How old was john when jesus called him?

Answer 1

I assume that you mean John the disciple (rather than John the Baptist as he wasn't 'called' by Jesus as such but was a prophet sent to prepare the way for Jesus' ministry. John was the brother of James and a son of Zebedee. When John was called to be a disciple, it is almost certain that he was just a teenager perhaps a year or two past his bar mitzvah. There is quite a bit of evidence to back this up. Here are just 4 examples out of many:- 1. Both James and John were called 'the Sons of Thunder' as they had a reputation of being a bit beligerent. This suggests that he was a typical teenager! 2. At one point in the gospel stories (Mk 10: 35-45) the disciples were arguing who would sit next to Jesus when he came into his kingdom. The rather pushy mother of James and John was lobbying Jesus on behalf of her sons in this extract - something unthinkable if James and John were more mature men. 3. When James and John were called by Jesus we are told that they immediately left their father, Zebedee's fishing boat (Matt 4: 21-22, Mark 1: 19-20). In an age where life expectance was only 40-50 years of age, and octogenarians vary rare, for Zebedee to still be fit enough to go out in a fishing boat he could only have been in his later 30s or 40s. This means that James and John would have been 14-18 years of age. 4. Most scholars believe that John's gospel was the last to be written and was also written by John the apostle. the approximate date for the gospel lies between 90 - 100 AD. If the crucifixion and resurrection was around 30AD then John's gospel was written between 60-70 years after the events. If John was a teenager at the time of Jesus' ministry (say, 15) this would have placed his age at the time of writing his gospel as 75-85. Reaching this sort of age in those days was pretty rare but not unknown. However, if John had been much older than 15 at the time of Jesus' ministry, he would not have lived to have written his gospel. Most movies about Christ show John to be a mature man with a beard. But reading the gospels thoroughly and with some analysis, a totally different picture of John emerges.