NOTES for Joh 3:22-35

Today we have before us two situations of witness. In both cases, moreover, those who bear witness point to Christ as the One who is greater than they are. The disciples run to John the Baptist, annoyed that everyone is going with repentance not to their beloved teacher, but to someone (Someone) else. But John explains to them that everything is going as it should. He is the herald who yields the way to the Lord who has come. He is the friend of the bridegroom, whose role is to step modestly aside when the Bridegroom meets face to face with His Bride, with the one for whose sake He came - with each person who comes to Him...

When the apostles Peter and John preach in Solomon's Portico of the Jerusalem Temple, they too "move aside," because everyone runs together to them after hearing about the miracle they have performed. And it is possible that, in order to stop the growing fame that is moving in the wrong direction, the apostles have to "shake up" their listeners a little. Sometimes it becomes necessary to take by the shoulders, and almost lift off the ground, a child rushing headlong somewhere. The apostles show the crowd gathered around them that the matter is not in them at all, but in the One whom this crowd had not merely seen, but had even crucified. And that it is His name that heals and raises up. And that glory is fitting for Him, not for them...

Such is the humility of the saints, who are ready to "move over" and "rejoice with joy" when people turn to the One whose friends they are (see John 3:29).

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.

John's testimony about Jesus is the chief meaning of his ministry. Including, and first of all, his ministry as a prophet. Indeed, a prophet is above all a witness. God's witness. A witness of the Kingdom. A person who in himself, however paradoxical this may seem at first glance, has less importance than anyone else, at least as far as his ministry is concerned. Indeed, how much is required of a witness?

In essence, only one thing: to distort nothing. To tell everything exactly as he saw it. So that the narrator himself is not in the story at all. Or is present so little that his presence has no effect on the story. If ordinary human testimony is in view, this means that the witness must be as dispassionate as human nature allows.

No emotions, no semantic accents arranged according to one's own view of the situation. Only facts, in as much detail as possible. Of course, such testimony is an unattainable ideal, but a conscientious witness always strives toward it. And if the testimony is prophetic? Here everything is more complicated, because one cannot communicate with God in a detached way, and one cannot speak of what God reveals as something extraneous. Here the personality of the witness is unquestionably important.

But along with personality comes the problem, well known to physicists, of the observer: observation is also a kind of interaction with the object, and it happens that this interaction in itself changes the state of the object observed. A pure experiment does not result. In a person's communication with God something similar sometimes happens, though in another sense. Touching human nature, the revelation given by God changes through that very contact. How, then, can one remain an unbiased witness? God finds a way: He takes a person's consciousness fully under His control.

Of course, for a time and with that person's consent. And He speaks in the language of the witness. Literally. The problem of human nature is solved. But what if the issue is the Messiah? The One for whom the very fact of His existence becomes testimony? Here only one thing is possible: to point to Him and disappear. To step aside. To become a completely ordinary person, unremarkable in terms of ministry. And John does exactly this. "He must increase, but I must decrease."

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.

Hasn't it happened to you to feel a fit of energy after certain carrying out well of a good thing?

We are used to, when doing something, we give our strengths, energy, and we restore them by consuming food. But this is specific for the fallen state of the human nature, which we consider to be “natural”. According to God's plan, He Himself is the source of life and the bearer of strengths, while man is only a coworker to God and the conductor of His Grace to the world surrounding him. So, it is particularly man's commitment that turns out to belonging to the source of life and to the genuine saturation of man, because the main thirst of man is the thirst of love. Jesus thus manifests the example of such saturation to His disciples, bringing the Samaritan to faith that changed her life and executing ipso facto the will of the Father Who sent Him.