John the Baptist had moved from Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River to Aenon near Salim, where he continued to baptize people. Aenon was located near the region of the Decapolis, a league of ten major cities that had been colonized by Alexander the Great and later granted autonomy, trade privileges, and tax exemptions for cooperating with Rome during Pompey’s conquest of Judea. For this reason, there were more Gentiles than Jews living in the surrounding area, and Greek culture flourished. Although it was challenging to spread the message of repentance in such a place, Aenon was conveniently situated for people from Samaria, Galilee, and the Decapolis to visit. John the Baptist chose this location for its strategic importance.
John baptized many people there, using all his strength to prepare them as a people ready to receive the Messiah. One day, a disciple from the south came to him. This disciple had been involved in a dispute with a Jewish man over purification rituals and had come to ask John a question, bringing news about Jesus as well.
"Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him."
John answered,
"A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease."
John the Baptist’s heart was overflowing with joy. However, his joy did not last long. From that day on, he began to feel an inexplicable emptiness, as if his heart had become hollow.
I clearly baptized Him, and He has begun His ministry. I thought I was joyful because I had fulfilled the mission given to me, but now that my goal is accomplished, I wonder what I should do next. I considered following Him, but at the same time, I realized that was not my mission. My mission was to prepare people to receive the Messiah. I had not been told to become His disciple or to preach about Him.
Perhaps it would be right to simply continue proclaiming the baptism of repentance to the people, since my role was to baptize first and then send them to Him. But there is one thing that bothers me: the issue of the water baptism He provides. Later, I heard that He does not baptize with water Himself, but rather His disciples do it. Of course, I think it is perfectly fine for His disciples to baptize. Nevertheless, if the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire also performs water baptism, what happens to the mission entrusted to me? I know that He must increase and I must decrease, but I did not want things to unfold this way. If His disciples take over my role as well, what meaning will the rest of my life have? Have I become useless?
John the Baptist had lost his way completely. Even though he knew God’s will, he felt a deep fear that his existence was losing its meaning in this world. Thus, even John the Baptist, who could be considered the greatest person born of a woman, did not fully understand the affairs of heaven.
As it is written in the Scriptures,
"He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
The fact that those who believe in God’s Son have eternal life was something that even the smallest in God’s kingdom knew. Yet, John the Baptist knew this truth only intellectually and did not grasp it with his heart. He was still a person bound to the earth.
John the Baptist spent his days in deep contemplation and suffering. Then one day, he recalled the stories he had heard from the Essenes about the Messiah who would come as a high priest. This Messiah, greater than the one who would come as a king, would do more than just liberate Judea. The one he had baptized was the Messiah who came as a king; therefore, he thought that another Messiah must come. Such thoughts suddenly appeared in John’s mind and began to captivate him.
John the Baptist already knew that Jesus was not just the Messiah who came as a king. He was the beloved Son of God, the Lamb who would bear the sins of the world, and the One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. However, a subtle rationalization that these roles were not those of a priest led him astray. He thought that he could only find the lost meaning of his life on this path, and he decided to continue baptizing and preparing the people for the Messiah who would come as a high priest. He believed that whether His disciples performed water baptisms or not was of no concern to him. Thus, he chose the wrong path based on his misguided knowledge.
Those who do not obey the Son of God cannot receive life and instead incur God’s wrath. John had entered the path of that wrath. Now, he himself needed to repent, which he had so fervently preached about. However, he would not realize his own sin until his strength was completely drained.
Sometime later, John the Baptist was captured by soldiers sent by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch, and imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus, located south of Berea. This was a result of his previous criticisms of Herod’s numerous evil deeds and his condemnation of Herod’s marriage to Herodias.
Herod Antipas had been married to the daughter of Aretas, the king of Nabatea, and they had lived together for a long time. During a visit to Rome, he stayed at the home of Philip, the son of Mariamne II, the daughter of the high priest. There, he fell in love with Herodias, Philip’s wife. Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, a half-brother of Antipas, and she was also a sibling of Herod Agrippa, who would later become king of Judea. Antipas proposed to Herodias, and despite being already married, she accepted on one condition: that he would divorce his current wife.
Antipas’s wife learned of this before he returned home and pretended not to know about it. She requested permission to visit the frontier fortress of Machaerus, which was located on the border with Nabatea. Antipas, unsuspecting, granted her permission. However, she escaped to her father’s kingdom, escorted by Nabatean soldiers.
John the Baptist severely criticized Antipas’s actions. Antipas, who had been watching John’s growing influence, seized the opportunity to arrest him. When news of John’s arrest spread, Jesus decided to leave Judea and return to Galilee. It was also a strategic time to avoid unnecessary conflict with the Pharisees, who had heard that Jesus was baptizing more people than John and gaining more disciples. Jesus felt it was not yet the right time to confront them. He began to move with his disciples along the Way of the Patriarchs, which led toward Samaria.
The passages from John 3:26-36 quoted in this narrative are taken directly from the World English Bible (WEB) translation.
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