John 3:22-26
After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 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.”
Reflection
Early in the gospel of John, before this passage, John the Baptist had been baptizing people, calling for them to repent and believe the good news. John had been preparing the way for Jesus. Jesus had just come on the scene and had already been with John the Baptist so both John the Baptist and his followers knew of Jesus. Then his followers noticed that Jesus and His disciples were also baptizing people. In fact, because of that (and presumably the other things Jesus was saying and doing), “everyone was going to him [Jesus].”
Do you detect a note of jealousy in verse 26 of this passage? We all participate in ministries. Sometimes there are ministries in the church that seem to compete for dollars and for people. Has there ever been a time when you were jealous of another ministry because it seemed to be competing with a ministry that you were involved in? Have you ever thought, “My ministry is better?”
