Above All

Introduction

I’ve been a “best man” only once in my life. It was my brother’s wedding. Depending on the region of our country, the best man has different responsibilities. My responsibilities were very simple: show up for the wedding, hold the rings and give them to the preacher when it was time, and make sure that my brother was where he was supposed to be a few minutes before the wedding. At least that was all anyone could see as my responsibilities. I also had other responsibilities that few people knew anything about. In those days—the late 1970s—people were doing really mean things to automobiles that were being driven away from the wedding. Those who did the deed thought it was funny and so do most who watched the car drive away. But it was terribly inconvenient and sometimes embarrassing for the couple as they left.

But the “well wishes” went too far at times. I knew guys who never got smells out of their cars; whose paint job had been ruined; and other deeds that need not be mentioned. So one of my responsibilities was to help my brother prepare for the getaway from the wedding ceremony. It was really quite an elaborate scheme—one that demanded secrecy, intrigue, and a commitment to not give in should torture be administered. It worked well. No one knew what to do because no one was sure which car the wedding couple was leaving in and the “best man” wasn’t talking. You see, I knew the day would come when I would want to leave a wedding ceremony unimpeded and without having to stop somewhere in order to get the car washed, vacuumed, deodorized and sanitized. And when the time came my brother was my “best man” and fulfilled the same role for me that I had fulfilled for him.

Think back to weddings you have attended. Eliminate your own wedding and the weddings of family. Do you remember who the best man was? And if you do, were you confused about who was getting married that day? Did it surprise you that the best man didn’t exchange vows with the bride? In our text, John the Baptizer talks about his role as best man to the bridegroom, Jesus. While the best man has an important role, no one is confused about who the bridegroom is on the wedding day. In a discussion with his own disciples, John reminds them that he is the best man. The focus isn’t on him but on Jesus who is the bridegroom. Today, just as John two thousand years ago, we are going to focus on Jesus. The gospel writer is calling for a decision today. He encourages and he warns. Much evidence has been presented. We need to understand the consequences of our decision.

Controversy

After Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, he goes out to the Jordan River area and begins baptizing. His purpose is to convict the hearts and minds of the people and through their baptism they pledge to live obedient lives to God. John continues to baptize as well. But more people are responding to Jesus’ ministry than to John’s. We see that a controversy arises about ceremonial washing. We are not told the specifics of this controversy but it leads to an opportunity to clarify his role and to contrast his role to that of Jesus.

In an apt illustration, John compares himself to the best man at a wedding. No one confuses the best man with the bridegroom. All attention is given to the bridal party. No one comes to the best man to congratulate him on how well he did. John understood that his role was to diminish. His job had been to prepare the way for the bridegroom to come and now that the bridegroom had arrived, the party and the festivities were for the bridegroom not for the one who prepared the way.

The bridegroom image must not be lost on us. While the illustration is an apt description of John’s role, the bridegroom imagery is found in the Old Testament to describe God’s relationship with his people. The prophets repeatedly pictured Israel as the bride of their covenant God. The prophet who used this imagery most prominently was Hosea. Remember that God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. Hosea obeyed and married Gomer, but Gomer eventually went back to prostitution. Eventually, God told Hosea to take her back again. God used Hosea’s marriage to make a point about the faithlessness of Israel, the Bride of God. In Hosea 2:16-20, we get this picture: “In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me “my husband”; you will no longer call me “my master.” I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked… I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.”

Compare this to Ezekiel 16:8-14. This passage pictures Jerusalem as a cast-out orphan girl whom God sees in the street, takes in, cares for, and makes his bride. In this chapter, Jerusalem the bride is unfaithful and chases after other suitors, that is, other gods. But at the end of the chapter, we see God promising to take her back and to provide an atonement for all she has done. So, by calling Christ the bridegroom, John is keying in on a picture used by the Old Testament prophets. And it was a picture that told of Israel’s faithlessness, God’s faithfulness, God’s intention to know and to be known in the fullest sense, and God’s sure determination to make the relationship work. John uses this image to say, “I am not the bridegroom. That guy over there is the bridegroom who has come to redeem his faithless people so they can enjoy an eternal relationship with him.” It is time to celebrate.

So What?

Verses 31-36 give us the implication of this image. Jesus is the one sent from God. He has come to be the husband of faithfulness to those who have been unfaithful. Part of what makes Jesus unique is that he has come from above. John was from the earth. He could only give earthly testimony. But Jesus is from above. Don’t skip over that word “above.” It is the same word that was used in 3:3 when Jesus told Nicodemus that one must be born again or from above. Jesus is the one through whom a spiritual birth takes place. He has come to bring life. Because he is from above then he is above all. His testimony is valid. His right to be ruler over all is unquestioned. All others are from the earth. But Jesus has come down from the Father.

Verse 33 is one of the implications of accepting Jesus’ testimony—we confirm the truthfulness of God. In other words, when we accept Jesus’ testimony we demonstrate that God is trustworthy. To reject Jesus’ testimony is to say that God is unreliable. To reject Jesus is to reject God. What we think about God is in question depending on how we accept this evidence. To trust Jesus and the evidence presented means there is life. To reject Jesus and the evidence is to remain in God’s wrath.

John wants us to come to faith in Jesus. Nicodemus came. He heard the evidence but we don’t know if he was born from above. We don’t know if his life changed. All things have been given into Jesus’ hands. He is over all. The question is “Is he over your life?” John the Baptizer in his humility knew that his role was to help others see Jesus. That is our role as well. It is in humility that we too remember that we become less so that Jesus can become greater. How important it is that we come to the wedding feast, but we do not come to be the focus. All eyes are turned to the bridegroom. You are invited to share in the celebration. Will you give your life to Jesus?

On October 23, 1983, around 6:20 am, a yellow Mercedes-Benz delivery truck drove to Beirut International Airport, where the 1st Battalion 8th Marines, under the U.S. 2nd Marine Division of the United States Marines, had set up its local headquarters. The truck turned onto an access road leading to the Marines’ compound and circled a parking lot. The driver then accelerated and crashed through a barbed wire fence around the parking lot, passed between two sentry posts, crashed through a gate and barreled into the lobby of the Marine headquarters. The Marine sentries at the gate were forbidden from using live ammunition, for fear that a discharge might kill a civilian, so they were powerless to stop him. According to one Marine survivor, the driver was smiling as he sped past him. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives, which were equivalent to 12,000 pounds—about 5,400 kg—of TNT. The force of the explosion collapsed the four-story cinder-block building into rubble, crushing many inside. About 20 seconds later, an identical attack occurred against the barracks of the French Third Company of the Sixth French Parachute Infantry Regiment. Another suicide bomber drove his truck down a ramp into the building’s underground parking garage and detonated his bomb, leveling the headquarters. It was and still is the deadliest attack on service men since World War II. 241 servicemen were killed; 220 of them marines.

Marine Corps Commandant Paul X Kelly visited some of the wounded survivors then in a Frankfurt, Germany hospital. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Lee Nashton, severely wounded in the incident. Nashton had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he survived. As Kelly neared him, Nashton, struggling to move and racked with pain, motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant. On the slip of paper were but two words—“Semper Fi,” the Latin motto of the Marines meaning “forever faithful.”

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