Complete
On this, the feast of John the Baptist, we celebrate the completion of John's mission.
After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized. John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison. Now a discussion about purification arose between John's disciples and a Jew. 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 all are going to him." John answered, "No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease." - John 3:22-30
We often think of John's ministry coming to an end when he is thrown in prison, but here, in today's Gospel, John, the Evangelist, tells us that the work of the Baptist was complete when Jesus began baptizing.
I don't remember any other mention of Jesus baptizing, and I believe it is only here that we read of it.
Once Jesus came on the scene, John's work was done. His job was to begin gathering the crowds together to prepare them for the day when the Messiah would come, and now that day is here.
So, John is ready to retire.
It sounds funny, doesn't it? We don't think about ministry that way, that it draws to a close when someone else takes over, but that is how we get to continue the mission.
John sounds like he knew all along this is what would happen, and he is ok with that.
Of course, he probably didn't know what Herod had in store for him, and that end would have Jesus get angry with Herod as well.
But the lesson I see in today's reading is that we all must realize and accept that the day will come when we are done and someone else will continue what we started.
That's life.
More to come...