This Article: (9 Pages)
- 1. John in the gospels
- 2. John's links to the Judean ruling... elite
- 3. The standard of learning in the... years C.E.
- 4. The beauty of John's letters
- 5. John, son of David and Aaron
- 6. John's letters
- 7. John's great issue – his... letters & The Great Lie
- 8. John himself
- 9. John's summary: The word made flesh
5) John, son of David and Aaron
(of the king and high priests)?
There is something that one may ponder, as there is the implication of John's connection to the Levitical tribe and to Aaron the high priestly family, the tribe of teachers of the Law. John's genius and likeness to our Lord may be related, as Jesus was also related to the Levitical tribe and the family of Aaron, through Mary. Now John the Baptist was Jesus' second cousin and John the Baptist was also of the priestly family with his father serving as priest and his mother a descendant of Aaron
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. (Luke 1:5)
Elizabeth was not just of Levi, or of the priests but of the high priests. Through Elizabeth of the family of Aaron, John the Baptist is related to Jesus's mother.
The apostle John possibly has a close relationship to Jesus for three reasons. Firstly only John reports the wedding in Cana in Galilee which shows all of Jesus' family and, secondly, John's mother comes to Jesus to ask for special status for her sons and, thirdly John is given the care of Mary, Jesus' mother, not Jesus' brothers.
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. (John 19:25-27)
This last especially implies a relationship. Another record says that John's mother was there next to Jesus' mother (called by Matthew the mother of James and Joses [cp Matt 13:55]).
Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children. (Matthew 27:56)
We are told clearly that Jesus had an aunt. It may be that of all the apostles, with John there was special kin of kin with like minds with Jesus,
Then Peter, turning about, sees the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrays thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, “Lord, and what shall this man do?”
Jesus saith unto him, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.”
(John 21:20-22)
We know that Mary was of the royal house of David, therefore her sister would have been also. Mary was given to Joseph, who was a carpenter, but who also belonged to the Royal dynasty and so in those families united two great royal lines. Mary's sister (Jesus' aunt), it seems, was given to Zebedee, who must have been a great man, though his trade was a fisherman, as she is always “the mother of Zebedee's children”. Zebedee was no poor fisherman, his wife was of the royal house and he could allow John to leave the business and make the journey to Jerusalem and to the wilderness.
Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him. (Mark 1:16-20)
It is clear that Zebedee is not a poor man and can afford not just one servant, but a few servants. We can see John was not crucial to operations. It is clear Zebedee can support not only both his sons leaving the work for over three years, but his wife offering support to Jesus' ministry.
We know that if John's mother was sister to Jesus' mother that both were related to the family of Aaron from which came the High Priests. It is a long tradition that Judean royalty married into the high priest's family and vice versa (For example King Joash's sister was married to the high priest, and at one point priests and kings were so related they had the same name as at the time of Azariah). These are no ordinary people. These are the aristocracy and intelligentsia of a world that had been lost due to Herod's take over and Roman dominance. Think of them as ex-European Royalty in the age of democracy. They live as commoners, have jobs and may even be self-made wealthy. They have no political power and in dealings with people are as ordinary people, but they know who they are, and they marry accordingly. John's family was not poor, his education would have been as good as the best, and in addition, possibly due to family connections, he had exposed himself to the best of the learning of Jerusalem.
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There are many misconceptions of what Anti-Christ means due to mis-information, and sensationalism. It is not hard to confirm what the Bible actually says.
