Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

The way of “the disciple whom Jesus loved”

The cross is to us the supreme manifestation of the love of Christ, that passes knowledge; it is the revelation of the heart of God to the world. It was there that our sins were atoned for; there the cup of our judgment was drained to its last drop by our suffering Saviour; there the hatred of men was fully exposed, but there the love of God shone out above it all in all its splendour. We must stand by the cross and let its meaning move our souls; as we do so we shall be consciously the disciples whom Jesus loves and shall respond to His love in faithfulness and praise.

“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of the disciples whom Jesus loved.” — John 13:23.

“When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved.” — John 19:26.

“Peter turning about sees the disciple whom Jesus loved following.” — John 21:20.

The sincerity of discipleship is tested when the Lord and Master is rejected. When He was on earth many were ready to follow Him when they saw His miracles, or did eat of the loaves He fed them with. They had never had such a satisfying meal as that which they ate by the Sea of Galilee. He was popular then, and these fair-weather disciples loved good food and popularity; but when His words indicated that the way He would lead His followers was not such as they thought it would be, they turned from Him and walked no more with Him, until at last, in chapter 13, they are reduced to twelve men, and of those twelve one was a traitor. But this crisis revealed the basis of true discipleship and what it is that can keep the disciple true to the Lord until His return. Mark how the Spirit shows the Lord to us here. “When Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of the world to the Father, having loved His own which were in the world He loved them to the end.” His time for departure had come, and He knew all the shame and unspeakable sorrow that would come upon Him with that departure, and it was all to be borne for the sake of His disciples, and for our sakes, but He loved them not one whit less because of that. Nothing could alter His love for them, it was greater than the waters of judgment and death — He loved them to the end. Bind together these two things — His departure out of the world by the way of Gethsemane, Gabbatha and Golgotha, and His unchanging love for His own through it all, for in the true knowledge of these things lies the secret of true discipleship. It is not the sacrifices that we make for Him that make us “disciples indeed,” but the knowledge of the sacrifice that He has made for us; it is not our love to Him, but His love to us that constrains us to follow Him.

But the Lord knew more than the fact that the time of His departure had come. He knew that “the Father had given all things into His hand.” How great is His glory as thus revealed! Reach up to the highest height of the purpose of God and down to the deepest depth of His judgments, and embrace if you can the vast range of His will — all has been put into the hands of Jesus. He will command angels, He will bless men, He will judge devils; He will subdue every hostile force to the will of God and fill the universe with His glory. Such is the confidence, the absolute trust, that the Father has in Him, that all things have been put into His care; nothing has been withheld from Him. That is the measure of His glory. Knowing this, and also “that He came from God and went to God,” and could go back to God as having accomplished all His will, what does He do? He lays aside His garments and girds Himself with a towel and stoops down before His disciples to wash their feet!! The most glorious Person in the universe renders a slave’s service to His disciple!! Let that indescribable grace, let the love that was in that great act affect us rightly as we ponder over it!

There was more in that act than appears on the surface, but in searching for its inner meaning, don’t let us miss the beauty that lies on the surface of it. The Lord will yet fill the universe with the glory of God, so great is He, but will He ever be greater than when girded with a towel He gave to His disciples an example that they should walk in His steps? No, it was when He stooped that the glory of His Person appeared transcendent over all, when He became the servant of all He was greatest of all. But what was it that brought Him into this place of service? It was His love. But what was its object? Why did He serve them thus? That they might have part with Him. He desired that they should be brought into and maintained in the most blessed intimacy with Himself. He loved His disciples so tenderly, so ardently, that He could not endure any distance or indifference. He must have us near to Himself, enjoying the holy intimacy that love affords. Have we considered that? One of those disciples realized this, the sort of love wherewith Jesus loved him dawned upon his soul, and realizing it, all reserve was cast out of his heart, and HE LEANED UPON JESUS’ BOSOM. It was an immediate response to the love that had expressed itself so blessedly, and it must have given a great joy to the sorrowing and troubled heart of the Lord. Leaning upon His bosom, he could speak of himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” The love of Jesus became the dominating factor in his life, and all true discipleship begins, continues, and ends there; it finds its spring and its power in the love of Christ. Here, in John’s attitude, we see the renunciation of all self-confidence. Peter was self-confident. It was as though he said, “Lord, you may trust me, I will not fail You; all others may, but not I; rest in my love, lean on my bosom.” We know the end of that. John’s conduct stands out in contrast to Peter’s sincere but vain boasting. It was as though he said, “Lord, I cannot trust my love to You, but I can trust Your love to me; the place of my confidence and rest is Your love, Your bosom.”

