John 3: The Teacher Accompanies the Disciple to the Threshold

Introduction

"He must increase, but I must decrease." With these words of John the Baptist, Raúl Abraham continues the series "Referentes," devoted to role models and mentors, at Iglesia Salem Madrid. After the message about David and Solomon, here is the fourth part: John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

The preacher starts from a simple observation: we have all been someone's apprentice (our parents, our coaches, our teachers, our pastors, our grandparents) and we have all been, one day, a point of reference for others. His question is this: "How far does the task of a role model go? How far does the role of a teacher go?"

His answer comes down to one image: the teacher prepares the threshold, the disciple crosses it, and the Spirit shows what lies beyond. The disciple, for his part, never stops learning: "The moment we think we have reached the ceiling is the moment we die and grow old."

Message Outline

1. John the Baptist, Jesus' Teacher

The text of John 3:22-30 shows Jesus and his disciples in Judea, baptizing, while John baptizes at Aenon, near Salim. A discussion arises between John's disciples and a Jew about purification, and then they come to tell John: "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him." The preacher sees in this "the ridiculous rivalries" that arise when another group does the same thing we do.
Raúl Abraham reminds us that Jesus grew "in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" and that he did not arrive "in some kind of spaceship." According to historians, John the Baptist, a prophet who baptized on the banks of the Jordan, had a group of disciples, and Jesus, a craftsman from Nazareth, was one of them.
John's influence is visible at the start of Jesus' ministry: he baptizes, he preaches repentance ("Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"), and the Gospel of John even says that he made more disciples than John.
John also opens a new path: growing far from the temple and from Judea, far from a religious system that oppressed those who wanted to draw near to God.

2. The Disciple Is Not a Copy of the Teacher

John the Baptist insists on an ax: every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down. Jesus follows the same idea but takes a different path: he speaks less about the ax than about how to help the tree bear fruit, as in the allegory of the true vine in John 15.
John is an ascetic, with prolonged fasts, "a sort of monk in his hermitage in the desert." When people ask why Jesus' disciples do not fast, the preacher reads in this that Jesus cares more about relationship with people than about rules.
Jesus is called a glutton and a drinker: he is at every feast, every shared meal. John's mark is on his life, but he does not reproduce John's model.
Jesus announces a kingdom within us, which John did not do. He preaches in villages, on the beach, from a boat, in homes. He forms twelve disciples, after the model of the twelve tribes. "We have no Jesus-the-Baptist in the Gospels."

3. The True Teacher Does Not Make Disciples in His Own Image

"The true teacher is not someone who makes disciples in his own image and likeness, but he prepares the disciple to discover the original image that God has for him."
The teacher does not wait for the disciple to think like him. He does not keep him dependent. He stands at his side, like a guide, a tutor, a "paraclete" to use the Greek word of the Bible.
The preacher warns against the rabbinic idea that the disciple had to speak, walk and even snore like his teacher. He asks: at what point does admiration cross the line into idolatry? In the evangelical world, people quickly want to resemble a public figure and lose the image God has for them.
"If God made you original, why would you live as a copy of someone else?" A person can resemble you 99.9%, share your tastes, your soccer team and your convictions, but your fingerprint tells you that you are unique.
Parents fall into the trap too. A pastor friend was upset that his son supported his mother's soccer team. Another refused to let his son wear the jersey given by a brother from church, because it was "not the right team." In teaching, asking an objective question (what is the first book of the Bible?) is not a problem; demanding "the right" interpretation of Genesis 1 amounts to indoctrination.

4. The Teacher Knows His Limits and Knows How to Let Go

John's task is to prepare the way, not to build it in Jesus' place. The preacher considers him "one of the most underrated figures in the Gospels": a short ministry, but one of far-reaching impact.
John knows where his ministry begins and where it ends. He baptizes with water; baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire is not his to do. Like Moses, a recognized deliverer, he knows he is not the cloud or the pillar of fire that guides the people.
How far does his task go? To the Jordan, when heaven opens. "The teacher accompanies the disciple to the threshold. From there, he must learn to let go and let him walk."
From his prison, John must have the humility to send his disciples to ask Jesus whether he is really the Messiah. What he hears no longer matches his "study manuals." The answer comes: the blind see, the deaf hear, good news is announced to the poor.
This hurts, the preacher admits, like parents who watch a child leave, a child raised with one idea in mind. Being a role model gives authority, prestige and influence, and the danger is to get used to it and become "a ceiling that prevents growth."
John's greatness is that he rejoices. He knows neither the cross nor the resurrection, but he tells his disciples to follow Jesus, "the Lamb." His joy is complete.

