Have I written on this before? Probably. But every time I run into that expression in John's gospel I stop and think about it again.
I spoke at an old folk's home this past Sunday. I really cannot call it a sermon, I ran through John 20-21 as stories and added one comment on each passage.
But before I started I mused about that expression which occurs at the beginning of John 20. Peter and "the disciple whom Jesus loved" ran to the tomb.
Why did John write it like that? It is a sort of word puzzle isn't it? And John never reveals the answer. Who is John referring to here? Everyone thinks he is referring to himself. I think so too. But why does John use this wording? Why doesn't he simply say "John and I". In Acts, when author Luke is a part of the picture he uses "we".
Is it modesty on John's part? But if anything it draws more attention to himself. I think it is a sort of inside joke. Everyone who reads it will wonder, is he comparing himself to me? Other disciples might say that. We might say that. But a careful reading makes it clear he is most certainly NOT saying that. And in playing that little mental game we conclude Jesus loves me too, not just John and not John more than me. John never implies that. But it makes us think.
John meant it at least in these two ways, it's a puzzle. Not a hard puzzle but and interesting puzzle. And John meant it as a sort of inside joke. I still get a chuckle sometimes when I read his convoluted way of describing himself.
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Re: "the disciple whom Jesus loved"… It is a sort of word puzzle isn't it?
Rightly you have discerned. But as the saying goes, one has to take off their own shoes before they can take a walk in someone else's moccasins, and similarly one may have to set aside their presuppositions in order to see the truth that is hidden in plain sight in the text of scripture. And that is what prevents you from seeing the solution to the puzzle that you have mentioned.
TheFourthGospel.com has a free Bible study eBook that compares scripture with scripture in order to highlight the facts in the plain text of scripture that are usually overlooked about the “other disciple, whom Jesus loved”. You may want to weigh the testimony of scripture that the study cites regarding the one whom “Jesus loved” and may find it to be helpful as it encourages bible students to take seriously the admonition “prove all things”.
Re: Is it modesty on John's part?
Are we to assume that a writer was not humble if he repeatedly identified himself by name, such as John did five times in the Book of Revelation? Not.
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