St. John, Apostle And Evangelist Poem by Dr John Celes

The younger son of father, Zebedee,
And younger brother of St. James, the great;
His mother was Mary’s sister, Salome;
He was the disciple whom Jesus loved.

A fisherman like his father,
He fished in Genesaret Lake;
Called ‘Boanerges’ by Jesus,
Meaning ‘sons of thunder (anger) ’.

Born in Bethsaida, Galilee AD6,
One of twelve apostles of Christ;
A former disciple of St John, the Baptist,
A ‘half-cousin’ of Jesus Christ.

John was called Evangelist too;
A friend of Jesus, fast and thick;
He sat near Christ at Last Supper;
He went to jail with St. Peter.

Called ‘Apostle of Charity’;
St John the Theologian;
St John the divine;
He saw Peter heal the lame man.

He witnessed Jairus’ daughter being raised,
And was in Gethsemane with Peter;
He called Christ, the Lamb of God;
He was a ‘pillar of the Church’.

With Mary, John stood near the cross,
And Jesus said, ‘This is your son! ’
And to John, ‘This is your mother! ’
He saw Jesus when transfigured.

He ran with Peter to Christ’s grave,
Believing Him to have risen;
He recognized Jesus ashore,
When he appeared after He rose.

Thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil,
He did not suffer injury.
He was banished to Patmos isle.
He wrote his gospel at Ephesus.

He wrote the fourth Gospel;
He wrote three epistles;
The Book of Revelation (Apocalypse):
He founded churches in Asia Minor.

He died at AD 100 when,
He was extremely old by then;
He died on Sept 26th.
His feast is on Dec 27th.

Copyright by Dr John Celes 09-07-‘08