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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
After this, Jesus and His disciples went out into the
Judean countryside, where He spent some time with them, and baptized.
Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because
there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. (This was
before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John’s
disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to
John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of
the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, He is baptizing, and everyone is
going to Him.”
To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is
given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the
Messiah but am sent ahead of Him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. 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.
He must become greater; I must become less.”
The One who comes from above is above all; the one who is
from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The One
who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard,
but no one accepts His testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that
God is truthful. For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God
gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed
everything in His hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but
whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
John 3:22-36
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
You knew it had to happen sooner or later.
Go back to the story of Jesus’ appearance on the scene as
He began His adult ministry and you’ll remember that John was already there,
calling on people to repent and baptizing them in the Jordan River. Obviously,
John had grown his own base of believers, even despite trying to tell others
that there was one coming who would deserve all the honor and glory, one who
would not baptize with mere water but rather the Holy Spirit.
And then Jesus came, proclaimed by John as the Lamb of
God who had come to take away the sins of the world. The long awaited Messiah
had finally arrived but do you remember the first thing that happened as He was
in the company of John? Didn’t John baptize Jesus?
Now, we know that John did this only after Jesus
encouraged him too. In fact, you’ll recall that John downright rejected Jesus’
first request, suggesting it was he that should be baptized by Jesus, not the
other way around. But in the end, John did place Jesus briefly into the waters
of the Jordan before bringing Him back up and seeing the heavens open and a
dove descend bringing the Holy Spirit onto the one who God had sent to be the
Savior of the world.
Given all this, perhaps it would be easy to understand
how John’s disciples would have seen him as the one who was special and favored
by God, even going as far to see Jesus as a rival. Look again at today’s
scripture passage from the closing verses of John 3:
After this, Jesus
and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where He spent some
time with them, and baptized.
Now John also was
baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people
were coming and being baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An
argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the
matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that
man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified
about—look, He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.”
To this John
replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You
yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of
Him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. 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. He must become
greater; I must become less.”
The One who comes
from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth,
and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all. He
testifies to what He has seen and heard, but no one accepts His testimony. Whoever
has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the One whom God has
sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The
Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. Whoever believes
in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for
God’s wrath remains on them. John 3:22-36
Jesus had just finished teaching a Pharisee named
Nicodemus about why He had come to earth and what was required for someone to be
lifted up and find salvation, experiencing victory over Satan, death, and the grave.
After this, our scripture passage tells us that Jesus went out into the Judean
countryside with His disciples where He spent time with them but also baptized
others.
Well, not far from where Jesus was doing His ministry
with, we find John the Baptist still baptizing as well when an argument broke
out between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over ceremonial washing. The
debate caused John’s followers to go to him and essentially complain because
Jesus was taking away potential disciples who were choosing to receive His
baptism over John’s. I’m sure the disciples were trying to stir up some anger
inside John, an indignation which might lead to conflict with Jesus. They had
to be disappointed (and maybe even a little bit surprised) at his reaction. For
John essentially told his followers, “I have no issue with Jesus and the
ministry work He is doing.”
In fact, here were the words John spoke:
“A person can
receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I
said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of Him.’ The bride belongs to the
bridegroom. 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. He must become greater; I must become less.”
Note here that John understood his standing when compared
to Jesus. Basically, there was no comparison. In fact, John had already
testified that he was not the Messiah but merely the messenger proclaiming the
Messiah’s coming. John had fulfilled that duty well and as we see in his own
words, his joy had been made complete, all because he allowed himself to be
less so Jesus could be greater.
In other words, John had no issue taking a back seat to
Jesus who he said this about:
The One who comes
from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth,
and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all. He
testifies to what He has seen and heard, but no one accepts His testimony. Whoever
has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the One whom God has
sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The
Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. Whoever believes
in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for
God’s wrath remains on them.
Here John reasserts Jesus’ greatness and singularity when
it came to the matter of majesty, authority, and stature. Jesus came from
above. He was the One sent from God, the One who served (and serves) as God’s
spokesperson, the One who has been given the Spirit without limit. He was the
only One who the Father gave everything to, placing it in His Son’s hands.
Indeed, John wanted everyone to know the bottom line.
Jesus was supreme over him and anyone else for that
matter…and He had no issue with that.
Friends, our relationship with Jesus today is no
different from John’s. God has given Jesus all authority over heaven and earth
(Matthew 28:18) and that includes us. He reigns and rules over all mankind and
at His appointed time will return to judge the earth.
Thus, we have no other proper response toward Him than to
bow down at His feet and worship, giving Him our fullest sense of reverence
while acknowledging that we must make ourselves less so He can be more.
Any true believer should have no issue with that.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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