In our modified free market economy, we think that competition solves a lot of problems. We have laws against collusion, and cartel behaviour, and price fixing, and other anti-competitive conduct.
But we think competition is the way to get the best result: McDonalds verses Hungry Jacks; Coke v Pepsi; Optus v Telstra; Labor v Liberal; Ford v Holden; Catholic v Protestant.
There is a grain of truth in it. Ecclesiastes 4:4 says,” And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
But is this the framework for what we observe in this passage?
Are we looking at competition between two providers, two competitors?: the new Jesus movement, and the legacy provider of baptismal services to Israel, John the Baptist?
That’s what John the Baptist’s remaining complaining disciples think. That’s what a certain Jew thinks. They assume that Jesus and John the Baptist are competitors. The product is water baptism, the providers are John the Baptist and Jesus’ disciples, and Jesus is hanging out his shingle in John the Baptist’s territory.
Verses 22 to 26:
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” (NIV)
Jesus has gone out once again into John the Baptist’s heartland, his territory, the Jordan river. That’s where John started up his ministry. Jesus has taken his disciples with him, some of whom started off as John the Baptist’s disciples, like Andrew, and probably John. And now, Jesus is baptising! Not only is Jesus setting up his shop next door, he is doing it with John’s former employees. And so some of John the Baptist’s remaining disciples return to him with bad news about his own ministry. Jesus wore it better. Jesus is out baptising the Baptist, the original and the best.
And they think: Hang on, that’s our thing! Copyright and Trade Marked ‘John the Baptist’. It’s right there, in the name. We did it first. We wore it better. You copycats. You cheap and nasty imported knock offs, you’re using our thing, copyrighted us. Get your own thing, don’t pile onto ours. And take it away from here. We got here first.
Jesus’ disciples are doing John’s thing better than John. More people are going out to Jesus’ disciples than John the Baptist. It’s gone viral, everyone’s getting with the program of water baptism. And Jesus isn’t even doing it himself, he is just getting the work experience kids, the interns, to do it. In chapter 4 verses 1 and 2, we learn this:
4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
That is an important qualification. Jesus didn’t personally baptise anyone.
Let me suggest a reason why. Jesus didn’t come to baptise with water. The risen Jesus’ baptism would be with the Holy Spirit, starting on the Day of Pentecost and continuing to this very day. Even now Jesus continues baptising in the Spirit, as he sends the gift of the Holy Spirit down from heaven to his people, however and whenever he wants, for the Spirit blows where he wants. And when Jesus baptises with the Spirit, we will of course follow it up with our water baptism. Jesus’ disciples would continue the symbolic water rite, dipping people in water. Yes, John the Baptist started it, sent and commanded by God. And Jesus’ followers continue the practice to this very day. In fact, Jesus commissioned them to do so (Matthew 28:16-20). But Jesus himself doesn’t do water baptism. He does Spirit baptism.
So what we are seeing here is a bit of a training camp for Jesus’ disciples. Jesus is getting his disciples ready for their world-wide mission. Jesus is going to return to the Father and not baptise anyone with water: he will baptise all his believers with his Spirit. The Spirit baptism is reserved for Jesus himself as the Spirit filled Messiah, and he does not administer the water rite, but holds himself from it at a distance. Jesus is the Spirit filled one who baptises with the Spirit, and he does not wish to confuse this by administering water baptism.
The phenomena on the Jordan River has been framed and presented to John the Baptist as a new, aggressive, and plagarising competitor, the Jesus movement. But that’s not how John frames the situation. From John’s perspective, everything’s going according to plan—God’s plan.
John points his remaining complaining disciples back to the commission he received from God. He reminds them of his own testimony from their early days. Verses 27 and 28.
27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’
Remember when the priests, Levites, and Pharisees came from Jerusalem asking me all those questions: Are you the Messiah, Elijah, “the Prophet”? Back then, I said in the most clear terms, “No!” I’m not any of those people. Rather, I am sent ahead of the Christ, to make straight the Messiah’s way in the desert.
I’m not the Messiah. My business is high speed multi-carriage way road construction getting ready for God’s motorcade. I build highways, raise valleys, and flatten mountains in preparation for God coming to his people through the desert. I go before the Messiah, calling in the wilderness, so that God’s people will be ready for him when he comes, and so all the bumps and humps are smoothed and potholes are filled. I am not part of the procession—I’m to be found on the end of a shovel, getting the road ready for the one the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.
You are looking for the building, but I am the scaffold.
