The One He Loved

John 21:20 "Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them"

There are several instances in the Gospel of John where the writer describes himself as the "disciple Jesus loved". I have often thought that perhaps John was a little full of himself in stating that he was so loved by the Messiah. I sometimes thought he sounded like a young child who declares to his brothers or sisters, "Mother loves me best!" It seems so improper that a disciple of Christ, one of the important Gospel writers would get caught in this sort of one-upmanship. I have come to realize that perhaps John was conveying a different message to us, a message of the powerful love of Jesus Christ. A love so powerful it made whoever was in the presence of Christ feel as if they were the most loved person in all the world.

Last week I had the bittersweet occasion of attending a memorial service for a wonderful man of faith who died the weekend before. Reverend Tim Ryan, a retired Methodist Pastor, was not only a friend to me but also was an unofficial mentor in my candidacy for ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church, a brother in Christ in my Christian walk of faith, and a counselor who I could count on to impart wisdom and a reasonable perspective to even the most difficult situation. Tim had a way of helping me to see life issues as opportunities to encounter God's love and to bask in the glow of that love. I often came away from a meeting with Tim feeling as if I must be his best protege, his best student, his best friend. I knew he must love me more than anybody else.

Displaying that love was one of Reverend Ryan's most wonderful gifts. Whether Tim was preaching a sermon, teaching a Bible-study class, meeting with you one-on-one, or just telling one of his many stories he had a way of making people feel loved. People came away from an encounter with Tim feeling like special creations of God, which of course they are. Tim Ryan made people feel like he loved them and that God loved them. Loved them more than anyone else. He did not say "I love you the most" or "You are my favorite student" or "You are the best person in this church", Tim just made you feel that way. It was jusy one of his gifts, one of the ways God reached out to the world through the touch and words of a mortal human being.

As I looked at the crowd at the memorial service, which was a service of celebration of how Tim Ryan had touched so many lives, I felt I knew what the writer of the Gospel of John was telling us. I knew that if any of the four hundred or so attendees of that service were asked to tell a story of how Tim had touched their lives we would be there all day hearing story after story of how person after person had been blessed in knowing him. Each would tell how they felt special and loved after talking to Tim, each could relate how something he said or did got them in touch with God's love and helped them to feel closer to Christ.

The next time I read the Gospel of John and come across a part where the writer calls himself, "the disciple Jesus loved" I will know it was because Jesus had a way of making each person feel special and loved. I will no longer think the writer was being arrogant, I will know it is just the powerful witness to the effect of Christ's love in a person's life. I will know that one can not truly encounter Jesus Christ without being affected by God's love.

And that is my prayer, that each of us finds a way to make someone feel special on this day, that we impart God's love to someone else. I pray that we seek to get in touch with the gift of Christ's powerful love and become an instrument of that love for others. God used Tim Ryan to touch me, and others, with the powerful love of Jesus Christ many times. I pray that God uses me to reach out in love to others, to make someone feel like a special creation. Because that is what they are, that is what all of us are. We are, each and every one of us, special creations of God loved with the powerful love of Jesus Christ, a love that knows no bounds.

May God bless you and touch you with His powerful love today.