PRIMARY SOURCE: Thunderstruck

“If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?” (Matthew 18:12)

The Sons of Thunder, as Jesus called them, made a lot of noise for God, and something had to be done. So, Agrippa silenced James by lopping off his head. John, however, lived on. Sent to Patmos in his 90s, he survived exile and returned to Ephesus. Eusebius, the early church historian, picks up the apostle’s story.

Once, when visiting a church in a nearby town, he saw “a youth of powerful physique, of pleasing appearance, and of ardent temperament.” Turning to the pastor, John said: “This one I commit to thee in all earnestness in the presence of the church and with Christ as witness.”

The unnamed minister took the youth home and poured himself into him. He “reared, kept, cherished, and finally baptized him.”

Eventually, the pastor “relaxed his stricter care and watchfulness,” and the devil seized the opportunity. “Some youths of his own age, idle and dissolute, and accustomed to evil practices, corrupted him when he was thus prematurely freed from restraint.” They led the youth into inappropriate entertainment and then took him on some of their thieving excursions. “He gradually became accustomed to such practices.”

A natural leader, “he became a bold bandit-chief, the most violent, most bloody, most cruel of them all.” Oh, the heartbreak of contemplating the lives of former church members.
One day John came back to town: “Come, O bishop, restore us the deposit which both I and Christ committed to thee.” The minister’s confused look led the apostle to explain: “I demand the young man.”

Dropping his head, the pastor said, “He is dead…dead to God, for he turned wicked…and at last a robber. And now, instead of the church, he haunts the mountain with a band like himself.”

John tore his clothes and said, “A fine guard I left for a brother’s soul!”

The aged apostle then demanded a horse and rode off toward the robber’s mountain den. Taken prisoner by an outpost, he said, “Lead me to your captain.” When they led John to him, the believer-turned-brigand—armed and dangerous—recognized him and “turned in shame to flee.”

Eusebius related that John, “forgetting his age, pursued him with all his might” and thundered: “Why, my son, dost thou flee from me, thine own father, unarmed, aged? Pity me, my son; fear not; thou hast still hope of life. I will give account to Christ for thee. If need be, I will willingly endure thy death as the Lord suffered death for us. …Christ hath sent me.”

At this, the bandit broke, “baptizing himself a second time with tears.” He embraced John, but he did so, hiding his right hand, ashamed of its deeds. The apostle would have none of it. He took that hand in his and kissed it.

For some time, he gave himself to the penitent thief and “restored him to the church, furnishing a great example of true repentance and…a trophy of a visible resurrection.”

About the Columnist: Paul V. Harrison has pastored Madison FWB Church in Madison, Alabama since 2015. Previously, he pastored Cross Timbers FWB church in Nashville, Tennessee, for 22 years. He was an adjunct professor at Welch College for 17 years, teaching church history and Greek. Paul is the creator of Classic Sermon Index, a subscription-based online index of over 66,000 sermons, with clients including Harvard, Baylor, and Vanderbilt, among others: classicsermonindex.com.