These words of John the Baptist are perhaps the best description of the life of a person who has learned why he lives. For as long as the basis and meaning of human life remains the person himself - his life, his love, his faith, his ascetic labor - he will never be able to say: "I must decrease." On the contrary, he will say: "My goal is my growth; I want to know more, see more, experience more, do more..." The line separating such a life from the life of the prophets and apostles (where, in Paul's words, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" - Gal. 2:20) is very thin. Yes, we really do need to learn, understand, experience, and do very much, but only on this path of our decrease does the highest calling in the world await us: to become the Friend of the Bridegroom, and not remain "earthly, speaking of earthly things."

John the Baptist, like Jesus, had his own community, his own circle of disciples and followers. Jesus washed those who came to Him; John did the same. In the eyes of those around them, and even, as it appears, in the eyes of some of John's disciples, their activity was if not identical, then very similar. Apparently some of John's disciples considered their teacher to be the Messiah, who, like Jesus, was hiding His messiahship for the time being.

And then John has to set the record straight. He reminds his followers that he himself never made any claim to messiahship. But the main thing, according to John, is something else: messiahship is not a human matter at all; it is God's matter, and if it "has not been given from above," then there can be no talk of messiahship. John, like Jesus Himself, is trying to make his listeners understand that one does not become the Messiah; one is born as the Messiah. And there can be no competition, rivalry, or choice here. He, John, was not born the Messiah, and therefore he will never become Him. He has another mission.

Indeed, if the messianic Kingdom really were what many wanted it to be then and at other times, if it were an earthly, religious-political phenomenon, everything would be different: the messianic calling would then be something resembling the prophetic calling, something that could be given to anyone whom God chooses. But the Kingdom to which Jesus bears witness is above all a spiritual reality, and it is inseparably bound to His own person: He carries it in Himself, carries it from the very beginning. He was born the Messiah, and there can be no alternative to Him. John understands and acknowledges this, and he tries to explain the same thing to his disciples and followers.

Sometimes, after doing some good deed, one can feel a surge of strength. We are used to thinking that when we work, we give up strength and energy, and when we eat, we restore them. But this kind of logic is characteristic only of the fallen state of human nature, which we consider "natural." According to God's design, it is God who is the source of life and the giver of strength, and the human person is God's co-worker and a channel of His grace into the surrounding world. Thus a person's self-giving turns out to be participation in the source of life and the person's true nourishment, because the main thirst of the human being is the thirst for love. Jesus shows His disciples an example of such nourishment when He brings the Samaritan woman to a faith that changes her life and thereby fulfills the will of the Father who sent Him.