Thunder or Love?

These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);  James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means ‘sons of thunder’), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot (and Judas). Mark 3:16-18

The apostles were a motley crew. Out of the twelve, we would think of three as terrorists. That’s a quarter of those whom Jesus chose. These are men who would be lawbreakers given the chance. They were used to shouting the odds, fighting first and asking questions later! In spite of his past reputation, we are told that John became the disciple that Jesus loved. Thunder and love don’t go well together, so what happened to John?

John had been a shouter. A man who got his way by being strong of tongue, body and will, and knew how to get what he wanted, usually by force or wearing his opponent down physically and mentally. So what happened to the man he was? Three years in the company of Jesus changed John to become known as the ‘disciple of love’. When you read his epistles, you can’t help but notice the number of times the word ‘love’ is used. By the time John was exiled on Patmos, his life bore no resemblance to the John who started out with Jesus those years before.

I would suggest that spending time with Jesus will change us beyond recognition. The rough edges will be rubbed off, and we will emerge a very different person. There is a wise saying that “God will accept us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us the way He found us”. I like that thought. When we encounter the love of God, we will change. In John’s case, no more ‘son of thunder’, but replaced by a disciple of love. Jesus still performs the same miracle today. As the children’s hymn says, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so”. Do I hear an ‘Amen’?