You are waiting for the star of the show—I am but the doorman, opening the door for him.
I am not the lead singer, not even the bass player. I am merely part of the lighting team, focussing the spotlight on one we’ve come to see.
I am multiplying my analogies, but why don’t we attend to John the Baptist’s own analogy here in verses 29 and 30:
29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”
John is only the attendant to the groom, a friend who listens out for him. At most, he is the best man, getting to hold the ring. Maybe he is not even that. Maybe John the Baptist is just considering himself as an usher, showing guests to their seat.
Jesus is the groom. The wedding is his. The groom’s coming is what John the Baptist’s job is all about.
We saw in chapter 2 in Cana of Galilee that Jesus attended what was probably a family wedding as a guest. At that time his mother Mary pressed him into service to help with the catering. But back in Cana, with the first sign of his glory, his time had not yet come. But he still gave a glimpse of his glory, 700 liters full of the best wine. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, has come into his world with his own wedding on view, but it is not yet. John’s Gospel does not record Jesus’ wedding. But it is not for Jesus, always the bridesmaid, never the bride, as it was for John the Baptist. Like Jacob before him, Jesus has a patient wait and hard work before his wedding. John’s Gospel records Jesus’ work on earth as a shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep to pay off the expensive bride price. The good shepherd will have to lay down his life for his bride, to cleanse her and prepare her for devoted life with him. All this must happen before Jesus’ wedding.
That wedding will occur at the end of time, when Jesus returns. But John the Apostle would later write about it, as he lifts the veil on the future. Revelation 19:6-8:
6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and hs bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Revelation 19:6-8 NIV)
And later John the Apostle writes:
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. (Revelation 21:2-3 NIV)
Jesus’ wedding to his church lies in the future. In light of this great wedding of Jesus Christ and his gathered purified people,
John the Baptist is happy to play second fiddle. He recognises that a person can only play the role and occupy the vocation given him by God. John the Baptist has learned contentment with his vocation. This is what I am. It is from God. It is good.
I think that is a good lesson we can learn from John the Baptist: a person can only have what is given him by God. What does each of us have that is not received from God. And if it is received from God, why boast as if it wasn’t? And why strain after something that God has denied us, and is not for us? He knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows us and, this is good for us, give yourself to doing the best you can with who God made you, where you are, and in the capacity you now have. That is learning the secret of contentment.
For John the Baptist, Jesus must become greater, and John the Baptist himself must become less.
In 1959, Billy Graham farewelled Australia after an unprecedented preaching tour of four months. Half the population of Australia listened to at least one of his sermons. The crowd record for the MCG was set during one of his meetings, which has not been beaten since. At Mascot airport, a stage was constructed on the tarmac in front of the plane, and Mr Graham spoke about how John the Baptist had told his disciples to forget about himself and follow Jesus, and likewise, Billy Graham said, the crowd who’d come to see him off should forget about Billy Graham and follow Jesus.
The same is true of all of us. We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord (2 Cor 4:5 NIV). We like John the Baptist become less. Jesus must become greater. John the Baptist and Billy Graham rightly pointed away from themselves to Jesus. For a short time, even the best of us preach the gospel, do good, then we die, and pretty soon we’re forgotten to the world. But God hasn’t forgotten us. If you are a Christian, your life is no longer about you. Like John the Baptist, you must point away from yourself to Jesus Christ.
Now, it is unclear whether John 3:31-36 is a quote from John the Baptist, or the narration of John the Evangelist. We cannot say with certainty that John the Baptist said these things, but we can at least say that John the Evangelist said them, and therefore, it does not really matter, because God the Holy Spirit who inspired Scripture has said it.
In verse 31, we are given the reason why Jesus must become greater.
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.
Jesus must become greater than John the Baptist. This is because Jesus is always, already, actually, and in truth greater. Jesus is from above, from heaven, while John the Baptist is from below, from earth.
Earlier, John twice gave his hearers a riddle. Riddles are good because they are easy to remember; but I don’t like them because they are hard to understand: “The one who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me” (1:15, 30). Jesus comes after John the Baptist because John prepares the way for him. But Jesus Christ actually comes before John the Baptist in rank and honour. Jesus is greater than John the Baptist and surpasses him. Why? Because Jesus Christ as the eternal Word existed prior to John the Baptist in time. In fact, Jesus existed before time began, because he was in the beginning the Word who was with God and was God. Jesus is the one from heaven, above all, while John speaks truthfully, but from the earth as one from the earth. Jesus surpasses John as John’s creator and redeemer.
