Saturday after Epiphany

Readings: 1 John 5.14-21; Psalm 149; John 3.22-30 

Jesus first came to public attention as a follower of John the Baptist., He came to the river Jordan to be baptised by John, thereby associating himself with John's mission and preaching. It is John who first speaks about Jesus, 'behold the Lamb of God', he says to his own disciples about the one on whom he saw the Spirit rest. Today's gospel gives us then a unique glimpse of Jesus as a 'practising baptist', we might say, for he is at least with his own disciples, the first Jesus-followers, who are baptising in their turn. Whether he himself officiated John's baptism of repentance is not clear.

What is very clear, here and elsewhere, is that John the Baptist was the most remarkable witness to the light which Jesus is, the Light of the World. John served the true light and the light of truth by his way of living, by his preaching and by his death. He did this with great courage and, as we see in today's gospel, with great humility. Humility is truth, it means simply accepting what is true, our own nothingness in the sight of God and our own greatness in the sight of God.

The theme of truth is already raised in the first reading which says that those who believe in Jesus have eternal life because they are in the One who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ, in the One God who is the true God and eternal life. The world can only offer us a variety of idolatries, ways of giving our minds and hearts, our adoration, to things that are less than God and whose promises are vain in the end, things that are, at their worst, not only false but death-dealing.

John the Baptist knows that life and truth come through the one who is coming after him, Jesus who is the Christ. John understands himself as a voice crying in the wilderness of the world, testifying to the coming among us of the Son of God. 'I am not the Messiah', he says, nor Elijah (although Jesus knows him more deeply and recognises him as the 'Elijah' who was to come). Nor am I the bridegroom, John adds. In a beautiful image he describes himself as the 'best man', the friend of the bridegroom, whose job is to watch out for the bridegroom's arrival. His joy is full, his mission accomplished, when he hears the bridegroom's voice and can announce his arrival.

To live in the light of the truth is to be truly humble. 'No one can receive more than what has been given him from heaven,' John says, and 'this is what I have received from heaven, to be the best man.' It is time to hand over to the bridegroom. The bride is his, not mine, he adds, something to be kept in mind particularly by celibate disciples of the Lord who might be tempted to regard themselves as a kind of bridegroom in the place of Christ rather than what they are, a kind of 'best man' to the bridegroom, serving the relationship between him and his bride and not intruding upon it.

'He must increase, I must decrease', John says, and it is not false humility or anti-Baptist propaganda from the early Jesus-followers. It is simply the truth, and the truth is the life of human beings. Live in the light of who you are and you will be fully alive. Live in the light of the Bridegroom who is your best friend and your joy will be complete.