 'last supper' renditions, as it  shows a friendlier Jesus and a John who may be sprouting the first wisps of facial hair.

John the Evangelist

There's a lot wrong with the painting above, not the least of which is the lack of a beard. John wrote his Gospel some thirty years after Jesus was crucified, so he would be about 45 years old. Since he's not living in Judea any more, is he taking on the fashions of the gentiles? I doubt that. And that heavy tome he's writing! The first Bibles, containing all the books of the Old and New Testaments, would not be produced for another 3- to 400 years. He could write his Gospel, Revelation, and Letters in that tome and have room to write it again many times.

John of Patmos

This painting is even worse. It purports to show John writing down the visions he received on Patmos. The problem is, John was at least 80 years old when he wrote his Apocalypse. And even if he had taken up beardlessness, I doubt there were shaving tools in his cave. And If I were to live in a cave, I doubt that my clothes would look so spiffy and clean.

The Beloved Disciple by Simon Vouet

Here's my favorite painting of what John may have looked like when he became a disciple of Jesus. He's still young and vulnerable, but he's beginning to question the world around him. Just in time, along comes Jesus with the answers.

Self Portrait by Simon Vouett

But on comparison of the above with the previous painting, it appears that Simon Vouett has created a depiction of John in line with Vouett's conception of his own likeness.

Cover image on Beth Moore book

This painting of John and Peter looks like it would fit well in a period about 10 years after Jesus' ascension, when it became very dangerous to be a Christian in Judea. And perhaps John has shaved his beard to go under cover as a Roman.

Beloved Disciple over-done

This is horrible. The artist has attempted to show an unwarranted and over-done depiction of the softness of Jesus' young disciple, and has ended up with an image far more female than male.

John the Teenage Disciple

And this is very good. It's not my favorite painting of John, but it places him at just the right age to participate in the Last Supper. This is the teenage Apostle John.

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