John recognized the importance of dying to oneself, the importance of forsaking one’s own life for the sake of Jesus. Surely, it was this Christ-consumed mentality that led Jesus to claim that “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). After all, in the kingdom of God, the greatest is the one who considers his own life forfeit for the sake of Christ, just as Christ forfeited His own life for our sake.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
John 3:30 ESV
For John the Baptist’s disciples, there was a problem. Thus far, John was the primary prophet in the land; actually, the only prophet in the land and the first in about four hundred years as well. This resulted in John gaining a large following from “all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem” (Mark 1:5).
Yet now there was another on the scene: Jesus.
Granted, John and Jesus had already met, and John had already claimed that proclaiming Jesus was the entire point of his ministry. However, there was still a tension in minds’ of John’s disciples. Jesus was now gathering a larger following than John did. Surely, this was troublesome to him, so his disciples approached John about the issue. John’s answer, however, clearly reveals the state of his heart. He answers that the best man at a wedding does not get jealous because the groom is going home with bride; instead, the best man rejoices that the bride has found the groom.
