QT 10/26/2026 John 3:22–26, The truth is out there

John 3:22–26 (ESV) —

22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized 24 (for John had not yet been put in prison).

25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”

 

NOTE: There is some debate regarding the sequence of events here in John's gospel. John follows a typical Jewish philosophy of organizing events to make a point, even if they are not chronological. This is common in "eastern" cultures.  Most of the "west" follows a Greek formula that is chronological. And John makes it clear, that he understood the chronology, even by his parenthetical insert of the note on John's imprisonment. In fact, one of the arguments for historicity is that stories are not exactly similar among the gospels. The leaders did not sit down and discuss how the story would be made up, because it was real. The same thing happens today when eyewitnesses give what appear to be conflicting stories of a particular event, like a car accident. An investigator once told me that when stories match exactly, it means they are lying.

 

Despite John the Baptist's testimony already regarding Jesus, John (the Apostle) brings him back into the story a second time. And we see some jealousy among his disciples because more people are following Jesus now. This sounds very much like what most hate about religion, when people are trying to build their numbers or create fame in a preacher's name. But because, this is about the real Son of God, John the Baptist will very clear state that Jesus must become more and he must become less.

 

PONDER:

1. Do you still question the validity of the scriptures?
2. Do you still try to convince yourself that the stories in the bible cannot be true?

 

PRAYER: Father, we actually use quite absurd arguments in denying truth because we don't want to hear truth. If we opened our heart to the truth we would need to repent and call you our Lord and God. But we like being our own gods too much. Open our eyes and our heart, help us to see truth.