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 

 

Yesterday we read that there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, "We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  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.'  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."  In the development of the ministry of Christ, we read now that Jesus' ministry is also practicing baptism (4:2 tells us that it was not Jesus Himself who baptized, but rather Christ's disciples).   And here, John the Baptist's status is also revealed more deeply in the light of Christ.  He is called the friend (the "best man") while Christ is the bridegroom.  And the bride is the Church, the people of God.  Here John confesses his role in the coming of the Messiah:  John is witness to the wedding of Christ and His people, and therefore John rejoices in that celebration.  

"He must increase, but I must decrease."  This landmark statement expresses a humility which has become an example for all believers.  John's humility most especially became an example for the monastic life.  My study bible says that, in effect, John renounces all earthly glory and reputation for the sake of Christ.  By allowing Christ to increase in him, John himself finds true glory.  Note that this is the goal of all Christian believers, that Christ grows in us.  This statement, my study bible further says, also indicates the end of the old covenant.  As the law vanishes, the grace of Jesus Christ abounds.  In the liturgical calendar, this declaration is also revealed in the historical commemorations of the Church.  John's birth is celebrated at a time when the sun begins to decrease in the sky (June 24), while Christ birth 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."   The Baptist continues to elaborate the glory of Christ and His true identity as Son.  Let us note the words of testimony John uses for Jesus:  Jesus testifies to what He knows, as One sent by God who speaks the words of God.  The Baptist, to whom was revealed the reality of the Spirit resting upon Christ, testifies himself:  God does not give the Spirit by measure.  And here again is echoes the language of Christ, and our receipt of that testimony.  My study bible comments that John echoes the teaching of Christ Himself from verse 18 of this chapter in His teaching to Nicodemus:  "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."  Importantly, my study bible asks us to note the absence of the word "alone" in this statement of faith.  St. 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.

John the Baptist's words, "He must increase, but I must decrease," give us a number of layers of meaning entwined in them.  First of all, John speaks to his own disciples, who complain to him that Jesus' ministry is also baptizing:  "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  This could, in a certain sense, be compared to the complaints of the Pharisees we find in chapter 12:  "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!" (12:19).  But in the Baptist's case, his reaction is the opposite of that of the Pharisees.  Our first understanding of this statement regarding the increase of Christ, and the decrease of John, can be understood as a clear signal to his own disciples:  that this is right and proper that Jesus' ministry expands.  This is also reflected in the choosing of the first disciples in John's Gospel, as they are directed to Christ by John the Baptist.  So, consistently, John points the way to Christ, even among his own disciples and in his own ministry.  John then goes on to elaborate to his disciples about the identity of Christ:  that He comes from the Father and therefore His testimony of God is true.  Christ has come into the world -- He has been sent -- to testify, and that we might believe His testimony.  These are the words of the one (John the Baptist) to whom was revealed the fullness of the Spirit resting upon Christ.  Let us note the language of John the Baptist as well:  "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."   This language is an echo of Jesus' teaching to Nicodemus about being "born again."  If we recall from yesterday's reading (above), in Greek the words to be "born again" mean literally "born from above."  Everything points to this One who can give us more than an earthly baptism, but also one of the Spirit, from above.  So John's own testimony here to his disciples is one in which he points to the One from above, the One who is "above all."  He it is who is the Bridegroom, while John is the "Friend of the Bridegroom."   And then we come to the important meaning in this phrase of increasing and decreasing that my study bible notes:  that it applies to each of us, as the entire process of repentance, the lifetime of faith, must become a process of Christ increasing in us.  We, too, must understand that we are not the Bridegroom, but we are those invited to the wedding.  As in the parable of the Wedding Feast, found in Matthew 22:1-14, there is a particular wedding garment, a gift of the king (the Father) which we must wear to fully participate in this great wedding, this union, and that is fashioned through Christ's increase in us through our faith and God's grace, in a lifetime of growth in doing so.   This statement of the Baptist's is open-ended in this sense:  there is no limit to this increase, no time limit set on it; Christ's increase is not a one-time action.  It is simply the nature of Christ, and the nature of our relationship to Christ.  John's humility, then, serves as a gateway to growth in understanding and the true nature of things as they really are.  It is He who comes from above who testifies to what He knows, and it is up to us whether or not we receive that testimony.  Christ is the faithful witness (Revelation 1:5).   What of those, we might ask, who haven't heard of the name of Christ, or who do not know His teachings?  In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."  We understand this to mean that Christ Himself is Truth, and from the earliest beginnings of the Church, our believing ancestors understood this to mean that anything that served truth served Christ.  Therefore theology was born in the merger of Greek philosophy and apostolic teaching.  Our Bibles hold the Old Testament, written long before Christ's life in the world, because these Jewish Scriptures testify to the truth and therefore serve Christ.  What the ancients saw in their own pagan religions and philosophies that pointed the way to the fullness of truth in Christ was a reaching toward that truth -- just as John expresses here about himself as friend and Christ as Bridegroom.   We don't know who will come to faith in Christ, but we know the truth of His words and testimony, and we especially know His love and desire that all come to Him and that all are saved.  We don't know who will come to faith, and who will reject it, for it is not our job to judge nor to know the fullness of the ways to God.  But perhaps we can be certain that rejection is not the same as ignorance, and rest in the sureness of God's love and mercy, for this is the substance of the Witness who will be the only Judge (5:22).