Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'  I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."  And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.  And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.  Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"  They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"  He said to them, "Come and see."  They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).  One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus.  Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

- John 1:29-42

Yesterday we read the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"  He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."  And they asked him, "What then?  Are you Elijah?"  He said, "I am not."  "Are you the Prophet?"  And he answered, "No."  Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us?  What do you say about yourself?"  He said:  "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  "Make straight the way of the LORD,"' as the prophet Isaiah said."  Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.  And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"  John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.  It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."  These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  My study bible comments that John's declaring Jesus to be the Lamb of God is a recollection of Isaiah's "Servant of God," who dies for the transgressions of His people (Isaiah 53:4-12).  Christ is the true Paschal (or Passover) Lamb, who offers Himself for our deliverance from darkness and death (1 Peter 1:18-19).  My study bible adds the teaching of St. John Chrysostom, that Jesus came to John the Baptist this second time so that John would make this declaration, and thereby stop others from thinking that Jesus needed baptism in order to wash away sins.

"This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'  I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."  And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."   John bears witness, and gives testimony to the experience of the baptism of Christ.  My study bible comments that his testimony that the Spirit remained upon Him is a sign that Christ possesses the Spirit in His fullness from all eternity.  It was not a reception of the Spirit at that time of His Baptist; rather the vision seen by John is a revelation of the truth that the Holy Spirit has always rested upon Christ.   This is the second day given in John's Gospel, following the creation story in Genesis.  on this day John the Baptist declares that Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit, making it clear it is greater than his own baptism of repentance, performed solely with water on earth.  My study bible comments that this parallels the separation of water above from the water below on the second day in Genesis 1:6-8.

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.  And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.  Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"  They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"  He said to them, "Come and see."  They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).  One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus.  Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).   Christ's first disciples were earlier followers of John the Baptist.  Here these first disciples are revealed as Andrew, and his brother Simon, also known as Peter, or Cephas.  In tomorrow's reading, more disciples will also be gathered to Christ.   These verses give us the third day of Christ's ministry.  John sends two disciples to Christ, and Jesus gathers them as His own -- one of whom He here declares to be the foundation of the Church in the final verse; see also Matthew 16:18.   This parallels the gathering of the waters and the establishment of growth on the land on the third day in Genesis 1:9-13.

We see the unfolding of Jesus' ministry.  And once more, let us observe how God's mysterious grace works.  This doesn't happen out of the blue, or as some magnificent event sent out of the sky to stun all observers and shock the world.  It is, instead, a smooth filtering and transition, one thing flowing into another.  The line of the Old Testament prophets is fulfilled and finds its end in John, the greatest of all of them.  His resemblance to Elijah (Matthew 3:4, 2 Kings 1:8) will later be expanded upon by Jesus, when He declares that John the Baptist was Elijah returned in spirit (Matthew 17:12-13, Mark 9:13), in fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah would return before the Christ (Malachi 4:5-6).  All of these things flow one into the other.  It is really not completely understood in an obvious way without spiritual guidance and insight, and without the help of God to show us the way.  John's vision given to him at Christ's Baptism is one such example of what is called a theophany, a revelation of God.  Otherwise, to average eyes with worldly sight, Jesus was just one more Man baptized at the river, as so many were doing.  But it is important that we understand how John the Baptist's ministry evolved, and how Jesus evolves out of it.  Jesus will teach the disciples, "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors" (4:38).  Just as John the Baptist has entered into the labor of the prophets that have come before him, so the ministry of Jesus enters into John's labor through his Baptism of Christ, and John's disciples become directed through John to become disciples of Christ.  If we observe closely the events of the Gospel, although they are arranged clearly for our point of view of the central question regarding who Jesus Christ is, we see that they aren't so carefully arranged that we cannot perceive this flow of events that might otherwise go unnoticed.  We can't help but see how each event is dependent upon the other, and how God works through all and in all.  This is the way we must think about our lives.  If we expect some staggering new to drop out of the sky and make everything at once clear, I think we're waiting upon the wrong thing.  God just doesn't really seem to work like that.  The one and only time we're told that God's appearance in the world will be unmistakable to all is at the return of Christ, the Second Coming (Luke 17:24).  But in our lives, and in the lives of the faithful over the past 2,000 years of Christianity, we must understand our faith as working in a deeper place than the obvious.  Things come together in ways we don't expect.  Various dissimilar and seemingly unconnected events and circumstances in our lives flow together in ways that make for gradual and transcendent change, adding insight through prayer or worship and other experience.  What is most important is that we understand how God works in our lives, through a kind of subtlety that operates through many things, and especially in conjunction with our own faith and prayer.  In the prophecy of Isaiah we read, "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.  'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9).  This height and this depth of the work of God indicates a seamlessly "organic" sort of experience, one that pulls together various threads of our lives but surely brings us to one place when we diligently seek God's way for ourselves.  Are we prepared for that gradual eventuality, for biding our time and entering into others' labors?  Do we do our work of God faithfully, pursuing what is good to pursue?  The revelation of the Christ to John the Baptist happens at once in this particular Baptism, but John has been faithfully pursuing his ministry of baptism all along, and preparing for this moment for all of his life, and in understanding of his role as friend of the Bridegroom.  So we should understand our lives as a whole, in the depth and breadth and height of experience and our being -- and that God is there in our midst and working through all things (Ephesians 3:14-19, Romans 8:28).  But it is faith that pulls us through and helps us to see and understand.