March 19, 2021 John 3: 22-28
22 After
this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent
some time there with them and baptized. 23John
also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and
people kept coming and were being baptized— 24John,
of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 Now a
discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. 26They
came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, the one who was with you across the
Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to
him.’ 27John answered, ‘No one can receive anything
except what has been given from heaven. 28You
yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Messiah, but I have
been sent ahead of him.” 29He who
has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and
hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy
has been fulfilled. 30He must increase, but I
must decrease.’
31 The one who comes from
above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks
about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He
testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his
testimony. 33Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that
God is true. 34He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the
Spirit without measure. 35The
Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. 36Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see
life, but must endure God’s wrath.
It is
of note that John the Gospel Writer does not proceed with the division of days
as the way he separates the narratives he is relating. Nicodemus is recorded as coming to Jesus at
night, but John does not indicate that “the next day” Jesus and company moved
on. Why am I hung up on this? I will admit, this is personal for me,
chasing the question of how the gospels are put together.
There
is an interesting ‘stepping away’ that occurs next. Jesus and his disciples head out into the Judean
countryside, down toward the Jordan I would expect, because that is where there
was water to baptize. Ever watch the “Batman”
show from the 1960’s? Adam West and Burt
Ward? When they moved between scenes, like
where Batman was and where the bad guys were, plotting their villainous plot, a
narrator’s voice overlaid the show with “Meanwhile, in Gotham Harbor…” or
something of that ilk. Feels like that
is happening here. “Jesus was in the
Judean countryside with his disciples, MEANWHILE, John was baptizing at…
He
was baptizing at “Aenon near Salim”. The
reason water was abundant there is because it is on the Jordan River, but also
because a tributary flows in from the east according to the map (GOTTA have a map). John too is continuing to baptize, the transitional
piece, Jesus baptizing (but there will be clarification about this) to John
baptizing. The people were continuing to
come to him. The reason for all this is
that John had not been thrown into prison (and we will tackle that when it comes in the gospel).
The venue
changes and we return to John for a time.
Yet, even as we do, the focus is always on Jesus. It seems that someone was in debate with John’s
disciples about purification. This seems
a discussion about the very nature of baptism as a ritual of purification as
people who did this were confessing their sins to receive God’s forgiveness.
“They”
came to John. Not sure if this is simply
John’s disciples or the disciples and the Jew they were debating with. “Rabbi”, they said. Okay, this was a piece that never registered
with me before. It seems rather obvious
to read it in this context, but it had never sunk in that John too was called “Rabbi”. There are reports that the one John met
across the Jordan, at Bethany-on-the-Jordan, the one that John testified about,
is also out and around and baptizing.
From the tone, it strikes me they find Jesus to be an upstart, because
baptism was John the baptizer’s “thing”, and business is tapering off because
of ‘that guy’.
Maybe there was an implication like “What are we going to do about that?”
Maybe they were thinking they needed a rumble
to establish who had baptizing rights on the Jordan.
John’s
response is, in essence, “it’s not about me.”
No one can receive anything except that which is given from heaven. John was witness to Jesus receiving the Holy
Spirit descending in the form of a dove, from heaven. Not only that, but John talked about having
received instructions from heaven that the one on whom this Spirit descended
will be providing for a ‘baptismal upgrade’, baptizing with the Holy Spirit.
So here
is something to answer my own desire to chase how the gospels were put
together. We build on the concept of ‘baptism’. It was John’s ministry with water, he was informed
of the ‘upgrade’ Jesus would bring to include the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus then talks to Nicodemus about the way
into the kingdom of God being by water and the Spirit, the two established ‘baptismal
routines’, and now we are in a moment when both men are baptizing. (THE META NARRATIVE: see note below).
Let me take a moment to acknowledge my stream of consciousness’ approach to this biblical
interpretation. As I read it, as I see
it, as it occurs to me; that's how I go with it.
John
reminds them of what they have already heard John the baptizer testify to. He, John, is NOT the Messiah, but he is the
one who was sent ahead, sent to prepare the way of the Lord. So, there will NOT be a Rumble. Jesus is NOT in competition with them. John’s disciples need to acknowledge who it
is they are learning from, the one who is not the Messiah.
Notes:
The Metanarrative (or Meta Narrative…not entirely sure
which is proper)
You
ever have an idea about something, that there is more to something than meets
the eye? For me, with this gospel blog,
there is an idea that there is more than just the stories that John the Gospel
Writer has laid out for us, that there is something in the structure of the
book that lends power to the story of Jesus as well.
So you
have this idea, kind of flesh it out in your mind, only to discover that it is
already a thing that you did not know about until that moment? Yah, what I am thinking of in my head is ‘meta-narrative’. This is what the false god of knowledge, the
Google, says:
Meta narrative is “an overarching account or interpretation of
events and circumstances that provides a pattern or structure for people’s
beliefs and gives meaning to their experiences.”
Then, to rub it in…"traditional religions provide stories
that deliver a metanarrative about how we should live our lives"
The inspiration of God in the writing of the bible is
not just in the narrative, but in the meta-narrative. To throw back to my youth, ‘well gag me with
a spoon’. What this means is that there
is more to the gospel than simply the narratives that are the building blocks
of the text. There are the interlacing
of themes, of symbology, and other structural elements that are intentionally
laid down to increase the depth of meaning in what we are reading.
Yah,
well that’s obvious, isn’t it? Not
exactly. How does this play out? Not entirely sure, except to say this: Someone mocked on Freud with “Sometimes
a cigar is not just a cigar”.
Pastor Pete
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