“You did what?” thundered Diotrephes.

“I invited him into my house,” I replied.

“But don’t you know that he will just try to bring lies and division into our congregation?”

“But you haven’t even met him,” I protested.

“I don’t need to.  I’ve met people like him before,” he sneered.

“We talked for hours yesterday evening, and he spoke nothing but truth.”

“If that’s what you think, Gaius, maybe we need to start checking on you!”  The look on Diotrephes’ face was threatening.

“Look, he brought a letter with him…”

“Don’t they all?  Letters from Paul, letters from Peter, letters from James – but they’re all dead.  Surely you understand!  Nobody writes inspired letters any more: when people bring letters with them, they’re frauds.”

“But this was a letter from John, Diotrephes.  The Apostle John, the disciple who Jesus loved.  The man who taught me the truth about God, and then baptised me.”

“Oh, come on!  He’s much too old to be writing letters, and he’s never been an author anyway.  He only sends messengers, and I think he’s probably going senile, based on the last few messages we’ve had from him.  Remember that last man you invited into your house?  There were plenty of people in the assembly who weren’t happy with him and what he said.  You didn’t make yourself popular welcoming him.”

“Of course I welcomed him.  He came teaching truth and reminding us of Jesus’ words of salvation.  I learned a lot from him, and it would have helped lots of the brothers if you had allowed him to speak before the assembly.”

“He was just coming to tell us what to do.”

“Anyway,” I continued, “we’re not talking about him, we’re talking about a letter, and this was a letter sent from John.  It’s written in his handwriting, too – I recognise it.”

“Well, where is this letter then?  Let me read what the old apostle John has to say to our congregation.  Obviously he doesn’t have any authority over us, but he just might have something worth reading.”

“He didn’t send it to our congregation.  He sent it to me.”

“I’m sorry, Gaius, but I think it must be a fraud.  Even if John has taken up writing in his old age, he would hardly be likely to write to you, would he?  He would write to the leaders in the assembly – people like me.  I reckon your visitor wrote the letter himself, trying to make it look like John’s writing.”

“No, Diotrephes, the letter is genuine.  And what he says makes sense too.”

“If it makes sense, then it can’t be from John.  John’s too old, and he’s getting too carried away with his own importance.  Just because he knew Jesus, he thinks we should all bow down to him and listen to everything he says.  The fact is, he’s almost illiterate, which is no real surprise – he was only a fisherman, and now he’s tool old even for that.”

“Don’t forget, he was one of the twelve that Jesus chose!”

“Yes, and so was Judas.  The time of the apostles has passed.  Jerusalem has been destroyed and the nation of Israel is no more.  All the leaders amongst Jesus’ followers are Gentiles now.  The truth has moved on.  If you need to know answers about God’s word, come and ask me, don’t listen to a crotchety old man.”

“This ‘crotchety old man’, as you call him, is a messenger of the son of God.  If you ignore him, you ignore God.”

“You’re living in the past, Gaius.  The apostles are all dead and gone, except for senile old John.  If John wants to send us messages, he should send them to me, then I can make sure that they’re right.”

“You’ll have to tell him that yourself, Diotrephes.  In fact, why don’t you tell it to the messenger he sent?  He’s still at my home.”

“He’s still at your home?  People like him are not welcome here, and if you insist on entertaining people like him, we’ll have to review your membership of the assembly.  Do you want to hang onto the past, welcoming people who just cause division?  Gaius, it’s coming to a point where you might have to make a choice.  Do you want to be part of our dynamic group of believers in whom the word of God is growing and maturing?”

“Let’s just stop here for a moment, Diotrephes.  You said that John isn’t a writer.  Have you ever received a letter from him?”

“We all know that John doesn’t write like Paul or any of the others.”  His look was evasive and so was his answer.  This new letter from John had mentioned an earlier letter, and that convinced me to pursue the matter.

“Have you ever received a letter from John?”  I persisted.

“Not personally.”

“So you have received one that was not for you personally?”

“There was a short note a while ago.”

“I don’t remember that being mentioned in any of our meetings, Diotrephes.  As one of the congregation, I would expect to hear about it.”

“It wasn’t important – it was all about John asserting his supposed authority.  The congregation didn’t need to hear it.”

“So it wasn’t a letter to you, but you stopped anyone from hearing about it?”

“That’s a confrontational way of putting it, Gaius.  You sound like Demetrius.  Are you looking for a fight?”

“I’m just looking for truth, and I hope you are too.  Do you know what John wrote to me about Demetrius?”

“Do I care?  John’s opinions are not very important here.”

“John said, ‘Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.’  Sounding like Demetrius could be a good thing, don’t you think?”

“Well, I don’t think he’ll be getting a good testimony from this congregation for much longer.  We’ve begun the process of expelling him for his stubborn refusal to accept the decisions of the elders.  He persists in welcoming exactly the sort of so-called brothers you have staying with you now.  I thought you were better than that, Gaius, but it seems that we may have to expel you too.”

“Stop!  Stop!  Stop, Diotrephes!  You are doing just exactly what he said about you!”

“Who?”

“John.  He said that he had written a letter to the congregation, but that it had been rejected by you; then he said five things about you.  Do you want to hear them?”

