Increasing and Decreasing

AM Psalm 38 • PM Psalm 119:25-48
Gen. 9:18-29 • Heb. 6:1-12 • John 3:22-36

In our gospel lesson today we get an unusually long monologue from John the Baptist. The thing that caught my eye was a dynamic I think we can apply to this day. In this reading, Jesus is baptizing people in the same “neighborhood” as John. Everyone knew John was baptising first, and finally when it was clear people were seeking Jesus for baptism John’s disciples came to him to point it out. I would assume that they would expect him to be territorial or opinionated about his new competition. Instead, he took a very different approach.

He knew his role in the story. He reiterated to them that he was paving the way for Jesus’ work. The line that stuck out to me was “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That struck me as an interesting challenge for us as Christians. We inherently define our individual selves with Jesus in proximity, but as John points out, as we work to serve God and become Christ-like, that is Jesus increasing in our lives, with the aspects of our flawed human selves decreasing.

God makes each of us unique, and with a purpose. Having the awareness of ourselves, the things that we need to decrease that are our shortcomings, and the things that we need to increase that are Christ working through us in our lives is a huge undertaking and a daily practice. It requires humility and grace that are not in our human nature. It puts our ego in check. It makes the room for Christ to work in our lives on a daily basis.

May we find ways to increase Jesus and decrease our shortcomings today.

Written by Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson is the Director of Media Ministries at St. Paul’s, overseeing the streaming of the services online.