I’m going through a book right now called The Beloved Disciple by Beth Moore and I came across a story in it that blew me away. Check this out…

“My favorite account from the early church fathers concerning John (the apostle) was preserved by Clement. It begins with the statement, “Listen to a story which is not a story but a true tradition of John the Apostle preserved in memory.’ While visiting a new bishop and his congregation in Smyrna, John “saw a young man of strong body, beautiful appearance, and warm heart. ‘I commend this man, ‘ John said, ‘to you with all diligence in the face of the church, and with Christ as my witness.” John returned to Ephesus and, as promised, the bishop took the young man under his wing and baptized him. Time passed and the bishop “relaxed his great watchfulness….But some idle and dissolute youths, familiar with evil, corrupted him in his premature freedom.” Before long, the young man gave himself entirely to a life of sin, committed crimes, and even renounced his salvation. Eventually John was summoned back to Smyrna and asked for a report of the young man. Somewhat taken aback, the bishop answered, “He has died.”

    John inquired, “How and with what death?” When the bishop described the young man’s abandoned faith as death, John replied, “Well, it was a fine guardian whom I left for the soul of our brother. But let me have a horse, and someone to show me the way.” When the elderly John found the young man, he started to flee. John called out to him, “Why do you run away from me, child, your own father, unarmed and old? Pity me, child, do not fear me! You have still hope of life. I will account to Christ for you. If it must be, I will willingly suffer your death, as the Lord suffered for us; for your life, I will give my own. Stay, believe; Christ sent me.
    The young man wept bitterly, embraced the old man, and pleaded for forgiveness. The account says that John led the young man back and “baptized him a second time in his tears….He brought him to the church, he prayed with many supplications, he joined with him in the struggle of continuous fasting, he worked on his mind by various addresses and did not leave him, so they say, until he restored him to the church, and thus gave a great example of true repentance and a great testimony of regeneration, the trophy of a visible resurrection.”
This story blew me away. Three things I took from it:

1. What a picture of Christ’s love for us

The way that John the apostle pursued this young man reflects the way that Christ pursues us. He takes our lives personally and longs to see us live the lives he’s called us to. Even though according to this bishop, the young man had died, John saw through that and saw potential. I love that God never gives up on us.

2. This is a strong challenge to those of us in ministry

John the apostle had entrusted the care of this young man to a bishop and then strongly rebuked the bishop for not protecting this kid. Do we take ownership over those whom God has entrusted to our care? Do we pursue them relentlessly or do we allow our minds to be consumed with our own interests? Watching John stay with this young man until he was restored depicts a different kind of love that is not always convenient. John loved this kid at a great personal cost to his own energy and time. He fasted with him. He prayed with him. He helped him get his mind straight. I don’t know that I’ve ever been so committed to anyone in my life.

This is not a picture of top down and disinterested leadership. John easily could have delegated the pursuit of this young man to someone else and only allowed his fate to be a passing concern. John stopped everything and owned the fact that he would someday give an account to Christ for the soul of this young brother. My hope is that we would all learn from this example of one of our early church fathers and that we too would love with a different kind of love….with a costly love. This is the love God has for us and it is the love we’re to have for one another.