Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease

 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.  Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.  And they came and were baptized.  For John had not yet been thrown into prison. 

Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who as with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.'  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.  Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease.

"He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.  He who comes from heaven is above all.  And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.  He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.  For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.  The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.  He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

- John 3:22-36

Yesterday, we continued reading Jesus' teaching to Nicodemus:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.  Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.  And they came and were baptized.  For John had not yet been thrown into prison.   In John 4:2 we're told that Jesus did not Himself baptize, but His disciples did.  John refers to John the Baptist.

Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who as with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.'  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.  Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease."  John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the Old Testament type prophets, calls himself the friend of the bridegroom (such as the "best man").  Jesus is the bridegroom.  The bride, says my study bible, is the Church, or the people of God.  John teaches about his own role in the coming of the Messiah.  He is witness to the wedding of Christ and His people, and he rejoices in that celebration.  When he says, "This joy of mine is fulfilled," he not only rejoices in this spiritual wedding, but he is teaching about his role in salvation history; his mission has been completed.  In saying that "He must increase, but I must decrease," John expresses his humility that is an example for all believers.  My study bible says that he renounces all earthly glory and reputation for the sake of Christ.  By allowing Christ to increase in him, John himself finds true glory.  The statement also indicates the end of the old covenant; as the law vanishes Christ's grace comes more to the fore.  In the tradition of the Church, John's birth is celebrated at a time when the sun begins to decrease in the sky (Jun 24), while Christ's is celebrated when the sun begins to increase (December 25).

"He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.  He who comes from heaven is above all.  And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.  He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.  For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.  The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.  He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."  Here John echoes Jesus' own teaching to Nicodemus.  First, he teaches that Christ is from above (see 3:13), and that He testifies to what He knows (3:11).  Secondly, in 3:18, Jesus has taught about faith in the Son.  My study bible notes the absence of the word "alone" in the statement of faith.  It quotes commentary from Chrysostom:  "We do not from this assert that faith alone is sufficient for salvation; the directions for living that are given in many places in the Gospels show this."  (See also James 2:14-24.)

Why does John's role become an example for all of us?  Because his humility is an example for each of us.  As Christ increases in John, so Christ is to increase in each of us.  Each of us are to seek that place to which Christ calls us, in which we find how it is that Christ increases in us.  Christ calls us to what we might become.  John has fulfilled his role; he accepts what his life is and is to be, when he says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."  And this is true humility.  It is to fulfill the life that God asks of you, regardless of how you might think up different plans for yourself, according to one's own way of thinking.  We need to understand the kind of figure that John the Baptist was in his own time.  He was a kind of religious hero to his own people, revered as a holy man, known as one who stood for how God called God's people.  He would also die for doing so, for speaking out against the ways of a king that conflicted with the Jewish faith.  But John speaks out in the most important ways for all of us today as well, when he tells us that "He must increase but I must decrease."  Even to the point of sending his own disciples to follow Jesus, John is humble before God and God's plan for the world.  It is only in the true fullness of a complete dedication to God that we find this strength and this grace.  John's way of life contrasted quite strongly with that of Jesus.  He lived in a radical poverty with the aim of serving and relying on God alone.  Jesus Himself would say of the contrast between the life of His ministry and that of John the Baptist that "wisdom is justified by all her children."  And so it is with each of us, that whatever we are called to by God, He must increase in us as "we" decrease -- and in each, if humility is the key to our faith, wisdom is justified by all her children.  In this we each have our joy fulfilled.  We are each called to be a friend to the Bridegroom.