“The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved”

Does this phrase, which was unique to John in his Gospel, mean that Jesus preferred a disciple over the others? You do know that the Apostle John, whom many scholars agree that he concealed himself behind this phrase, uses it, in his Gospel, five times: at the Last Supper (13:23), before the Cross (19:26), when he received the news of the empty tomb (20:2), on the sea of Tiberias after Passover (21:7), and when Peter asks about the fate of this disciple who does not tire of following the Master (21:20, some scholars add a sixth time: 21:24). These places refer to a specific disciple, no doubt. However, at the same time, he is a disciple who foreshadows any disciple, in more than one generation, who reclines with Jesus at His supper, and who is with Him, witnessing to His death and resurrection to the end. The beloved disciple is the witness to the love, the love that knows no end!