Saturday after Epiphany
We don’t often rejoice when someone else has success at our expense. Especially if we were first, for someone else to come along and take our model and our followers, we are more likely to be enraged. But John is content, joyful even, when Jesus comes on the scene. When Jesus arrives and begins to baptize, John says that “this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase and I must decrease.” Why is John so joyful?
Because John knows who he is. He is not the bridegroom, but the best man—the friend of the bridegroom. If a good friend of mine finds the love of his life and arrives to marry her, I will be happy for him, and rejoice when I see my friend come to the altar. His joy becomes my joy. This is what it means to be a friend of Jesus: not just for Him to cheer us on and rejoice in our success, but for us to cheer Him on and rejoice in His success. If we are truly friends with Jesus, our greatest joy will be to see Him triumph.