“Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan,
to whom you testified,
here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”
The disciples of John the Baptist were dismayed because baptism was supposed to be John's thing. It was part of the title by which he was known and certainly seemed like a key element of his identity. These disciples of John that complained had staked their own identities in how they thought of their teacher. They believed that if baptism was not his alone to continue pursuing then not only he but they too would lose their purpose in life.
Have we ever had something that was supposed to be our thing, something at which we excelled, and for which others looked to us? Did it then happen that, like John, we were called to allow others to do it too, or even to take it over from us? Did this perhaps chaffe us? We may have had particular ways of doing things that we thought important, and had a hard time giving up control. Probably we had some of our identity staked in being recognized as the one who did the thing in question.
No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.
John the Baptist was content to surrender the uniqueness of his identity as a baptist because he saw it in the larger context of what had been given from heaven. He was able to fully embody that role for while it was his calling but then step back from it when the time came.
The one who has the bride is the bridegroom;
the best man, who stands and listens for him,
rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
Most of us hold our identities too tightly. We don't allow ourselves to be clay in the hands of the potter as we are meant to be. John shows us a way beyond self-construction to allowing ourselves to be defined by God, not just once, but in an ongoing and dynamic way. Miraculously, doing so actually increasing our joy. Being secondary characters whose lives are based around the identity of Jesus fulfills us more than if we try to insist on the lead role for ourselves.
So this joy of mine has been made complete.
He must increase; I must decrease.
Having our identity rooted in Jesus means that we have confidence in him, confidence that he hears our prayers, that he can overcome the sin with which struggle, that he protects us from the power of the Evil One, that in him who is the true God we have eternal life.
And we are in the one who is true,
in his Son Jesus Christ.
He is the true God and eternal life.
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