Reflection for December 27, St. John apostle and evangelist (Feast): John 20:1a, 2-8

Gospel: John 20:1a, 2-8

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.  

They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.

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Reflection:

Who is the disciple that Jesus loved most? Of course it’s John the apostle whose feast we celebrate today. Among many other reasons, John is the beloved apostle because he remained with Jesus until His death on the cross.  

 John never left Jesus, he stood for Jesus and was never afraid to show his fidelity to Him. John showed the mettle of his faith in Jesus by remaining with Him until the end. This is perhaps the reason why he is called the beloved disciple of Jesus.  

Many times in our lives we also profess our love for Jesus. But when temptation comes along we often times choose to be tempted rather than remain loyal to Jesus. This is primarily the reason why many of us live complicated and chaotic life. 

What if we try to be loyal to Jesus, what would be the effect of it in our life? If we would be loyal to Jesus we would avoid self-inflected problems and we will not fear whatever that may come to us. Why is this so? The reason behind is we choose to be faithful to Jesus and we never betrayed Him no matter how attractive the temptations to do so.  

Are you always faithful to the Lord? – Marino J. Dasmarinas