Jesus Eclipsed

What Did Jesus Do?

“Therefore this joy of mine is now complete
He must increase, but I must decrease”
John 3.29-30

Wouldn't you think that at a wedding it would be the bride's goal to marry the best man there? I mean, does a bride set out with her sights on less than the best? Yet it is not the Best Man whom the bride marries, but the groom (Unless something goes awfully wrong at the altar!). When it comes to the serious business of the hour, the Best Man steps back, and is eclipsed by the bridegroom. The bride belongs to the groom, and to no other. Generally, most Best Men rejoice at stepping back into the shadows, so to speak, to be eclipsed, and hear the groom's voice say, “I do.”

John the Baptist was, quite literally, the BEST Man. Jesus himself had said there was no one greater born of woman than his cousin John (See Matthew 11.11). Yet it was the greatest joy in John's life for his ministry to be overshadowed, eclipsed by the One who had come “from above,” for John (the Baptist and the Evangelist) well understood that Christ was “above all” (John 3.31).

Now, some might like to argue that there have been other figures in history who were greater than John the Baptist. I have no interest in debating the question. But the One who overshadowed John, the One who was sent by God to utter the words of God (See John 3.34), eclipses not only the Baptist, but every other man, woman, and child who has ever lived. It may not seem important to much of the world, but the Gospel of John makes it clear that knowing and believing in the Son brings eternal life, while not obeying him brings the wrath of God (See John 3.36).

Here's the thing, the Father sent the Son to wed himself to his bride (that would be the Church, the fellowship of believers, the saints in all times and all places). Jesus did not give himself to, or for, anyone other than the Bride.

But what about us, what about our response to Jesus? Is there another, a “Best Man” (or woman) to whom we have given ourselves? Is there someone or something overshadowing Christ in our life? Has someone or something eclipsed Jesus? A politician? An entertainer? A philosopher or pundit? Money? Work? Power? Prestige? Food? Sex? Football? March Madness? The world is full of lesser lights, if you will, that have no trouble trying to eclipse Jesus in our lives.

An eclipse is really an overshadowing. In a solar eclipse the moon passes between the earth and the sun and obscures the light of day. A lunar eclipse involves the shadow of the earth passing across the moon, blocking the light of the sun from the moon's surface, and dimming the night sky.

But when the Son came into the world, he came to eclipse the world, to overshadow it and everyone and everything in it with the Father's love, that the world might be saved through him. There was no shortage of people and philosophies in the ancient world that were not about to decrease in order that Jesus should increase. Unlike John, the Best Man, they were not about to step back and be eclipsed the by Son. The world is still full of people and things that would seek to rival Jesus. But unless we submit to being overshadowed by the grace and truth of the Bridegroom, and give ourselves to him, we will be left quite alone and hopeless at the altar, while the Bride joins her groom at the wedding feast (See Revelation 19.6-9).


S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4