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Room For Two

Sometimes the fascinating details come inbetween the major stories about Jesus. If you have read the Gospel of John much, you may remember John 3 as the chapter that contains Jesus' convo with Nicodemus. John chapter 4 tells the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. These are both great stories that contain wealths of truth.

But inbetween...

We're told that Jesus went with His disciples to spend time with them. Oh, they also baptized. Where they baptized is significant. Jesus and His crew were in the same place as some guy who sort of became known for baptizing. John, the gospel writer, even notes that there was plenty of water. John 3:22-24

It's almost a side note, but do you see what happened here? Jesus, the Son of God, came and was baptizing. First of all, how cool would it be to be baptized by Jesus. ('I baptize you in the name of the Father, of me, and of the Holy Spirit.') We're told in John 4:1-3 that it was actually the disciples of Jesus doing the baptizing. But consider this; Jesus allowed John the Baptist to continue doing what he was doing. He didn't have to. He could have smiled at John and said, 'Hey, I appreciate it and all. But I got this.' He didn't.

And what about John the Baptist. He could have been bothered by Jesus bringing His ragtag crew to double the effort. He could have reminded Jesus that he was the older cousin, that he was there first, and baptizing was in his name. He didn't.

This is a call to Christians that there is room for more at the table. We fight over the sanctified while there are plenty of people to go around. We look for differences and explain why our brand is better, while lost people remain lost.

It should not be this way. If Jesus did not mind doubling the effort of John, then neither should we. There is room for two.
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