5. The Disciple Must Go Through the Door, Led by the Spirit

And what if the teacher does not let go, if he imposes a Pharisaic burden where neither he nor the disciple enters the kingdom? The disciple must also do his part and let himself be led by the Spirit.
"John the Baptist opens a door. But now it is Jesus, the disciple guided by the Holy Spirit, who must go through the door and begin to walk." The "referenced one," a word the preacher says he invented that very morning, must seek what is new from God.
The Spirit leads Jesus where John might never have gone: to Samaria, into the desert to be tempted. Jesus teaches in parables, embraces the marginalized, heals the sick, frees the oppressed and gives his life. He announces a kingdom to be discovered within, like the pearl of great price or the hidden treasure.
Some ministries collapse, crushed, because they did not learn to recognize their limit. The disciple, for his part, must learn to recognize another voice, no longer outside but inside, that guides him into unknown places that are frightening.
The preacher tells how he idealized certain authors to the point of buying their entire collection, then found a better one who contradicted the first, to the point of reselling the first collection on Wallapop. To more than one mentor, sometimes outside the evangelical world, he wrote: "Thank you, because you saved my life at a time when I was rusting."

6. "Another Will Lead You": Leaving Jerusalem

Jesus says to Peter: "Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you, and carry you where you don't want to go." For the preacher, these are places "that were not in your manual," with no five-point PowerPoint.
He was asked for the key to serving God with greater excellence. His answer: let yourself be taken by the hand and let yourself be guided. Jesus' last word to Peter is "Follow me."
Two options lie before the disciple: grow old and rust where he is, repeating what his parents or his church handed down to him, or grow young by letting himself be led, even where he would rather not go. "It is always easier for a teacher to tell you what to do than to find the voice of God within."
In the book of Acts, the order was to receive the Spirit and leave Jerusalem. Yet in chapter 3, Peter still goes to pray at the temple; in chapter 5, they are found at Solomon's porch. According to the preacher, we have to wait until chapter 12 for Peter to understand, because in Jerusalem you are safe.
Paul also had his process: he liked to debate in the synagogues, while the Spirit wanted to take him out of his security, his comfort and his ideology to lead him all the way to Rome.
There is no need to tear up your first diploma: what you have learned is part of the journey. But you must walk with it toward what God has that is new.

7. The Road to Maturity Is Made of Immature Steps

The Church burned books and people during the Inquisition in order to "speak correctly." Yet "Jesus did not come to teach us to speak correctly; he came to teach us to do what is right." The Holy Spirit is not limited to a manual or a PowerPoint.
"The road to maturity is full of immature steps." To the parent, to the teacher, the preacher says: let him go, the Spirit will know how to guide him.
To the disciple: do not become too attached to your teacher, it has an expiration date. One of his teachers once told him with humility: "The problem is not that I know a lot, it is that you know less."
The Bible is full of this: first we hear of "Barnabas and Paul," then of "Paul and Barnabas." Moses is a good deliverer, but it is Joshua, strong and courageous, who brings the people in where his teacher could not. The temple is Solomon's, even though the idea came from David.
To close, the preacher returns to the angel's word to Elijah: keep eating, keep drinking, for the road is still long. "No one retires here," and it is the One who knows everything who will complete the good work he began.

Key Takeaways

The true teacher does not make disciples in his own image: he helps them discover the original image that God has for them.
The teacher accompanies the disciple to the threshold; then he must let go of the hand and let the Spirit lead.
Like John the Baptist, a teacher rejoices to see his disciple go further than he did: "He must increase, but I must decrease."
The disciple never stops learning; he must dare to go through the door and leave his "Jerusalem" when the Spirit calls him elsewhere.
The road to maturity is full of immature steps, and it is God who completes the work he began.

Personal Application

For whom are you a point of reference today (child, grandchild, colleague, neighbor, brother or sister at church)?
Are you waiting, consciously or not, for those you accompany to think like you and resemble you?
Is there someone you need to learn to let go, trusting the Spirit to guide them?
What admiration for an author, a preacher or a public figure risks making you lose the original image God has for you?
What is your "Jerusalem," that place of security the Spirit may be calling you to leave?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Was John the Baptist Jesus' teacher?

Raúl Abraham reminds us that historians agree in seeing Jesus among the disciples of John the Baptist. The Gospels show this influence at the start of his ministry: Jesus also baptizes and preaches repentance. But Jesus is not a copy of John: he speaks less about the ax than about how to help the tree bear fruit.

What does "He must increase, but I must decrease" mean?

When his disciples worry that everyone is going to Jesus, John the Baptist answers that his joy is complete. For the preacher, this is the greatness of a teacher: knowing where his ministry begins and where it ends, then letting his disciple grow without holding him back.

How far does the task of a teacher or mentor go?

To the threshold. For John the Baptist, this threshold is the Jordan, when heaven opens over Jesus. From there, it is the Spirit who guides. The teacher must let go of the hand and let the disciple walk, and the disciple must dare to move toward what God has that is new for him.