"27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete."
John 3:27-29
John's dealing with his disciples is instructive. They were clearly riled by the Jews' taunts, because they were jealous for John's ministry, and its decline in popularity was a source of annoyance to them. This was perhaps natural in the circumstances, but their undoubted irritation is surely open to question. One question we might well ask is, 'Why were they still John's disciples?' Ought they not to have received his testimony about Jesus (26) and followed the Lord, as Peter and the others had done? May there not be a gentle rebuke in John's words to them in 27 for not having done so? Another thing we may learn from this incident is just how dangerous a petty party spirit can be. We see the damage such a spirit can do in the Corinthian epistles. And John dissociates himself from it. What he seems to mean in 27 is: 'I cannot command continued success in my ministry. I can only receive what God gives me. If He thinks fit to give another more acceptance with men than myself, I cannot prevent it and have no right to complain. All success is of God.' That is a fine way of dealing with the situation. And one sees the strength and stature of the man in saying it. Moreover, in 28 John reminds his disciples that his was a secondary part; he was the forerunner, not the Messiah, the 'best man', not the bridegroom. The illustration of the bridegroom is a telling one (29), and one used in another connection by Jesus Himself, in Matthew 9:15. John means, in effect, 'The great day of the marriage has come and the bridegroom is calling the bride to himself. I therefore rejoice, and now my task is over'.