Saints · Ages 5-8 · 25 pages

Saint John: The Beloved Friend of Jesus

by Kyle Hancock

At the Last Supper, John lay close beside Jesus, his head near Jesus’s heart, listening to every word. The Gospel calls him “the one whom Jesus loved.” John was a young fisherman on the Sea of Galilee, mending nets in his father Zebedee’s boat with his big brother, James, when Jesus walked along the shore and called them. Right away they left the boat, and their father, and followed Him. Jesus kept John close: on a high mountain John saw Jesus’s face shine like the sun, and on the night before Jesus died, John was near Him in the garden while He prayed. When the soldiers took Jesus, His friends ran away — even John. But John came back. He stood beside the Cross with Mary, Jesus’s mother, and Mary Magdalene and the other women, and there Jesus said to him, “Behold, your mother.” From that day on, John took Mary into his home. On Easter morning he ran to the empty tomb with Peter — he got there first, but waited and let Peter go in before him — and when he saw the empty burial cloths, he believed. Saint John: The Beloved Friend of Jesus tells his true story in warm watercolor illustrations and simple read-aloud words — from his father’s fishing boat to the lonely island of Patmos, and to the city of Ephesus, where, Christians remember, he lived longer than any of the other apostles. An old story told by Saint Jerome says that when John was too old to walk, all he would say was, “Little children, love one another.” John is called the Beloved because Jesus loved him first — and Jesus loves every child just as much. Written for ages 4 to 8 — a read-aloud for the youngest, and a first saint story for children who are starting to read on their own. Inside you’ll find a Scripture page from Saint John’s first letter (“We love because he first loved us.”); the true story told in short lines little ones can follow; A Note for Families about who John was, about the moment on the Cross when Jesus gave His mother to John and why Mary is your child’s mother too, and about the Book of Revelation, told gently for a child; a prayer to pray together, thanking Jesus for giving us Mary to be our mother; Talk About It Together, questions for after the story; and a page about his life for the grown-up reading aloud, with what the Bible tells us and what Christians have handed down. Feast day: December 27, in the Christmas Octave.