Who wrote the Gospel According to John? Who is "the beloved disciple" constantly referred to in this Gospel? I just returned from a lecture by Dr. Jim Fleming. I bought his lecture book on the Gospel of John. In it, he offers an explanation to these questions I've never seen before!

Dr. Fleming points out there are two major characters in the gospel story who are never named in John's Gospel -- they are referred to as "the disciple Jesus loved," and "His mother." This probably refers to John and Mary. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus sends Peter and John on ahead of Him to prepare for the Passover. In John, Jesus sends Peter and "the beloved disciple." We know, of course, that Jesus' mother was named Mary. She is never named in John.

Why would this be, that John and Mary would not be named? Dr. Fleming writes, "It sounds strange, but in 1st century Judaism great honor was shown for someone by not naming them. The example par excellence is God's name. A Jew is Jesus' day would never pronounce God's name."

He goes on to suggest that the Gospel of John probably contains the memories of these two disciples. When Jesus was dying on the cross, he told the beloved disciple, John, to take care of His mother, Mary. Apparently, according to Dr. Fleming, Mary and John did stick together. Though probably written by a disciple of John's -- John would never have referred to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" -- this gospel, which comes out of a community in Asia Minor, is based on the memories of John and Mary, interpreted with the kind of theological reflection that writing some 60 years later brings.