John 3:22-30

John 3:22-30

After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the region of Judea.  And He remained there with them and He was baptizing.  And John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was plentiful water there.  And they were coming and they were being baptized.  For John was not yet being thrown into prison.  Then a difference of opinion came into being in the disciples of John and a Jew regarding the rites of purification.  And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan – to whom you have given testimony – look, this one baptizes and all come to Him.”  John answered them and said, “A man is not powerful enough to receive unless it should be given to Him out of heaven.  You yourselves testify to me that I said that I am not the Christ but that I am having been sent before that one.  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.  The friend of the bridegroom – who stands and who listens to him – rejoices for joy because of the voice of the bridegroom.  Therefore my joy has been fulfilled in this.  It is necessary for this one to increase and for me to decrease.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

In this passage, we see Jesus and John overlapping in ministry.  The disciples of John cannot be too impressed about the work of Jesus because they are in an argumentative mood.  They pick a fight with a Jew and then before too long the fight over purification turns into them complaining to John about how all the people are going to Jesus instead of coming to John.  It is often said that spiritual mentors often suffer more from zealous disciples than from their own critics.  Here we get a sense of how the zealousness of John’s disciples caused him pain.  Yet John deals with them with as much grace as possible.

Have you ever been hurt by the very ones you love?  Why do these wounds often hurt more?

Second Thought:

John makes a very neat point in these verses.  A person cannot receive unless it had been given to them out of heaven.  The only way that Jesus could be gaining disciples is if Jesus had been granted that authority and power from God.  Jesus gaining disciples is something to be celebrated by John!  Of course, this is also a paradigm for salvation.  None of us can receive salvation unless it is first given to us by God.  Anything from God therefore follows this same paradigm.

How does your salvation come from God first?  Do you live like salvation is earned or a gift?  How good are you at celebrating what God gives to others?

Third Thought:

In the end, we ultimately see humility in the words of John the Baptizer.  His disciples were leaving him and beginning to follow Jesus.  Jesus and His disciples had begun to baptize.  John’s remaining disciples were concerned.  They didn’t want him to take the place of second fiddle.  The Jewish leaders had come to John to demonstrate that they knew he was losing people to Jesus.  And what is John’s response?  John says that he never expected anything different than this.  He is not the bridegroom; he is the friend of the bridegroom.  Jesus’ voice makes him celebrate even if it means that he must decrease so that Jesus can increase.

Do you believe the same?  Are you willing to decrease so that Christ can increase?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 3:31-36