93 Which disciple did Jesus love

The Gospel of John mentions a disciple whom Jesus loved at the last supper. The disciple is unidentified 

John 13:23 One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, was at the table.

The Gospel of John says Jesus loved all of the disciples

John 13:24 I give you a new commandment--to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus bestowed a kingdom on the disciples at the last supper. They were all worthy

Luke 22:29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

In the Gospel of John again, Jesus even loved Lazarus although Lazarus wasn’t one of the original twelve disciples

John 11:1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

Thus Jesus loved people who were outside the charmed circle of the disciples. He loved his main disciples and those who weren’t his main disciples. Yet there was the anomalous “disciple whom Jesus loved,” and thus a Gospel oddity.

Recap: John says Jesus was partial to a particular disciple. But Jesus showed love for all his disciples. The other Gospels failed to mention the disciple whom Jesus loved. And other New Testament books don't mention him, either. I doubt that the original tale about Jesus included the beloved disciple. It appeared just in the Gospel of John. So I say the writer of John invented the beloved disciple.

Related post on my other blog:
09 Did the Apostle John write John