May 4
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Once again here is a passage where John loads a story with so much meaning. This story of John the Baptist lifting up Christ is important for several reasons. One is the obvious way in which John talks about his lower place from Jesus. He is expressing in so many ways how he is inferior to Jesus. Jesus is from above, eternal, supreme in every fashion. It seems that John the Baptist is always acting through this humility. He is always the "forerunner". He always knows that he is one who only prepares a way. The other important fact of this story from the gospel of John is the way in which John the Baptist (and it's important to know they're different people) speaks of Jesus as the bridegroom. This takes all of the importance that the Old Testament scriptures places upon marriage and puts it in the context of Jesus' role in salvation of his people. We as the church are being prepared to marry Jesus. Now this isn't necessarily a literal sense, but it is very important. I was listening to a sermon the other day that points out that this means that we should have both the passion of love for Jesus, but in this marriage we should also realize there is hard work. We have to work on our relationship with Jesus. It takes discipline and hard work. We have to pray to him as we would talk with our best friend or wife. This doesn't mean we earn his love in any way, it just means that the Christian life requires discipline and faithfulness to our bridegroom Christ.
We always think of John the Baptist as a bold and intimidating person. But he said that he must become less so that Jesus could become greater.
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