20260523 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE
23 May 2026, Saturday, 7th Week of Easter
First reading |
Acts 28:16-20,30-31 |
In Rome, Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God without hindrance from anyone
On our arrival in Rome Paul was allowed to stay in lodgings of his own with the soldier who guarded him.
After three days he called together the leading Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, ‘Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and would have set me free, since they found me guilty of nothing involving the death penalty; but the Jews lodged an objection, and I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation to make against my own nation. That is why I have asked to see you and talk to you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear this chain.’
Paul spent the whole of the two years in his own rented lodging. He welcomed all who came to visit him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete freedom and without hindrance from anyone.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 10(11):4-5,7 |
The upright shall see your face, O Lord.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord is in his holy temple,
the Lord, whose throne is in heaven.
His eyes look down on the world;
his gaze tests mortal men.
The upright shall see your face, O Lord.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord tests the just and the wicked;
the lover of violence he hates.
The Lord is just and loves justice;
the upright shall see his face.
The upright shall see your face, O Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Col3:1 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s right hand.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Jn16:7,13 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I will send you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord;
he will lead you to the complete truth.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 21:20-25 |
This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and we know that his testimony is true
Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them – the one who had leaned on his breast at the supper and had said to him, ‘Lord, who is it that will betray you?’ Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘What about him, Lord?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.’ The rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, ‘He will not die’, but, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come.’
This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true.
There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.
THE BELOVED DISCIPLE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 28:16-20,30-31; Ps 11:4-5,7; Jn 21:20-25]
At the Ascension, the Lord instructed His disciples to bring the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. He said, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7f) This command of the Lord was fulfilled in principle by Paul; when he brought the Gospel to Rome, it essentially meant it had reached “the ends of the earth.” Rome was quite a distance from Jerusalem, and as the capital of the Roman Empire where the emperor ruled, the Gospel in Rome would now have the potential to be disseminated throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.
As we come to the close of the season of Easter and on the Eve of Pentecost, as Church, we continue the work of the apostles and missionaries before us in spreading the Good News to all creation. We can learn from Paul who, having encountered the Risen Lord on the way to Damascus and then called to be the apostle to the Gentiles, gave his entire life to the proclamation of the Gospel. He first preached to the Jews in diaspora, and when rejected, then proclaimed the Gospel to the Gentiles, where many were converted to the Faith. He conducted three main missionary journeys, starting from Antioch and moving to Asia Minor and Greece, establishing churches in major cities like Ephesus and Corinth.
Finally, in his last missionary journey, he arrived in Rome as a prisoner. Though physically confined under house arrest, he continued to preach in the name of Jesus, offering the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins to all who came to visit him. In the final analysis, proclaiming the kingdom of God is essentially speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ and his saving work in his death and resurrection (Lk 24:46-47). Paul made it a point to speak to the leading Jews, attesting to his innocence and his love for his people. He reiterated that “it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear this chain.” It is a hope that the Jews of Rome also shared, including faith in the resurrection of the dead. For Paul, this resurrection is inseparably linked to Jesus who was crucified and raised from the dead. Indeed, Acts ended on a triumphal note. The Gospel could not be chained by human beings or even by space. No one can bind the Word of God. Paul continued to bear witness to the Gospel in complete freedom, without fear or compromise. He proclaimed the Gospel with boldness both in his teaching and preaching – the former to enlighten the mind and the intellect, the latter to strike the heart and the will.
How, then, can we be powerful and convicted witnesses to our Lord? The Gospel provides us with a clue: we need to become that beloved disciple of the Lord. Who is this Beloved Disciple in John’s Gospel? It is significant that the fourth Gospel refuses to identify him by name. Although tradition believes that the fourth Gospel was written by John himself, or one of his disciples sharing the mind and heart of John, he is never mentioned by name. There is a certain modesty and a desire to be self-effacing. John never projected himself in the Gospel because he wants us all to become a true disciple of the Lord. Indeed, at the end of the Gospel of John, he reveals the purpose of his writing: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20:30f)
How, then, can we also become that beloved disciple of the Lord? We notice that the Gospel mentions the beloved disciple only four times, and always towards the end of the Gospel during the most significant events, namely, at the Last Supper, at the foot of the cross, at the resurrection, and in a post-resurrection appearance. The beloved disciple is so called because the Gospel frequently describes him as “the disciple the Lord loved.” In today’s Gospel passage, Peter was curious and questioned the Lord. He “saw the disciple Jesus loved following them – the one who had leaned on Jesus’ breast at the supper and had said to him, ‘Lord, who is it that will betray you?’ Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘What about him, Lord?’ Jesus answered, “If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.”
What does it mean when the Lord said this about the beloved disciple? Clearly, the evangelist himself remarked, “Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, ‘He will not die,’ but, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come.’ This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true. There are many things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.” In other words, the beloved disciple is the one who remains behind until the Lord comes at the end of time. In that sense we are all that beloved disciple of the Lord.
That we are called to be the beloved disciple like John and the apostles were, is actualised by our Lord at the foot of the cross. There, “standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.” (Jn 19:25-27) By so doing, the Lord entrusted the unnamed beloved disciple – who represents all of us – to Mary – who now assumes the role of that woman prophesied earlier at the Wedding of Cana to be the mother of the Church. Anyone who takes Mary to be his or her mother, is that beloved disciple of the Lord. Rightly so, the beloved disciple of the Lord must stay close to Mary so that we can learn from her about the person of our Lord, His mind and heart, and most of all, how to suffer with Jesus in the work of redemption. Mary who united herself mind and heart with the Lord in both joys and in sorrows, is the one who can show us how to cooperate with our Lord in His salvific work.
Secondly, the beloved disciple was reclining next to our Lord at the Last Supper when Peter “motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.” Intimacy with the Lord is also given to us when we celebrate the Eucharist, because in the Eucharist, we are nourished by the Word of God and also by the Bread of Life – His body and blood. We must cultivate a deep love for the Eucharist and, most of all, make ourselves pure and holy before we receive Him. Otherwise, we risk the fate of Judas, who ate and drank to his own condemnation, ultimately leading to his despair and suicide. St Paul reminded the Christians, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgement against themselves. For this reason, many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” (1 Cor 11:27-30)
Finally, a true disciple of the Lord must be one who has encountered the Risen Lord in his or her own life. We read that “The other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” (Jn 20:8) Intimacy with the Lord is the prerequisite for encountering the Risen Lord. This was John’s way, and this should be our way as beloved disciples of the Lord. Once we encounter His love and His resurrection, we will be ready to suffer with our Lord – like John, who was exiled to Patmos but continued to proclaim the Gospel through his writing and preaching, living to a ripe old age. Let us follow the way of Peter, Paul, and John, the three beloved disciples of our Lord, in missionary discipleship until our journey is done. When Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me” (Jn 21:19), it is also a call from Christ to us. We should not worry about how the Lord wants us to serve Him, nor should we compare ourselves with others. We must simply follow Him according to the role and plan He has for us. Each one of us is called to serve Him in different ways, as we see in the contrasting vocations of Peter and John.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
