Jn 20:1a, 2-8
1On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala 2ran 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 don’t know where they put him.” 3So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. 4They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; 5he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. 6When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, 7and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. 8Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.
THE BELOVED DISCIPLE: The Gospel reading which tells the resurrection story involving Peter and the “disciple whom Jesus loved” for today’s feast reflects the Church tradition of identifying the Beloved Disciple with the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. This identification owes much to the work of Irenaeus (about 130-200 AD) who is credited for rescuing the Fourth Gospel from the Gnostics who flourished in the second century. Irenaeus writes: “Afterwards, John the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned on his breast, did himself publish a gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.”
Most Bible scholars today claim that there is insufficient evidence within the Gospel itself to substantiate such claim. The apostle John might have been the inspiration behind the writing and not the actual writer itself. Or the Beloved Disciple, a founding member of the “Johannine community,” was possibly a disciple of Jesus, but not the son of Zebedee or one of the Twelve.
This is “the Beloved Disciple” who is identified as the author of the Gospel (Jn 21:20). He was a former disciple of John the Baptist. He played an important role at the Last Supper and at the resurrection. He was more open to faith than Peter, as today’s Gospel shows. There were obviously some Christians who believed that he would be alive for the return of the Lord. However, he died and this had to be explained at the epilogue of the Fourth Gospel. Today, the Gospel according to John continues to remain a most fascinating gospel, and this is not determined by whether or not John the apostle was its author.