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John....
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"When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved
standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this
disciple took her into his home." (John 19:26-27 NIV).
Despite the gruesome agony of the cross, one of Jesus' last words was for
the care of His mother Mary, who at that point must
have been in a state of extreme grief and horror upon witnessing The
Crucifixion.
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From then on, she was to reside as
family with John, one of the closest friends of Jesus, and apparently one of
the bravest - he remained there with Jesus from the "trial" right to the
end, despite very real danger to himself, while many others, including
Peter, had run away. John and
his brother James were the third and fourth fishermen
of the Sea Of Galilee that
Jesus had called to service that day (brothers
Andrew and Peter were the first two). |
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John and
James had been fishing with their father Zebedee and left immediately to
follow Jesus. Zebedee was apparently relatively wealthy, and had other hired
men there, so John didn't leave his father all alone
(Mark 1:19-20). They
had probably heard the preaching of John The Baptist, who had just been
imprisoned (Mark 1:14), and were aware that a Savior was coming, although
they may not have realized that they themselves would be called to service.
Either way, they were aware and prepared - they immediately followed
Jesus. |
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After the resurrection, John and
Peter were the first
people to be told by Mary of Magdala, who had discovered the empty tomb
(see The Garden Tomb) early that morning. The Bible
states that, at that
point they did not yet fully realize or understand that Jesus had actually
risen - they thought that someone had stolen the body (John 20:1-9). John
and Peter quickly ran to the tomb (John was apparently more physically fit
than Peter, since he arrived at the tomb well ahead of Peter)
and
discovered the empty burial cloth and strips of linen. |
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