John 3:29

THE JOY OF THE BRIDEGROOM’S FRIEND

‘The friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.’

John 3:29

John the Baptist here compares his own position with regard to our Lord to that of the friend of the bridegroom. Let us free ourselves from all the mean and lowering associations of a worldly marriage, and think of it only as it abides in the heart of God. This is what the Baptist is thinking of, and it is for us to consider in what points that figure of the bridegroom’s friend is like unto him.

I. John’s admiration of Christ.—There is, first, John’s loving admiration of Jesus Christ. You may have been blessed by God in having a friend whom you frankly admit as being your superior in every point you think of. He never speaks but you feel a fresh wonder at the clear and beautiful way in which he puts things. To your mind there never was, there never can be, any one quite like him. But all this is dim and faint and obscure compared with what John the Baptist felt in the presence of Christ our Lord. He seems to shrink into nonentity before the higher greatness, the pure holiness, of his beloved Lord. ‘I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?’

II. John’s estimate of his own work.—And secondly, there is John’s estimate of his own work. The marriage is in one sense already being celebrated, for souls are being brought to Jesus Christ. And in what has happened John sees the spirit of his own mission, his own work. This is just what he came to effect; it is being effected; John’s joy is fulfilled. For the bridegroom’s friend in Jewish life had something to do besides taking a formal part in the proceedings of the wedding-day. The preliminaries of the marriage were largely entrusted to him. Things really necessary were left in his hands. A great deal depended on his faithfulness and his tact. He would stand quiet and watchful, and when the joy of the bridegroom’s voice rang out, his face would light up as he thought that he had done something to bring about that blessed joy. So it was with John.

III. The relation of Jesus Christ to the faithful soul.—Thirdly, there is the deep reality, the full and blessed truth that is implied when we use the similitude of a wedding, which tells what Jesus Christ is to the faithful soul. ‘The voice of the bridegroom.’ She has heard it, the bride, the spouse of Christ; she has heard it, the human soul, the wife of His love. Look into the soul of John the Divine; look into the soul of St. Andrew. Think of the response they made to Christ’s love, think of the responses that the voice of Christ has awakened from that day unto now, that soul that in answer to Christ’s love has looked up to say, ‘My Beloved is mine and I am His.’ Can you wonder that the Bridegroom’s friend rejoices?

IV. Are we friends of the bridegroom?—Let us think of ourselves from one point of view, not as the friend of the Bridegroom—no, but actually—God help us—as the bride. But in another aspect we may claim to stand, not as the bride, but as the Bridegroom’s friend, to prepare Christ’s way, to win for Him an entrance into the hearts of other men. Three things are necessary for this.

(a) We must catch something of John’s enthusiasm for Jesus Christ.

(b) We must have clear thoughts as to His purpose and His will.

(c) We must believe that Christ in His love for men uses their brother men to bring this blessedness about, that in a thing so sacred as His own marriage, even in a thing so sacred as His espousal to the human soul, even in a thing so sacred as His saving union with men’s hearts, He is content to employ human aid. He does not disdain to use it if we will put ourselves simply at His service. There is no joy, my brethren, like it—no joy like the joy of the Bridegroom’s friend, the joy of winning a soul for Christ, the joy of winning and compelling and constraining to hear the voice of Jesus.

—Bishop H. L. Paget.