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

 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 was 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

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught 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.  We should remember what a great figure John the Baptist was in his time.  He was widely recognized as a holy man.  Jesus' first disciples were earlier disciples of John the Baptist (that presumably includes John the Evangelist, writer of this Gospel).  At this point, their ministries overlap.  Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples did (4:2).

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 was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"   Again, as above, we remember that the Gospel tells us that Jesus did not baptize, but His disciples did (4:2). 

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."  John the Baptist is called the friend (or "best man") of the bridegroom, while Christ Himself is the bridegroom.  The bride, my study bible says, is the Church, the people of God.  John here confesses his role in the coming of the Messiah.  He is the witness to the wedding of Christ and His people.  Therefore he rejoices in the celebration.  His joy is fulfilled:  His true place and identity in the Kingdom are complete.

"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."  My study bible tells us that John's humility expressed here serves as an example for all the faithful.  John renounces all worldly or earthly glory and reputation for the sake of Christ.  By allowing Christ to increase in him, John finds his true glory.  This is also a statement indicating the end of the old covenant.  John is the last and greatest of the Old Testament style prophets.  As the law vanishes, it is the grace of Jesus Christ that abounds.  John's declaration is also revealed in the liturgical calendar.  His birth is celebrated by tradition in the Church at a time when the sun begins to decrease in the sky (on June 24), while Christ's birth is celebrated when the sun begins to increase (December 25).

"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 the Baptist echoes the teaching of Christ Himself (see verse 18 in yesterday's reading, above).   My study bible makes note of the absence of the word "alone" in this statement of faith.   John Chrysostom comments:  "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.

There are a handful of occurrences in John's Gospel (and in one Epistle of John) where joy is spoken of in a particular sense of fulfillment.  Here, John the Baptist says, "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 is describing his true role in the salvation plan of God, his relationship to the Christ.   It's important to note that it is in this context in which we read of the fulfillment of his joy.  At the Last Supper (in chapter 15) Jesus tells His disciples, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full" (15:9-11).  He then immediately gives them a new commandment:  "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (15:12).  The fulfillment of both Christ's joy and the joy of the disciples is in this love, this relatedness among then all, with Christ as the center, uniting all in love.  In chapter 16, still in the discourse of the Last Supper, Jesus addresses His imminent "Exodus," the Crucifixion, about which the disciples still know so little.  They have only His vague statement that He will leave them for a "little while" (16:16).  Jesus tells them, "Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (16:22-24).   Let us keep in mind that He is speaking of the greatest possible tragedy that is about to happen to them.  Again, the fullness of joy is in their relatedness to the Bridegroom, their place in His love and thereby His Kingdom.  This is the fullness of joy.  In John's First Epistle, there is similar language found.  He writes as a witness to the life of Christ, and " . . . that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.  And these things we write to you that your joy may be full" (1 John 1:3-4).  Again, the fulfillment of joy is in direct relatedness to Christ as the Center, in "fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."  John the Baptist speaks paradoxically to our ears.  We associate happiness or joy with nominal ideas of success or winning.  But it is a question of what success really is, and what winning really is.  If we can only think in terms of competition with others, we will miss the point here.  Jesus tells us (also in John's Gospel as part of the Last Supper discourse), "In My Father’s house are many mansions" (see John 14:2-3).  The true perfection or completion or fulfillment of our joy is in that place that is prepared for us by Him, and clearly there is room for everybody in His Father's house.  There is no limitation on joy or completeness, even on the perfection implied in this completeness.  If we limit ourselves to the worldly perspective of what everybody else seems to be doing or chasing, we limit our own joy and our own sense of completeness or fulfillment.  We chase happiness in all kinds of places, but the fulfillment of joy is in return to Creator, in the place the Creator declares we are doing well.  That requires the kind of humility and the independence of thinking expressed by John the Baptist in today's reading.  That is, a kind of independence of thinking, or detachment, given to us as we are "taken out of the world" by the love of Christ and what that conveys within us and for us.  It requires a kind of strength that is given by the love of God.  It requires the love He is here to show us, to invite us into, and the discipleship He offers.