22 After this Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, and He spent some time there with them and baptized. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized 24 — John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. 26 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 all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of Him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease” John 3:22-30.
John the evangelist always wishes in his gospel to glorify Jesus Christ, and so he once again makes it a point to place John the Baptizer as the forerunner of Jesus — for Jesus alone is to be glorified, something John the Baptizer is readily agreeable to when he said: “Jesus must increase, but I must decrease” John 3:30. The Baptizer is remarkably humble throughout, especially when he said: “I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of Him” John 3:28. So keen is John to show the supremacy of Jesus that he shows the ministry of Jesus coinciding with the Baptizer’s so that we can clearly see and appreciate the glory of Jesus!
All of the Gospel writers wish to show conclusively that Jesus, and Jesus alone, is who He says He is — the Son of God and Savior of the world.
I have always been enormously attracted to the Baptizer because he never sought out the leading place or role. He knew who sat on the Throne and was very humble with living in His life. The Baptizer also knew that anyone of his own disciples and followers were gifts of God and that he was never in competition with Jesus. The Baptizer said: “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven” John 3:27. John was so respectful of Jesus and knew that all good things in his life came from God.
So the Baptizer knew who he was and who Jesus was: “29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled” John 3:29. The Baptizer knew Jesus was the bridegroom and he himself a friend of the bridegroom. The Jews viewed Israel as the bride and God as the bridegroom of Israel, and the Baptizer understood this when he identified himself as a friend of the bridegroom.
Today we call such a man the Best Man, and that is how the Baptizer saw himself. He wanted nothing more in his life than to help bring Israel together with Jesus. Oh that we could all have the heart of the Baptizer!
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Let me live as the Baptizer lived, joyfully doing all I can do in my life to see You increase and me decrease. In Jesus’ name I humbly pray.
From the Bible:
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” Philippians 2:4.
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil” Luke 6:35.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you” John 15:14.
“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” Philippians 2:3-4.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:20.
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