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The Beloved Disciple:
Whose Witness Validates the Gospel of John?
By James H. Charlesworth
Valley Forge, Trinity Press International, 1995. 481 pp. $30.00.
Few more baffling problems confront the careful reader of John's Gospel than the identity of the Beloved Disciple, who appears for the first time reclining next to Jesus at the Last Supper (13:23-26). Numerous artists have attempted to convey the poignancy of this scene. The evangelist's depiction of the scene at the foot of the cross is equally moving: Jesus entrusts his mother to the Beloved Disciple (19:25-27)-the reader's curiosity is aroused by the fact that neither individual is referred to by a personal name.
The Beloved Disciple outruns Peter as they race toward the tomb in which Jesus had been buried but then generously allows Peter to enter the tomb first. Whereas Peter makes no response to what he sees, the Beloved Disciple "saw and believed" (20:1-10). Is there more to this scene than meets the eye? Is Peter's role and standing being subtly downgraded in favor of the Beloved Disciple? If so, then presumably the first readers of John's Gospel knew the identity of the leader who was being referred to in this oblique way. In the scene set on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, the Beloved Disciple is the first to recognize the risen Lord (21:7)....