The Two Baptists

(Gospel of John 3:22- 3:36)
After this, Jesus left Jerusalem with his disciples and spent some time with them in the countryside of Judea, where he performed many baptisms.  Meanwhile, John was also baptizing, in Aenon, near Salim, for there was plenty of water there and the people kept coming to him to be baptized.  (This was, of course, before he had been imprisoned.)

A debate arose between some of John's disciples and a certain Judean concerning ritual purification.  The disciples then came to John and told him, "Rabbi, the man who was with you across the Jordan, the one you pointed out to us as being the Messiah, he’s here, performing baptisms.  Everyone is going to him."

John replied, "One can receive only what has been given to him by God.  You are witness to my declaration, 'I am not the Messiah, but am only to herald his coming.'  It is the groom who marries the bride.  The best man is content to stand at his side and listen to him.  He feels joy when he hears the voice of the groom speaking the wedding vows.  Similarly, I now feel complete joy at his success.  He must become more important and more popular, as I become less so."

He who has come to us from the spiritual realm is exalted above all.  We are of the material world and can speak only of material things, while he who has come from the spiritual realm is greater than any of us.  He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one credits his testimony.  But whoever does, may affirm the truth of God’s message.  For the messenger sent by God speaks the words of God and has been endowed fully with his divine spirit.  The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his charge.  Anyone who believes in the Father's Son will enjoy everlasting life, while those who reject him will never do so, but will incur God's wrathful condemnation.

Notes
1.  Aenon’s location is not specifically known; it was probably a place of many springs far enough west of the Jordan River that the presence of much water was necessary for baptisms.  It would have been about half way between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee, in Samaria, which lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, north of Judea and south of Galilee.  Samaria, comprising the ancient Kingdom of Israel, was one of the semi-autonomous toparchies of the Roman province of Iudaea, the other being Galilee to the north and Judea to the south.

2.  Both John the Baptist and Jesus are doing a land- office business baptizing people who come to them.  The baptismal procedure is not here described, although obviously it consisted of immersion in water.  Whether it involved any confession, profession of belief, or resolution to lead a reformed life is not clear.  The large number of people coming to be baptized indicates that there must have been at that time widespread dissatisfaction with conventional religious practices.

3.  John's disciples argue about ritual purification with a Judean or Judeans, but the substance of the disagreement is not given.  The Judean (this is a more accurate translation than “Jew”) was apparently the one who informed them about Jesus being in the vicinity baptizing.  There might have been some rivalry, even jealousy between the two baptists, but John, believing Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God, cedes precedence.  Aware of his role merely to herald the coming Messiah, he resigns himself to the inevitability of his waning importance and popularity.

4.  We have a reiteration of a primary theme of the Gospel of John, that everlasting life is achieved through belief in Jesus the Messiah and that rejection of him results in divine condemnation.  It asserts that Jesus is divine.  Also emphasized is the authority given to Jesus by his Father, specifically the authority to grant everlasting life to believers.