BELOVED MASTER

 

The most exhilarating part of the Saviour's earthly life would have to be post resurrection. I can only imagine the hope and the speculation that would have circulated in the midst of His followers as the news spread that He lived again.

Have a good look at this painting by Eugene Burnand (1898) which was his most known work. It is a depiction of Peter and John running to the tomb of Jesus who was crucified.

Imagine abandoning your life’s work to be an apostle of a man who claimed to be the Son of God. Imagine all the hours you have put in being His disciple, all the hope you had in His promises and His teachings. Imagine the tutoring and the love you have experienced at His side. And imagine receiving a witness that He truly was the Son of God. Then imagine all of that coming to an end as you saw Him crucified for the greatest injustice you have witnessed. All hope seemed gone. Then on the third day, the grief would not end for the Master whom they loved was gone from the sepulchre where He lay. With haste Peter and John ran with eagerness, no doubt with the Master’s words echoing in their ears: “A little while and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me…..ye shall weep and lament….and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:16,20). Did they have hope in His saying that he must rise again from the dead as they ran to that tomb??? (John 20:9).

This was the moment in time when the lives of Peter and John changed forever. The Saviour’s life came to an end but theirs was just beginning. They saw their beloved Master again, in His immortal body, and were given the understanding of the scriptures which spoke of His death and rising from the dead the third day (Luke 24:45,46). And what blessed moment it was to see Him ascend into heaven and which led them into Jerusalem ‘with great joy’ where they ‘were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God’ (John 24:50-53).

Peter and John were spiritually transformed following the ascension of Him whom they called the Beloved Master (Luke 8:24; Mark 9:5; 13:1; John 13:13). A leader in his own right, appointed by the Saviour himself to hold the keys of the Kingdom (Matthew 16:13-19), Peter became a spiritual giant whose very shadow was believed would heal the sick in the streets (Acts 5:15).  He accepted graciously the manner of his death as foretold by Jesus (John 21:18,19; 2 Peter: 1:13, 14) and died in Rome during the reign of emperor Nero in 64 A.D. In the Roman Empire, crucifixions took many shapes which are too indelicate to mention (Seneca, Dialogue “To Marcia on Consolation”, in Moral Essays, 6.20.3). According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down, which was one of the methods, and which he chose having felt unworthy to die in the same manner as his Master.

And what can we say of John, the most beloved disciple (John 21:7,20)? A man of zeal, who wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritan villagers who refused hospitality to his beloved Master and whom the Saviour named the Son of Thunder  (Luke 9:52-56: Mark 3:17).  He who lives still and sorrows for the sins of the world…..he who could not refrain from following Peter and the Saviour prior to His ascension (John 21:19-21). Peter chose a speedy death to be reunited with the beloved Master but John chose a more noble path by bringing souls unto Him until the end of the world. Such nobility is rarely seen but it is seen in John the Beloved.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Peter and John at the Tomb by Eugene Burnand (1898)