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 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!"  In the following chapter, the Gospel tells us that Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples were doing so (see John 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."  Here John the Baptist refers to himself as the friend of the bridegroom (or "best man"), while Christ Himself is the bridegroom.  Christ's bride is the Church, the faithful people of God.  My study Bible remarks that John confesses his role in the coming of the Messiah -- that he is witness to the wedding of Christ and Christ's people, and therefore, as the "friend" he rejoices in that celebration.   His joy is fulfilled because this is his true, authentic role in salvation.  

"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."  Here John the Baptist expresses a humility that is remarkable enough so that it serves as an example for all believers.  John renounces all earthly glory and reputation, my study Bible says, for the sake of Christ.  As John allows Christ to increase in him, the Baptist himself finds true glory.  Additionally, this statement indicates more completely the end of the old covenant.  As the law vanishes, so the grace of Jesus Christ abounds.  In the liturgical calendar, this declaration is also revealed, as John's birth is celebrated at a time when the sun begins to decrease in the sky (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's word echoes the teaching of Christ (see verse 18, found in yesterday's reading, above).  My study Bible comments that we should notice the absence of the word "alone" in this statement of faith.  It quotes a commentary by St. John 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. 

 

 As my study Bible indicates, John the Baptist's statement, "He must increase, but I must decrease" is a type of archetypal statement of humility; so much so, that it has remained a model for monastics and all those who take their faith seriously.  For this statement must also apply to the rest of us, if we take the increase in our faith seriously.  "He must increase, but I must decrease" is, in a sense, a statement of growing faith in Christ.  That is, a growing dependency upon our faith to guide our lives, commensurate with a letting go of the old ways of being and knowing.  Perhaps we, once upon a time, trusted a childhood friend to tell us things we thought might be a good idea.  But as we grow, we "put away childish things," as St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:11 ("When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things").  This is a statement of St. Paul about a growing, maturing faith, a faith that comes to know Christ (and hence, love) more deeply, and so in this sense we also decrease while Christ "increases" in us.  This is the way of faith and of grace, and these are the products or "fruit" of the Spirit.  As Jesus will teach the disciples in John's Gospel, the Spirit "will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:13-14).  That is, the Spirit guides us to know Christ more deeply, and this is the truth to which Christ refers.  So, in this sense also, we mature in our faith, we grow in the depth of this spiritual experience, and so in us, "He must increase, but I must decrease."  As we grow in casting off our childish ways, the goal of the Christian life is to grow in the ways that Christ holds for us, mature in the ways that Christ teaches us to be His children by adoption.  So let us take on this remarkable, towering, centuries-long exalted example of John the Baptist.  For he teaches us what holiness is and does, and the essential power of humility in the life of Christian faith.  For without humility, how does Christ increase in us?  How do we "decrease" and leave more room for Him?  When the angel Gabriel presents himself to Mary at the Annunciation, she sings, "My soul magnifies the Lord" (Luke 1:46).  In St. John the Baptist, and Mary the Mother of God we have the two most honored saints in the tradition of the Church.  They both teach us what it is to honor and love the Lord, they both teach us what personal holiness is.  Let us endeavor to be like them, to live our faith like them.