NLT Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition - Flipbook - Page 57
page 1831
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J ohn 1 3
20I tell you the truth, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone
13:20
Matt 10:40
Luke 10:16
who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me.”
Jesus and the Disciples Share the Last Supper
(211/Matthew 26:20-30; Mark 14:17-26; Luke 22:14-30)
21Now
13:23
John 19:26
13:25
John 21:20
13:27
Luke 22:3
John 13:2
13:29
John 12:6
Jesus was deeply troubled,* and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you
will betray me!”
22The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. 23The disciple
Jesus loved was sitting next to J esus at the table.* 24Simon Peter motioned to him to ask,
“Who’s he talking about?” 25So that disciple leaned over to J esus and asked, “Lord, who
is it?”
26Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when
he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. 27When Judas had eaten the
bread, Satan entered into him. Then J esus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to
do.” 28None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. 29Since Judas was their
13:21 Greek was troubled in his spirit.
13:23 Greek was reclining on Jesus’ bosom. The “disciple Jesus loved” was
probably John.
BEING LOVED is the most powerful motivation in the
world! Our ability to love is often shaped by our experience
of love. We usually love others as we have been loved.
Some of the greatest statements about God’s loving nature were written by a man who experienced God’s love in a unique way. Jesus’ disciple John
expressed his relationship with the Son of God by calling himself “the disciple Jesus loved” (John
21:20). Although Jesus’ love is clearly communicated in all the Gospels, in John’s Gospel it is a
central theme. Because his own experience of Jesus’ love was so strong and personal, John was
sensitive to the words and actions of Jesus that illustrated how the one who is love loved others.
Jesus knew John fully and loved him fully. He gave John and his brother James the nickname
“Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17), perhaps from an occasion when the brothers asked Jesus for permission to “call down fire from heaven” on a village that had refused to welcome Jesus and the
disciples (Luke 9:54). In John’s Gospel and letters, we see the great God of love, while the thunder
of God’s justice bursts from the pages of Revelation.
Jesus confronts each of us as he confronted John. We cannot know the depth of Jesus’ love
unless we are willing to face the fact that he knows us completely. Otherwise we are fooled into
believing he must love the people we pretend to be, not the sinners we actually are. John and all
the disciples convince us that God is able and willing to accept us as we are. Being aware of God’s
love is a great motivator for change. His love is not given in exchange for our efforts; his love frees
us to really live for him. Have you accepted that love?
John (Jesus’ Disciple)
Strengths and
accomplishments:
• One of John the Baptist’s disciples before following Jesus
• Wrote five New Testament books: the Gospel of John; 1, 2, and 3 John; and Revelation
Weaknesses
and mistakes:
• Along with James, shared a tendency to have outbursts of selfishness and anger
• Along with James, asked for a special position in Jesus’ Kingdom
Notable fact:
• One of the 12 disciples and, with Peter and James, one of the inner three who were closest
to Jesus
Lessons from
his life:
• Those who realize how much they are loved are able to love much.
• When God changes a life, he does not take away personality characteristics but puts them
to effective use in his service.
Vital statistics:
• Where: Galilee
• Occupations: Fisherman, disciple
• Relatives: Father: Zebedee. Mother: Salome. Brother: James.
• Contemporaries: Jesus, Pilate, Herod Antipas, the other disciples
Key verses:
“Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you
have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the
same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is
already shining.” (1 John 2:7-8)
John’s story is told throughout the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation. His writings include the Gospel of John; 1, 2, and 3 John; and
Revelation.
