NOTES for Joh 3:22-35

These words of John the Baptist are perhaps the best description of the life of a person who has discovered why he lives. For as long as the foundation and meaning of a person's life remains the person himself—his life, his love, his faith, his achievement, and so on—he will never be able to say: “I must decrease.” On the contrary, he will say: “My goal is my own growth. I want to learn more, see more, experience more, accomplish more...” The line separating such a life from the life of the prophets and Apostles—remember Paul's words, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,” in Gal 2:20?—is very fine. We truly do need to learn, understand, experience, and accomplish a great deal. But only along this path does the highest calling in the world await us: to become the Bridegroom's friend rather than remain “of the earth, speaking of the earth.”