Then I was beside him, like a master worker;
And I was daily his delight,
Rejoicing before him always,
Rejoicing in his inhabited world
And delighting in the human race.
…
Happy is the one who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting beside my doors. (Proverbs 8:30-34)

More than the other Gospel writers, John captures the scope and grandeur of the Incarnation.

The full creative force of God, the Wisdom that rejoices in creation, became part of creation through the birth of Jesus to Mary. That man Jesus, known best perhaps to “the disciple whom he loved,” showed his followers that love is the abiding quality in God’s own life. Love is also to be the characteristic of our lives.

As he reclined next to Jesus at the Last Supper, John heard the new commandment “that you love one another” from a privileged position — but that privileged position is now open to each one of us.

Each of us is a Beloved Disciple in our own right, invited to share the same intimacy with Jesus that John did, and called to share the same good news of love with those around us.