By Thomas J. Scheteltich
A few months ago, my wife, Vicky, and I went on a cruise in the Greek islands, and we toured several of the ancient sites, including Ephesus in Turkey. In the first century, Ephesus was the fourth-largest city in the Roman Empire. Its magnificent port was the engine of the city’s economy, the arrival and departure point for everything west.
Just outside the city and up a hill is the burial place of the apostle John. John lived the latter years of his life in Ephesus, and from there, he wrote his gospel and letters. From the spot, you can see the ruins of the great Temple to Diana in Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. I stood there and thought about John and the arc of his life, imagining him in that place:
Just outside the metropolis of Ephesus, within sight of the greatest heathen temple ever built, sits this very old man, now approaching 100 years of life, remembering and writing. He was born a Jew but now lives in a secular, Hellenized city. He had fished the quiet waters of Galilee but now lives in this bustling metropolis. He had been raised to observe the Torah but now lives within view of the greatest heathen temple in the world.
John’s gospel, his three letters, and Revelation are the last books of the New Testament to be written. As John sits here writing, it has been about 65 years since Jesus was crucified and almost 30 years since Peter and Paul died.
Christianity is still new, a tiny ship in the ocean of pagan religions and gods worshipped for centuries. The churches, though small, are coming to an embryonic form that you and I would recognize today. They are mostly Gentile, with the texts of Paul, explaining the doctrine, widely distributed and the synoptic gospels circulating. A new generation is rising to the challenge and moving ahead.
John is so old, a rumor circulates that he will live until Jesus returns. John will write about that at the end of his gospel to set the record straight. Everyone else in the church at Ephesus, or in any church anywhere, came to faith in Jesus Christ the same way you and I did: somebody told us, or we read of it. But John had known Christ. He is probably the last living person who actually knew Jesus of Nazareth. He writes as the voice of a generation almost gone.
Throughout his letters, John makes little comments about getting old. He writes what we call Third John to his friend Gaius and begins with a most interesting and lovely greeting: “I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” Or, in other words, “Hey, old friend, how are you? I pray that your body is as healthy as your soul.” I have taken to using this verse on birthday cards.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians that the outward man is dying day by day but the inward man is renewed day by day. What if we could see that and could see the soul the way we can see the body? If so, some people who today look old and infirm would suddenly look the picture of robust health. Some who appear strong would be feeble.
Often, we remember in prayer Christians who are sick. John’s verse is great for those prayers: Lord, you know this person who loves You. I pray his body, her body would be as healthy as his soul, her soul.
So may it be with us. For though we cannot see the Lord, we can know the same fellowship with Him as those who did (1 John 1:3). We can love Him just as His closest companions in His ministry (1 Peter 2:7). We have the special blessing of believing without seeing (John 20:29). So shall we be sound and healthy in our souls and so in our bodies also (as the Lord wills). n
Thomas Schetelich is a CMML director.
Originally published in Missions magazine, August 2023. For more content, sign up for a free subscription (US) to Missions at CMML.us/magazine/subscribe.
