John the Baptist had become somewhat of a fixture in Israel so when Jesus showed up and began to baptize also it evoked a question in someone’s mind and the question led to a discussion about purification (see John 3:22-30). We’re not sure of the nature of the discussion but it led John’s disciples to go to him and tell him that someone was competing with him in this baptism business, and that this someone was a man that John himself had baptized.

I don’t want to speak for John’s disciples but it sounds like they weren’t very excited about the competition. John very quickly laid their concern to rest as he explained to them that this fellow about whom they were upset, in fact, was the one he had been talking about, the one of whom John said, “I have been sent ahead of Him” (vs. 28).

John was present to clear the way for Jesus. John saw Jesus as “the bridegroom” and himself as “the friend of the bridegroom” (vs. 26). He had his duty and it was to point the people to the One who would come after him. His ministry was about Jesus not himself. So it was John explains to his disciples that Jesus “must increase, but I must decrease” (vs. 30).

That Jesus was baptizing was exactly and precisely what John expected. It was okay; in fact, it was huge. It was time for Jesus to break out of obscurity and onto the world scene.

It’s not about us; it’s all about Jesus. We are friends of the Bridegroom, pointing everybody to this marvelous person whose name is, WONDERFUL.