10 Jan 26 | John 3:22–30
John the Baptist publicly embraces his diminishing role so that Christ, the true Bridegroom, may be fully revealed and glorified.
Today’s Takeaway
Authentic discipleship is marked not by rivalry or recognition, but by joyful surrender—allowing Christ to increase even when it means our own prominence must fade.
The Gospel
Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea,
where he spent some time with them baptizing.
John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim,
because there was an abundance of water there,
and people came to be baptized,
for John had not yet been imprisoned.
Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew
about ceremonial washings.
So they came to John and said to him,
“Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan,
to whom you testified,
here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”
John answered and said,
“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.
You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ,
but that I was sent before him.
The one who has the bride is the bridegroom;
the best man, who stands and listens for him,
rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
So this joy of mine has been made complete.
He must increase; I must decrease.”
In the Margins
In this Gospel we are first presented with Jesus and his disciples baptizing while John is conducting baptisms roughly 30 miles away. That puts the two of them 1 to 2 days travel apart, which is close enough for them to stay in reasonable contact, but far enough that some of the disciples likely saw them as distinct ministries. This is what would likely lead to the conversation John has with his follower.
There are speculations about why John would have relocated here from the wilderness area where he was baptizing prior, and this is the only time the Bible tells us why a location was chosen (an abundance of water was there). It could be that John moved for political safety reasons as this Gospel makes a point to specify that John had not yet been imprisoned.
The dispute arises between a follower of John and an unnamed Jew who came to the area. We don’t know what the dispute was, but it seems to have been around laws from Leviticus and likely what the baptisms were accomplishing. The ceremonial washings were for a purification purpose, while John’s baptisms were preparatory and aimed towards repentance and expectation. The argument would probably have stemmed from authority to conduct the cleansings.
It sounds like the disciple is comparing their baptism numbers to some degree. He is stating that “everyone is coming to Him.” It would make sense that this follower would be confused. The disciple would have potentially seen these as two separate ministries and John having baptized Jesus would have possibly looked like a hierarchical relationship to some, with John more senior. Especially in modern perception, we can sometimes assume the one performing the baptism is ‘closer to God’ at that moment than the one being baptized. They have been living the faith and are already baptized. Jesus was so different and John immediately reminds the disciple of this!
What comes next from John is pure testimony to the greatness of Christ. He declares that ones mission is a gift and any authority one possesses is granted by God’s will. This echoes numerous Old Testament verses where God appoints roles. In Isaiah 54 and Hosea 2, Israel is portrayed as the bride of God. Here we have John claiming to be the best man of sorts – indirectly declaring Jesus to be God. John then establishes his place in the order and has shared his true joy in Jesus and the success He is having.
This reminds us where we can look for true joy in our lives. I touched yesterday on this a bit, how the digital world drives us to get our dopamine from almost anywhere other than God. This passage reminds us that glory belongs to God and that is something we should celebrate. It also highlights that in celebrating that we can be enveloped in true joy – eternal joy. Our goal on the path that we are on is going to be tough, especially in a world that tells us we should look at all these secular places for joy. If we remember our eternal place, if we remember the feeling of true joy for others and strive to have that joy whenever we see the success of God, we can begin to walk a more true path.
Reflection Question
Do I measure my faithfulness by my visibility and results, or by my willingness to let Christ increase even when it means I must decrease?