Reading: John 3.22-36
Today’s reading returns to the ministry of John the Baptist, examining it after Jesus appeared on the scene. Jesus and John were both engaged in ministries involving baptism. An argument between John's disciples and a certain Jew about ceremonial washing, no doubt in response to John's ministry, led to a pointed reference to Jesus' baptism and popularity.
However, John felt neither threat nor jealousy. The honor that both were receiving was decreed in heaven, and God's intentions were not to be disputed. In any case, John was not the Christ but only the forerunner. Jesus was the Christ (the Messiah, the promised Savior); now that he was present, John must diminish.
Dr. Paul Louis Metzer in “The Gospel of John: When Love Comes to Town,” offers a compelling summary and commentary on this passage:
“Each of us in our own way wants to be the Messiah, the king, the bridegroom. We want to be number one. We want to be God. We may not want praise choruses sung to us; that would feel too strange. But each of us has a hard time putting Jesus’ will ahead of our own. That’s what makes John the Baptist’s response so special. The response is all the more special because John actually delights in these roles; it’s not that he has just resigned himself to the fact that that he is a forerunner and friend. ‘The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete’ (John 3.29).”
Each of us is number two…at best. We need to make John the Baptist’s motto our own: “He (Jesus) must become greater; I must become less” (John 3.30).
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