Jesus and his disciples leave Jerusalem and go to the countryside. There, Jesus baptizes people. As I mentioned before, this might be the fruit of the Passover week where Jesus cleared the temple of the marketplace and performed miracles. People believed in Jesus and the might be getting baptized now. This group might include Nicodemus.
John the baptist and his disciples are nearby. An argument develops between John the Baptist's disciples and "certain Jews" about this. They approach John and say that the person who John baptized is now baptizing others. John uses the occasion to preach about Jesus. John mentions that it was his role all all along to be sent ahead of the Messiah and now John must become take a smaller role while Jesus takes a larger role.
Again, this fits the pattern of John. John also makes statements he has not made before, including that those who believe in Jesus would have eternal life. This discussion mirrors statements by Jesus earlier in the chapter when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus.
But it is interesting that Jews knew that John had spoken about Jesus, but still were challenging his authority to begin baptizing. It seems like there might be resistance or at least hesitancy among the people to let John be replaced by Jesus. However, to say more than this would be speculation since we cannot tell from the text who has a problem with this - John's disciples or the "certain Jews". By this point, a few of John's disciplines had already left John and joined Jesus, so that dynamic might be at play.
Regardless, John's reaction to all this is not rebuke those fighting, but rather to elevate Jesus. John says just about everything but directly say " stop following me and follow Jesus instead."
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