John 1:29-34

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John 1:29-34

John writes about this one incident where John the Baptist sees Jesus and says "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!".  What compels him to say such a thing?  I'm not sure, but these actions continue to show us John the Baptist making much of Jesus and little of himself.

Jesus certainly is the one who "takes away the sin of the world".  We already know this and the author of this gospel, John, knows this also.  He writes in 1 John: "You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin".  Jesus is the one who has defeated sin.  It is by his blood that we are cleansed from sin, as John also writes in 1 John 1, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin".

In any case, this is all happening, as John writes, "the next day".  So, after the priests and Levites approach John the Baptist and ask him who he is and why he is baptizing, this event occurs.  Jesus is certainly around and what John the Baptist said earlier is certainly true, "among you stands one you do not know".  Jesus was around but the priests and Levites didn't think to go ask Jesus or talk to him.

We also learn that John the Baptist has already baptized Jesus at this point.  John the Baptist says, "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him".  This is what happened when he baptized Jesus as we read from the other gospels.

An important question to ask is, "who is John the Baptist talking to?".  My guess is that he's talking to his disciples.  I don't think the priests and Levites were still around, but it might've also made sense if he was talking to him.  This is similar to the next paragraph where he says "behold, the Lamb of God" and his disciples hear and act as a result of what they heard.  Though, I guess you could argue that they weren't around, otherwise they would've acted the first time he said this.

What's interesting is that John didn't know Jesus.  Well, he must've known Jesus because they were related.  However, when John the Baptist says that he didn't know Jesus, this is probably referring to the fact that he didn't yet know Jesus was the one he was expecting.  However, John the Baptists describes the message he received from God and the sign to show who it was who "baptizes with the Holy Spirit".  This is he who John the Baptists proclaims is "The Son of God".

One other interesting thing is something that was mentioned earlier and is once again mentioned in this passage.  John the Baptist once again refers to Jesus as one "who ranks before me, because he was before me".  However, John the Baptist is older than Jesus.  I'm assuming that age matters and being older certainly ranks one above someone who is younger.  Yes, we know that Jesus is before John the Baptist and is above all.  However, the people at the time ranked by age and it interesting that John the Baptist is older than Jesus and still making much of a man who is younger than he is.