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 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 told 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.  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.'"  We note that at this point in Christ's ministry both John the Baptist and Jesus have disciples, and both ministries are baptizing.  (Note that John 4:2 tells us that Jesus did not baptize, but His disciples did.)    John's singular humility is paramount in his response to the news from his disciples that Jesus is baptizing, and that all are coming to Him!  He is first of all humble before God, teaching that a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  He reminds his followers of his earlier teaching regarding his own role and that of Christ.  John remains the strongest example we have of the monastic ideal, and the humility that would serve each of us well in life, regardless of our place or role.

"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 calls himself the friend (or "best man"), and Christ is the bridegroom.  The bride is the people of God, or the Church.  My study bible notes that the Baptist confesses his role in the coming of the Messiah -- that he is witness to the wedding of Christ and His people, and John therefore rejoices in that celebration.   To rejoice greatly because of the bridegroom's voice is to rejoice at His approach (see Matthew 25:1-13).

"He must increase, but I must decrease."  This statement is viewed as the classic expression of humility from John the Baptist, which my study bible calls an example for all believers.  John renounces every worldly glory and reputation for the sake of Christ.  In allowing Christ to increase in him, John finds true glory.  My study bible adds that moreover, the statement indicates the end of the old covenant.  As the law vanishes, Christ's grace abounds.  John's declaration is expressed in the liturgical calendar of the Church.  John the Baptist's birth is celebrated at a time when the sun begins to decrease in the sky (June 24), and Christ's birth at the time 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 the Baptist reflects the teaching of Jesus Himself (see 3:18).  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom, who comments regarding belief in the Son:  "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.)   Faith is meant to be transformational; what is truly kept in the heart becomes a part of ourselves and is inseparable from what we do, and how we live.

Once again, we view John the Baptist's humility, and understand how it may well serve each of us in the practice of our faith.  The statement, "He must increase, and I must decrease" is one that serves us all, as my study bible says.  It implies not merely the reputation and stature of each man as teacher or rabbi or public figure with disciples.  Rather, it reflects the action of Christ in us.  This is related to baptism, in which we are reborn "from above," through water and the Spirit.  My study bible says that in salvation, "we are given union with God through Christ, a right and full relationship with the Holy Trinity, and the restoration of our full humanity."  Therefore, John's statement that "He must increase, and I must decrease" is one that each one of us makes in the true spiritual journey of Christian faith.  This salvation of increase and transformation is accomplished through Christ's Incarnation, in which everything that was assumed by Christ was healed through the union of God and man in Jesus Christ.  Salvation, my study bible explains, "is founded on a substantial union of the believer with Christ in His full humanity, a flesh-to-flesh relationship."   This is the reality of the Cross, and the teaching of Christ that we each must take up our own cross, and deny ourselves (Matthew 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23, 14:27).  St. Paul affirms this reality repeatedly.    He states, "I die daily" in 1 Corinthians; in the Letter to the Galatians he writes, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (see 1 Corinthians 15:31, Galatians 2:20).  This is the living way in which we embody our faith, just as Christ was embodied as human being, man and God.  There is no way we can separate our faith from who we are and what we do, this transformational reality that works in us on all  levels, and which work of increasing and decreasing is always ongoing.  My study bible comments on the fact that baptism with water is necessary for our faith, as Christ fully embodied the entirety of the mystery of salvation:  He actually died on a cross, was buried, and rose again -- through His faith and God's grace.  Thereby, we are actually immersed in the sacramental waters of baptism, which is made effectual through our faith and God's grace.  My study bible comments that we go down into the water to be mystically united to Christ in His death; we live again by rising up out of the water in His resurrected humanity.  This is what it means to be "born again."  It is a fullness and embodiment of faith in all dimensions, that will call on us for a process of repentance and transformation, transfiguration.  Just as did St. Paul, we live that rebirth every day in one form or another.    This is an ongoing process, a wholistic sense in which our faith translates into what we do and each continues in an ongoing cycle.  It is the action of taking up the cross daily.  Let us consider the humility of John the Baptist, as it remains a model image for us all.   John rejoices in his role as the friend of the bridegroom.  So we much each find the fulfillment in the role the Bridegroom has in relation to us.