John

== John ==
=== John—The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved ===
The apostle John was a son of Zebedee and the brother of the apostle James. It seems that his mother’s name was Salome, who was possibly the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. (Matt. 10:2; 27:55, 56; Mark 15:40; Luke 5:9, 10) So John may have been a relative of Jesus. John’s family appears to have been materially prosperous. Zebedee’s fishing business was large enough to have hired men. (Mark 1:20) Salome accompanied Jesus, ministered to him when he was in Galilee, and later brought spices to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. (Mark 16:1; John 19:40) John probably had a house of his own.​—John 19:26, 27.
John was likely the disciple of John the Baptizer who was standing with Andrew when John the Baptizer looked at Jesus and said: “See, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:35, 36, 40) Following this introduction, John the son of Zebedee evidently accompanied [[Jesus] to Cana and was an eyewitness to Jesus’ first miracle. (John 2:1-11) The vividness and detail with which John describes Jesus’ subsequent activity in Jerusalem, Samaria, and Galilee suggest that the Gospel writer may also have witnessed these events. The readiness with which John​—like James, Peter, and Andrew—​abandoned his fishing nets, boat, and livelihood when called by Jesus to be his follower testifies to John’s faith.​—Matt. 4:18-22.
John does not appear as prominently as Peter does in the Gospel accounts. However, John too had a vigorous personality, as evidenced by the surname that Jesus gave to him and his brother James​—Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder.” (Mark 3:17) Initially, John was ambitious for prominence, so much so that he and his brother got their mother to ask Jesus to give her sons privileged positions in his Kingdom. While this desire was selfish, it was also evidence of their faith in the reality of the Kingdom. The brothers’ ambition gave Jesus occasion to admonish all his apostles regarding the need for humility.​—Matt. 20:20-28.
John manifested his strong character when he tried to prevent a certain man who was not a follower of Jesus from expelling demons in his name. On another occasion, John was ready to call down fire from heaven to destroy the inhabitants of a Samaritan village who were unresponsive when Jesus sent messengers to make some preparations for him. For these reactions, Jesus rebuked John. Evidently, as time went by, John developed the balance and mercy that he once seemed to lack. (Luke 9:49-56) Despite his shortcomings, however, John was “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Thus, when Jesus was about to die, he entrusted his own mother, Mary, to John’s care.​—John 19:26, 27; 21:7, 20, 24.
John outlived the other apostles, just as Jesus had prophesied that he would. (John 21:20-22) John served Jehovah faithfully for some 70 years. Toward the end of his life, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian, John was exiled to the island of Patmos “for speaking about God and bearing witness concerning Jesus.” There, in about 96 C.E., John received the visions that he recorded in the book of Revelation. (Rev. 1:1, 2, 9) Tradition has it that after his release, John went to Ephesus, where he penned the Gospel that bears his name and the letters known as 1, 2, and 3 John, and that he died in Ephesus in about 100 C.E.
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Category:John