“No.  He is trying to make himself the big boss.  He has no authority here.”

“That’s what he said you were saying.”

“Well, he keeps sending people who cause trouble.  He should leave us alone.  I and my friends are here to lead the congregation.  He’s just an old has-been, living in the past, back when Jerusalem and the temple were still around, when Peter and Paul and the rest were teaching.  Not only that, but some of his memories of the past are just plain wrong anyway.  He seems to forget that he and the other eleven didn’t always get things right.  Jesus didn’t call James and John the ‘Sons of Thunder’ for nothing!  And he is still too quick in calling for judgement on people who don’t agree with him.  We need to move with the times.  And these times don’t include John.  These are our times where we…”

“He said that you would say things like that too!”  I had heard enough, and interrupted without ceremony.  “Why won’t you listen to the words of a man whom Jesus loved enough to choose, first as one of his 12 disciples and then as one of the special three?”

“Gaius, you are a good brother, but you are being led away from the truth.  If you don’t start listening to us instead of trying to instruct us, we may have to discipline you too!”

“Diotrephes, I’m going to tell you what John said about you whether you want to hear it or not.  There were five points he made about you: firstly, that you will not acknowledge his authority.”

“Of course I will, but he shouldn’t be trying to rule over everybody and keeping living in the past.”

“His second point was that you like to put yourself first,” I continued.

“That’s ridiculous!  I am a leader in the congregation because I was appointed to a position of leadership and have exercised it better than anyone else.  If John would just stop trying to be the big boss over everyone, we wouldn’t have these problems.”

“Thirdly, he says that you speak wicked nonsense against him.”

“Well, you know that one is completely false.  Many, many times you’ve heard me praising John, but some of the men he sends to us are simply outside the bounds of godliness and fellowship.  I hate to have to say it, but he’s losing his grip, and we won’t tolerate his stooges any more.”

“Fourthly, he says that you refuse to welcome the brothers,” I continued, smiling at the way his last words had so clearly proved John’s charge.

“They’re not our brothers, and if you want them as your brothers, then you won’t be welcome either!” he shot back.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I almost laughed, because all of his comments fitted so well with the very things John had condemned in him.  “His fifth statement was that you put those who want to welcome the brothers out of the congregation – and that’s just what you are threatening me with.  Please, Diotrephes, listen to the Apostle’s words.  He wants unity and peace amongst the believers, but you’re not going about things the right way.”

Our discussion went on for a while, but Diotrephes was not in any mood to accept instruction.  In parting, I asked him to stop and consider, while he threatened to exclude me from the congregation.

I went home and reread John’s letter several times.  How could our world-wide fellowship have come to this?  Was not the church meant to be Jesus’ body?  One body?  A body of unity and humility?  I discussed the question with the brother who had delivered John’s letter and we worried together.  We continued our discussions the next day, concentrating on what the future of Jesus’ church was, then the following day he left to return to John.  He would not have a happy message to report.  Maybe it would inspire John to visit us.  I hoped so, but worried that it might already be too late.

The next day, I received a visit from Diotrephes, calling me to attend a meeting of what he called “The Elders” to answer certain accusations.  Again I tried to reason with him, but he would have none of it and left with the words, “Just be there on Saturday night, Gaius.  I’m warning you that if you won’t listen to us, we’ll have to count this discussion today as the start of the process of putting you out of the church – along with the rest of the troublemakers we’ve already got rid of.”

After hearing that parting threat, I went immediately to see Demetrius.  He welcomed me a little cautiously, I thought, and we spoke for a while on general matters before I brought up my reason for visiting.  I told him about the letter John had sent and what he had said of Diotrephes, and of Demetrius himself.  He was rather surprised to hear John’s praise of himself, but pleased because it gave him more confidence that he was doing the right thing in opposing Diotrephes and his cronies.

“Did you know that I’m to be formally put out of the church tomorrow?” he asked sadly.  “Gaius, what can we do?  It is Jesus’ congregation – what can I do if I can’t be part of it?”

“I knew Diotrophes was working on it,” I said, “but I didn’t know it had got that far.  I have an interview of my own with Diotrephes and his gang on Saturday.  Obviously you made a better stand than I did – earlier, at least.  I suppose they will throw me out, too.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Maybe if John were to visit…”

“But he is very old.  I’m sure he would like to come, but what if he can’t?”

“Can it be that if the true believers are being put out of the church, the church is not Jesus’ church anymore?”

“Maybe.  We’ll have to think about it.  What are you doing on Sunday?  I won’t be welcome in the congregation any more.”

“And after Saturday night, I probably won’t be either,” I responded, glumly.  Neither of us was sure quite what it could all mean.

“If Diotrephes and those who follow him have taken over Jesus’ church, what can we do?  Are there enough people on the right side to be able to stop them?”

“I don’t think so,” I said slowly, mentally counting the few that I was confident about.  “There are a few of us, but more of them.”

“And all this has happened within only 60 years or so of Jesus going into heaven – and even while one of his chosen disciples is still alive.  What a catastrophe!”

“And if this can happen in 60 years, how far will they be able to lead the church astray in a hundred years if Jesus doesn’t come back before then?”

 We stared at each other in consternation.  Neither of us knew the answer, but we were both deeply worried.