After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. 23 John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, 24 for John had not yet been imprisoned. 25 Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. 26 So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.” 27 John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said [that] I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. 30 He must increase; I must decrease.”
John’s Gospel frames this scene as a kind of closing testimony from John the Baptist (JBap). Jesus and his disciples are now active in the Judean countryside, and JBap is still baptizing at Aenon near Salim, where there is plenty of water. The wording can give the impression that Jesus himself is baptizing, but JBap later clarifies that it was Jesus’ disciples who were baptizing (Jn. 4:2). The focus here is not the mechanics of later Christian Baptism, but the public moment when Jesus’ ministry begins to draw people in large numbers.
John then adds a quiet time-marker: JBap “had not yet been imprisoned.” The Fourth Gospel does not narrate the arrest the way the Synoptics do, but this brief line signals that JBap's public work is reaching its end. JBap is still present, still faithful, but the story is already moving toward his disappearance from the scene.
A dispute breaks out about “ceremonial washings,” and the details remain unclear. What is clear is what the dispute produces. JBap’s disciples come to him with anxiety. They describe Jesus as the one who was with JBap “across the Jordan,” the one to whom JBap testified, and then they add the line that reveals their fear: “everyone is coming to him.” They speak as if attention were a limited supply, as if Jesus’ growth must mean JBap’s loss.
JBap answers by refusing that way of thinking. “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven.” He shifts the conversation away from rivalry and back to God’s sovereignty. Because his mission is something God gave him, he does not measure it by comparing himself to Jesus. It is fulfilled by obedience. JBap then reminds them of the core of his message from the beginning: he is not the Messiah, and he was sent before the Messiah (see Jn. 1:20, 23). Even here, with his own followers pressing him, JBap does not adjust his identity to preserve influence. He repeats the truth.
Then JBap uses wedding language to say, in an image, what he has been saying in plain words. “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.” In Israel’s Scriptures, God’s covenant with his people is often described with spousal language (Is. 54:5-8; Jer. 2:2; Hos. 2:16-20). JBap applies that covenant imagery to Jesus. He presents Jesus as the bridegroom and himself as the “best man,” the friend of the groom whose role is to stand nearby, listen, and rejoice when the groom’s voice is heard. The friend’s joy is not found in being noticed. It is found in the bridegroom taking his rightful place. The same bridegroom imagery appears when Jesus speaks of his presence as the presence of the bridegroom (Mk. 2:18-19). JBap's point is simple: competition between the friend and the groom would make no sense, because their roles are not equal.
This is why JBap can say, without bitterness, “So this joy of mine has been made complete.” JBap’s joy is not tied to crowds. It is tied to faithfulness. He has pointed to Jesus from the start (Jn. 1:29-36), and now he sees people going to the one he has been announcing. That is not a threat to his mission. It is the success of his mission. So he ends with the line that summarizes his final witness and the right order of everything in this passage: “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30). JBap steps back, not because he has failed, but because he has finished what he was sent to do.
Lord Jesus, make my heart simple and true. Teach me to rejoice in your voice and your work, and to accept with peace whatever place you assign me in your saving plan. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of John, p. 167.
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: The Gospel of John (Four Courts/Scepter), pp. 374-375.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018), pp. 1128-1129.
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), p. 956.
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