The Vessel Collection

A few months ago I had the privilege of being a part of the She Carries Grace Retreat hosted by Ellie & Friends. On Sunday morning, the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to speak. While the topic of my message centered around Luke 5 and John 21, I have found myself continuing to think about a phrase that John repeats throughout his Gospel.

Five times John refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20).

I have been sitting with those passages lately and wondering what it would look like if I saw myself the same way.

Let’s walk through them briefly.

John 13:23

At the Last Supper, Jesus shares that one of the disciples will betray Him. The room is filled with confusion and questions, but John is identified as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

Even in a moment of uncertainty, John’s identity remains the same.

John 19:26

Jesus is hanging on the cross and sees His mother and “the disciple whom He loved.”

Can you imagine that moment?

Jesus has just endured betrayal, beatings, mocking, and torture beyond anything we can fully comprehend. He is hanging on a cross, carrying the weight of the sin of the world, and yet He looks down and sees His mother and John.

John is looking up at Jesus knowing exactly how Jesus feels about him.

His identity is marked by his relationship with Christ and by the love Christ has for him.

And there he stands watching Jesus visibly demonstrate that love.

I don’t know that I could stand under the weight of that moment. Yet how often do we live as though our sin has separated us from that love? How often do we allow shame, failure, or disappointment to become our primary identity?

The cross tells a different story.

Because of Christ’s finished work, your identity is not found in your failures. If you belong to Him, your identity is in Christ. It cannot be taken away, stripped away, or abandoned.

Because Jesus declared, “It is finished,” you can know that you too are one whom Jesus loves.

John 20:2

Jesus’ body is gone from the tomb.

There is confusion. There is grief. There is a moment of despair because they do not yet understand what has happened.

And yet John is still identified the same way.

Not by his understanding. Not by his circumstances. Not by his emotions. But by the love Jesus has for him.

John 21:7

The disciples have spent the entire night fishing and caught nothing.

Then a man standing on the shore tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. When the nets fill, John is the first to recognize Him. “It is the Lord.”

I love that.

The disciple who continually identifies himself by Jesus’ love is also the first disciple to recognize Jesus in this moment. Perhaps there is something to be said about spending enough time with Jesus that you learn His voice, His character, and His ways.

John 21:20

This verse marks the moment Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and looks at another disciple. After Jesus restores Peter and calls him to follow Him, Peter asks, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus uses that moment to remind Peter that faithfulness is not about comparing callings, outcomes, or assignments.

It is about following Him. No matter what He asks of someone else. No matter what someone else’s story looks like.

You follow Me.

Throughout his Gospel, John never refers to himself by name. He identifies himself by his relationship to Jesus. In other words, John’s primary identity marker is not his resume, his role, his accomplishments, or even his failures. It is his relationship with Christ.

What would change about our lives if this is how we saw ourselves?

Would we be more obedient? More attentive to God’s voice? More loving? More patient? More steadfast?

In what areas of your life do you tend to identify yourself as:

“(Your name), the one whom Jesus is disappointed in.”

“(Your name), the one who never gets it right.”

“(Your name), the one who is too far gone.”

“(Your name), the one who isn’t enough.”

Can you remember a time when your identity sounded more like:

“(Your name), the one whom Jesus loves.”

Because if you belong to Christ, that identity is not wishful thinking. It is not positive self-talk. It is not something you have to earn or maintain.

As a believer, your identity is in Christ. It cannot be taken. It cannot be stripped away. It cannot be abandoned. It has been secured by the finished work of Jesus and woven into the very fabric of who you are.

When Jesus declared, “It is finished,” He accomplished everything necessary for your salvation and your standing before God. Because of that, you do not have to wonder how He feels about you.

The truest thing about you is not your success or your failure. It is not your title, your past, your diagnosis, your mistakes, or your accomplishments.

The truest thing about you is this:

You are the one whom Jesus loves.