Jn 3:22-30
22Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. 23John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, 24for John had not yet been imprisoned. 25Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. 26So they 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 everyone is coming to him.” 27John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said [that] I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. 29The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. 30He must increase; I must decrease.”
I am not the one!: John is sure and insistent on this. He seems to sound like some of our politicians who, though caught with their hand in the cookie jar and charged with corruption, protest that they are not the one! Yet when a big project is launched, they proclaim that they are the one!
John’s statement is one of a humble person who knows where he stands. And from where he stands, this declaration even makes him bigger.
Indeed we are not the one. We are not the center of the universe. Life is not about us; it is about the people we touch. Joy is not about us; it is about the people we bring joy to. Meaning is not discovered in ourselves; it is when we forget ourselves and point to Jesus. Only then do we find the real meaning in our lives!