The next time we see “the disciple whom Jesus loved” he is “STANDING BY” (John 19:26.) He was not hiding away in shame and fear as Peter was, nor setting himself to some busy service of his own devising, but “standing by.” And note well where it was that he stood: it was BY THE CROSS. He stood there in the face of the world. Three women were there, for devotion and faithfulness to Christ regardless of what others thought and did, always did show itself in these women who loved the Lord; but John was there also — he stood by the cross. What mattered it to him what the world thought of him, a love stronger than death had bound him to his crucified Master, he was “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” and what else could he do in that dark hour but stand by the cross? But he would not have been there at all if he had not leaned on his Lord’s bosom, and if the Lord’s love had not been to him the supreme thing in his life. But he was there, the pattern disciple, and being there he indicates our place in regard to the world and Christ. Paul stood by the cross when he cried, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). But what was it that put him there? He also knew that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved, for he said, “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.”

We must stand by the cross to-day; we are not true disciples unless we do. The cross is not popular in the religious world. Men want a Christ without the cross, and a gospel without blood. As of old they taunted the Lord and said, “Come down from the cross and we will believe,” so now they clamour for a Jesus, who is a great and winsome personality, a fearless reformer, a teacher of ethics. There is no such Jesus except in their darkened imaginations. He came to be the Saviour of men, because men were lost sinners, and He could not be the Saviour apart from the cross. It is to the Greek foolishness and to the Jew a stumbling block, and the reproach of it has not ceased, for it still strikes at the foundation of all man’s boasting and pride, but to us who are saved it is the power and wisdom of God. Hence we stand by the cross. It is to us the supreme manifestation of the love of Christ that passes knowledge; it is the revelation of God’s heart. It was there that our sins were atoned for, there the cup of our judgment was drained to its last drop by our suffering Saviour; there the hatred and sin of men were fully exposed, but there the love of God shone out above it all in all its splendour. We must stand by the cross and let its meaning move our souls; as we do so we shall be consciously the disciples whom Jesus loves, and we shall respond to His love in faithfulness and praise.

And now see what came of John’s faithfulness. “Jesus, therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved.” Who can tell the solace it must have been in that dark hour to Him to see John there! “He says to His mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then says He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” The Lord was able to trust John now; He could commit to him a precious legacy. And John was faithful to the trust. And He desires to trust us, to have us as His friends upon whom He can rely. What privilege could be greater than that? To have the Lord say to you, “I want you to care for some who are precious to Me. I want you to look after My interests on earth during My absence.” Nothing could be greater or more desirable than that; and that is within the reach of us all. We have but to lean on His bosom and stand by his cross and the Lord will commit some charge to keep for Him.

In chapter 21 of our Gospel the risen Lord stood on the seashore and addressed His disciples after their long night of fruitless toil in words of tender solicitude, and brought the hitherto reluctant fish to their empty nets. Who could speak with such tenderness and authority but He? John recognized Him, and henceforward he followed Him and he did it without being told. Peter had to be told to follow the Lord, but not John in this Gospel. He is introduced at the beginning of it, following the Lord without being told, and the last sight we have of him in it he is still following without being told. He followed because he could do no other; the treasure he had found in the Lord’s love had made him a disciple. He was attracted and not commanded, and in that lies true discipleship.

Peter turned about and saw him following, and said, “Lord, what shall this man do?” But that was not Peter’s business. It should have been enough for him that the Lord had given him a path in which to tread, and the Lord gently rebukes him, but at the same time declares what pleases Him. “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee, follow thou Me.” Then went the saying abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die. But the Lord did not say that he should not die, and His words are repeated as if to give them emphasis: “If I will that he tarry till I come.” What did He mean? He surely meant that He would have that kind of disciple here when He comes again. What kind of disciple? The disciple who leans on His bosom, stands by His cross, AND FOLLOWS HIM WITHOUT BEING TOLD. Ah, that is the sort of disciple we should all like to be.

Discipleship is a very individual thing. John had to follow for himself, and Peter for himself, and each of us must follow each for himself; yet for our full development in the blessed traits of it we need each other. We must have a Master to follow, and brethren to follow with. “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if you have love one for another,” He has said. What He is to us we must be to one another, for He has left us an example that we should do to one another as He has done to us. In this true discipleship is secured, true, vital fellowship according to God. Neither rules nor regulations can secure this, and to make rules and restrictions is to go back to the age of law, and to be transgressors (Gal. 2). But to be dominated by the love of Christ and to be showing His love one to another, to be walking in love, is to be walking practically in the light and in the truth.

Now it is by the way of discipleship and fellowship that a full response to the revelation of the Father is given; for worship which the Father seeks is in its highest phase collective. “I will declare Thy Name to my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praises to Thee.” When fellowship does not exist there is not this character of responsive worship to the Father’s Name, and love and fellowship of this sort can only be enjoyed and practised as we lean on the Lord’s bosom, stand by His cross, and follow Him without being told, AND WAIT FOR HIS COMING AGAIN.