After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, for John had not yet been imprisoned. Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. So they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him." John answered and said, "No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said (that) I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease." (Jn 3:22-30)
The author of the Gospel of John says that the work of baptizing by Jesus is simultaneous with that of John. The synoptic Gospels make the work of Jesus follow the work of John that is one after the other. The author probably is trying to say that one work is as good as the other. Also there is no dispute over the work. The dispute comes only regarding the religious practices and not on faith or some basic principles of life and religion.
The disciples go to John to clarify and not to Jesus and this may because the author wants to make john bear witness to Jesus. John’s witness is very important and basic. One is that the work that Jesus does is from God and not from his own desires or from any other human authority. Whatever good is done is from God.
John also witnesses that Jesus is the messiah and he is also the bridegroom. He is the bridegroom who has come to marry the world (the whole creation) and as a bridegroom the role he plays is that of the messiah. It is this knowledge makes John to declare that he must increase and I must decrease.