Verses 32 to 34 are a bit difficult to follow because we have to work out who the pronouns refer to. Verses 32 to 34 appear to talk about Jesus, not John the Baptist. However, we can make sense of it if we slow down and not assume who the ‘he’ is, but articulate who the ‘he’ is, and replace the pronoun with the name who we think is being referenced.
We already know, from the prolog, that Jesus came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (John 1:11). I think that this point is re-iterated in verse 32:
Verse 32: “He [Jesus] testifies to what he [Jesus] has seen and heard [that is, what Jesus has heard in heaven and from the Father], but no one [such as Nicodemus, or the religious leaders] accepts his testimony.” [Obviously John the Baptist does, but even the disciples are finding Jesus hard to understand. At this stage Nicodemus is still benighted, and cannot understand Jesus’ teaching. But John the Apostle is saying that we, the readers of John’s Gospel, can do better than Nicodemus, and better than the disputers about ceremonial washing.]
Verses 33 and 34 offer an opportunity for us, as readers of John’s Gospel, to respond properly to Jesus, by accepting Jesus’ words and believing in him. Verses 33 to 34: “Whoever [of us, that is, you and me] has accepted it [that is, Jesus’ testimony] has certified that God [the Father] is truthful. [That is, when you and I believe in Jesus and accept Jesus’ words, you believe in God, and agree with God]. Verse 34: For the one whom God [the Father] has sent [that is Jesus, who comes from heaven not the earth] speaks the words of God, for God [here the NIV supplies “God”, but the Greek has “He”] gives the Spirit without limit. The original might be rendered, “He gives the Spirit without limit”.
Now, at this point in the story of John’s Gospel, the Spirit has not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified in his death, resurrection, and ascension (7:39). Yet here John the Apostle is saying that God gives the Spirit without limit. This is speaking to you and me, who live after the day of Pentecost. At this point of the story, with John the Baptist still alive and ministering, Jesus has not given and distributed and poured out the baptism of the Spirit. But by the time John the Apostle writes up the story and his Gospel, and by the time we read it, Jesus Christ has already poured out the Spirit on all his disciples, and all Jesus’ disciples now receive the baptism of the Spirit, and that is the new normal. From then on, Jesus is pouring out the Spirit without limit. The Day of Pentecost has occurred, and now all Christ’s disciples have received Christ’s baptism, not of water, because Jesus doesn’t baptise in water, but by his Spirit, the Holy Spirit who he sends to each and every believer to indwell. And Jesus baptises in the Spirit liberally, without limit, generously.
This is what Jesus says in Luke 11, to us evil fathers:
“11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”” (Luke 11:12-13)
God the Father gives the Spirit without limit to whoever asks. God the Son baptises his people liberally in the Spirit, as he pours out the Holy Spirit on all his people. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son to all God’s people without limit, without measure, but generously, liberally, freely, abundantly, as flowing streams of living water.
The Holy Spirit, as well as everything else comes to us from the Father through the Son. Father and Son are united in their work and the Father loves to honour the Son, and so only gives his gifts to us through his Son. Verse 35:
The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. That includes the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from both the Father and the Son.
One of the reasons there is a Western catholic church and an Eastern Orthodox Church is because there is a difference between the two as to whether the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, or from the Father only. But based on verses like this, we share the Western inheritance and conviction, that the Spirit proceeds also from the Son. The Risen Lord Jesus Christ receives all things from his Father and subsequently himself pours out the Spirit on his people. Jesus baptises us with and in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit proceeds also from the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who baptises with the Spirit.
So the Apostle John concludes chapter 3 with both a wonderful promise for us, his readers, and a solemn warning. Verse 36: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Jesus Christ has life in himself—he is God the Son, the eternal word. And by faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, you can have eternal life. Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ has eternal life. That’s why John wrote his Gospel, John 20:30, that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. That’s why Jesus was lifted up on the pole like the bronze snake in the desert in the time of Moses, so that whoever looks to the lifted-up Son of God will live.
But if you reject the Son, you will not see life. Because Jesus Christ has life in himself. If you reject him, you are rejecting life. We were born and steeped in sin. We all are born sinful, and this eventually comes out: we are not neutral. We are by nature objects of wrath. Unless Jesus be the lamb of God who takes away our sin, we face God’s anger and hell.
So friend, I leave you with this: believe in the Son, Jesus Christ, and be saved from the wrath of God which hangs over each of us.
Let’s pray.