Our Gospel reading to close out this 3rd week of Advent, tells the brief account of some rivalry between the disciples of John the Baptist and those of Jesus, and some jealousy the former group had when they saw that their mentor, John the Baptist’s ministry was winding down. Let’s take a closer look at this story.
John the Baptist conducted his ministry of baptism and preaching of repentance in and around the Jordan River (Mark 1:4-5), and as our passage opens John is in Aenon, which many scholars believe was along the Jordan River, opposite Samaria, north of Judea and Jerusalem. The first dispute we read about was between the religious leaders of the day and John’s disciples about John’s baptism and the religious leaders purification rituals. This then extended over to the disciples of John becoming jealous of Jesus and those who went to be baptized by His disciples (vs. 25-26). Jesus never baptized anyone, but His disciples initially did (John 4:1-2). The two ministries were initially nearby each other, close to the Jordan River, and the followers of John the Baptist felt his ministry was threatened and in competition with Jesus. They were disturbed, and frankly quite jealous, due to the fact that so many were turning to Jesus now, instead of John the Baptist. They were jealous of His popularity, which had once been John’s.
How did John react when his disciples came to him with their jealous complaints about Jesus and His disciples? Did he get angry as well, and plan ways to sabotage Jesus’s ministry and bring it down? No! Rather than sowing seeds of discord and discontent with his disciples, John the Baptist ended the arguments by focusing them on what he had always said his ministry was about - preparing the way for the Messiah (vs. 27 - 30). John repeated again that he was not the Messiah. He knew his purpose was to point people to Jesus. Though he knew his ministry was winding down and Jesus’s was starting, he could still point people to Him.
There are some religious leaders today who are quite wrapped up in themselves. Like John the Baptist’s disciples, when they see some other ministry starting to do good in their neighborhood, instead of rejoicing that the Lord’s work is being done, they get all jealous and feel threatened. Their focus is on themselves. Instead, as with the example of John the Baptist, we need to keep our focus on Jesus, not on our self. Our mission is to lead people to follow Jesus, not follow us. Are our Christian leaders wanting the spotlight shining down on themselves or wanting to point to Jesus? John knew who was more important. He guided men to look not to himself, but to look to Jesus.
John the Baptist represents the transition from the Old Testament age to Jesus’s ministry. After Jesus’s resurrection and at the time of Pentecost, the Church age would begin. John the Baptist acknowledged the decreasing of his ministry, and also his support of Jesus’s ministry and person.
In verse 29, John the Baptist compares himself with the friend of the bridegroom, or as we typically call him, the best man. The role of the best man or groomsman is to try to make everything go smoothly for the groom. As John plainly stated, he was not the bridegroom, Jesus is the Bridegroom. Jesus has one Bride, which is the Church. John the Baptist knew his job was to prepare the way for Jesus, just as a best man prepares things for the groom. Then when He arrived, John turned everything over to Him.
In the final verse in our passage, John the Baptist states a great nugget of truth. He was truly a humble man. After having a successful ministry, he was very willing to decrease in importance when Jesus came on the scene. This is the mindset that we should maintain as well, where Jesus increases in our life, and our human, carnal nature decreases. If there was a spiritual mirror I could look into, my goal and desire would be to see more of Jesus reflected back to me, and much, much less of Sarah. John the Baptist had the right idea - “He must increase, but I must decrease”.
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