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Trouble Has Come. Jesus and John were like two young men in the ministry. John
the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus and had consequently started in ministry first. Jesus came along later
and was, in fact, introduced to the crowds of people by John. There is a sense in which John “helped
Jesus get started” like that of an older and younger preacher, except that these men were about the same
age, John was the forerunner, and Jesus was God in human flesh, who is the Jewish Messiah.
Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” (NASB) John 3:25-26 Jesus and John supported each other and ministered together even though they were in different
locations. But the followers of John did not understand their leader’s role. So trouble eventually came
when a Jew started a discussion with some of John’s disciples about purification.
We do not know anything about this Jew, except that he had a discussion with them about purification.
The Jew could have started the conversation with questions about their method of baptism, or by asking why
they were baptizing. But at some point comments were made about the fact that Jesus was also baptizing, and
the Jew must have reported that Jesus was baptizing more people than John. Little words, just little words
can cause so much trouble - “Jesus is baptizing more.” |
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| Life & Heart of Jesus | |||||
