Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of John (21: 20-25) in which Jesus responds to a question asked by Peter saying ‘If I want him [the beloved disciple] to stay behind until I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me’.

Fr Paul says, the question often asked is ‘who is this beloved disciple?’. The Gospel steadfastly refuses to identify him by name and with good reason. It is the disciple Jesus loves.

This disciple features four times in the Gospel, normally associated with Peter, but each time unnamed.

The first occasion is the Last Supper, sitting next to Jesus and closely in contact with him.

The second occasion is at the foot of the cross, close to the mother of Jesus, when Jesus joins the two together to form the first Christian community and over them breaths forth his spirit, or possibly with Johannine ambiguity, His Spirit.

The third occasion is the empty tomb when Peter is puzzled but the beloved disciple recognised the significance – he sees and believes.

And now here, Jesus wants the beloved disciple to stay behind till he comes. This disciple, says the author, is the one who has witnessed about all these things, and we know that his witness is true.

Such is the portrait of the beloved disciple; A disciple who reclines next to Jesus at the Eucharist, who shares the Passion with Jesus and joins his mother to form that Christian community; a disciple who believes in the Resurrection and who hands on the tradition until Jesus comes again.

Deservedly, this disciple has no name because it is the portrait of every Christian whom Jesus loves.