Let us pray.  Thank you, God, for St. John. Amen.

December 27^th is the Festival of St. John the Evangelist. And for me it is Christmas Extended. Even though John is never mentioned in the Christmas narratives, the journey to Bethlehem, the shepherds and the appearance of angels, He is what Christmas is all about. The Christmas story is about John.

Many people will remember that John had an older brother named James. Many will also remember that they were fishermen, business partners with Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew.

In his Gospel John tells us that John the Baptist was with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus approaching and John the Baptist said to those two disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world."  The two disciples went over to talk to Jesus and Jesus invited them to come and dine with him.  They spent the day with Jesus, asking questions.

What is interesting is that John identifies only one of those disciples.  He tells us it was Andrew.  He does not identify the other disciple.  Why not?

In his Gospel the apostle John never refers to himself by name. He writes about the disciple whom Jesus loved at the Last Supper and the younger disciple who outran Peter to get to the tomb of Jesus on Easter Sunday.   It is a very sound assumption that John is referring to himself and therefore he that disciple of John the Baptist who with his fishing partner, Andrew, was the first of the twelve disciples to meet Jesus.  But his humility that will not let him put his name in print.

But John did not always have that humility.

Mark tells us in his Gospel that Jesus nicknamed John and his older brother James, the brothers Boanerges.  Boanerges is an Aramaic word and it means "Sons of Thunder," a term used to describe anyone with a big ego and a hot temper, a compulsive person who spoke without thinking, emotionally and passionately, but without substance.  We would say that such a person was full of hot air.

But Mark is just a secretary, writing down what another apostle, Simon Peter, dictated to him. And Peter could remember day when James and John accompanied by their mother asked Jesus in front of the other disciples if James and John could have the highest places of honor when the Kingdom of God would come in its fullness.  Talk about arrogance!  They were saying in front of the other disciples,  "We are better, smarter, and naturally more deserving of honor than these other airheads."

And we've all met people like that.  I remember one of the basketball players on our college team who at the end of the game bragged about how many points he had scored, how many rebounds he had made, how well he had made certain plays, and in fact how he had won the game.  If we lost a game he would tell the other players how poorly they played and how if they had done things right, they would have given him the ball more often. 

"When are you going to learn how to play basketball?" he would ask the rest of the team.

The team responded one night during a game that we were losing.  Our Superman was at the center position.  The guard fed him the ball and at that moment all the other four players stood back to let him handle the game by himself. He missed his shot but picked up the rebound.  But there was no one there to help him. The other players just stood there nonchalantly watching him.

It taught the man humility.

When Peter through Mark calls John Boanerges, he is remembering that Jesus changed John's life by changing John's heart.

It did not happen all at once.  Luke tells us that John accompanied Jesus as they were travelling through Samaria to get to Jerusalem.  The Samaritans were offended that Jesus was just passing through and that he was not going to spend a lot of time with them. They thought that Jesus was rude and they responded by being rude to him.

That offended John.  His reasoning was that the Samaritans ought to be thankful for whatever they got.  John had just a tinge of racial bigotry about him. And his solution was to tell Jesus that he would be willing to pray for fire and brimstone to fall on the Samaritans to wipe them out.  Jesus asked John when he was going to learn that Jesus came into the world to save the world, not to condemn it.

In the Book of Acts some marvelous things are disclosed about John. For instance, he was with

Peter, old fishing partner Peter, at the Temple when a man crippled from birth begged cins from them. Peter said to the cripple, "Gold and silver have I none, but that which I have I give to you. In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk." And he not only rose up and walked. He leaped. He ran.

What did that have to do with John?

When the authorities told Peter and John not to speak about Jesus, John replied that people have a choice to make.  They can be for Jesus or they can be against Jesus. And he told them that his choice was to keep on talking abut Jesus. There was no whip, prison, cross, or threat that could stop him from talking about Jesus.  

Please note that he did not call fire and brimstone upon them.

In fact, when the Gospel of Jesus took root in the hearts of the people in Samaria after the resurrection and ascension of our Lord, the people of Samaria needed help. They did not know about the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It was John who volunteered to go to the Samaritans. Quite a change from a man who wanted fire and brimstone to fall on the same people!

Now I have to stop there for just a moment and make a side comment.  

We read often that Peter, James, and John were the inner circle with Jesus. They were on the mountain with him when he revealed his glory and they heard God's voice say, "This is my beloved son, listen to Him." They were the three he requested to be close to him in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his death.  They were the three who went inside the house of Jairus when Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead to the sound of mockery and laughter from those outside. They were the three whom Jesus asked to prepare the Passover service.  Jesus entrusted to them the greatest challenges and the deepest insights into His person and ministry.  

That tells me something about God's grace.  It is what John means when he writes that God is love.

Grace is given to people not because they are good or perfect or more intelligent and better looking than anyone else is or because they are more able to do things.. Grace is given because God is love. And in his love he works with those who are arrogant enough to think they are better, those who are stupid enough to think they are more intelligent, those who are dumb enough to think they are prettier, and those who are obnoxious enough to think they have better abilities.

In short, He give his grace to the very people who irritate us and he gives his grace to people us.  He gives his grace to those who are sophisticated and also to those who think they are sophisticated. He gives his grace to those who have rough edges and use rough language. He gives grace to the uncouth and the cultured. He gives grace to those who hide their sin and he gives grace to those who may brag about what they get away with.   He gives grace to the sinners who try to be saints and the saints who wish they could be more like the sinners.  

Jesus enters into John's world and our world.  John calls Him, the Word made flesh.  He is God who came to dwell among us so that we could behold God's glory.  John's words are famous. God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son. Each one of us needs him. Each one of us needs his salvation.

It is John alone who records the words of Jesus, "Whoever comes to me, I will in no wise cast out."

It is John alone who tells us the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples and reminding them that  if their Lord and Master is willing to wash their feet, there isn't a foot in the world that they are too good to wash.  

After Salvation has been granted by the grace of God through faith, Christianity is a matter of grabbing a towel and getting busy.

From arrogance to humility, from egotistical self worship to willing service, that is the journey of John as he walks with Jesus.  He has his great days when he sees so clearly what Jesus is about and he has his days when Jesus had to just shake his head.

But John learned by watching Jesus and following Jesus.  He learned it at the foot of the Cross when Jesus commended his own mother into John's care.  He learned that the only requirement for being a follower is the desire to love, without reservation, any and all that God puts in your path… just as Jesus does.

If you have that desire, no matter who you are, Jesus will take care of the rest.  Perhaps that is why John never refers to himself in His Gospel. Like every participant in the Christmas story from angels to shepherds to innkeepers and wise men, he wanted people to see Jesus, The Word made flesh.

"These (things) are written," he writes, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."

It is Christmas Extended. Happy St. John the Apostles Day. In Jesus name.