Gospel (Jn 21:20-25)
“Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”
This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
Commentary
After considering yesterday the figure of Saint Peter and how our Lord confirmed him in the mission of feeding his sheep (cf. Jn 21:17), in continuity with this same passage, the Church invites us to consider today the last verses of Saint John’s Gospel.
When asked by Saint Peter about what will become of John, Jesus answers him in a somewhat enigmatic way. The evangelist himself sheds more light on these words of our Lord, trying to explain their meaning.
Today we want to focus on the last two verses of Saint John’s Gospel: on how the testimony of its author, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” is presented as a guarantee that what is written there is true.
Saint John wrote his Gospel, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to strengthen our faith in Christ, in what he did and what he taught us.
The need to grasp more deeply the Person of Jesus Christ, letting Him become the center of our own lives, is what Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz challenged us with in his first pastoral letter after being elected Prelate of Opus Dei.[1] This ever-deeper relationship with Christ will always be an inexhaustible source for the interior life of people of all times.
This is how Saint Paul VI expressed it: “when one begins to be interested in Jesus Christ, one cannot leave Him. There is always something more to know, something to say; the most important thing remains to be discovered. Saint John the Evangelist ends his Gospel precisely in this way (Jn 21:25). The richness of everything referring to Christ is so great and of such great depth that we feel impelled to explore and try to understand it better. So great is the light, strength, joy and longing that emanate from Him, so real is the life that comes to us from Him, that it seems irrational and irreverent to cut short the reflection that his coming into the world, his presence in history, in culture and human thought, not to mention the reality of his vital relationship with our own conscience, demands of us.”[2]
[1] Cf. Fernando Ocáriz, Pastoral Letter 14 February 2017, no. 8.
[2] Paul VI, General Audience, 20 February 1974.
[1] Cf. Fernando Ocáriz, Pastoral Letter 14 February 2017, no. 8.
[2] Paul VI, General Audience, 20 February 1974.