follower like the beloved disciple. Consequently, anyone who has ears to hear the Gospel of John can imagine what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus, then and now. That’s what John expected, that believers would gather together to hear his Gospel read to them (1 Jn 1:1–4). Yet, even that wouldn’t happen unless members depended on each other: illiterate members can’t hear unless literate members read. But some in John’s churches decided they would be better off without John or the rest of the