Disciples should be satisfied to become like their teacher, and servants like their master. If the head of the house has been called the head demon Beelzebub, then the members of his household will be demonized even more!
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my son whom I love, who pleases me. Listen to him.”
Jesus turned round and saw them following him. “What are you looking for?” he asked them. “Rabbi (which means ‘Teacher’), where are you staying?” they asked in reply.
He came at night to where Jesus was and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God, for nobody could do the miraculous signs you're doing unless God was with him.”
They went to John and told him, “Rabbi, the man you were with on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you testified in support of—see, now he's baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”
This isn't because we want to dictate how you relate to God, but because we want to help you have a joyful experience—for it's by trusting God that you stand firm.
He's not a servant anymore, because he's more than a servant. He's a specially-loved brother, particularly to me, and even more to you, both as a man and as a fellow-believer in the Lord.
I am John, your brother who shares with you in the suffering and in the kingdom and in the patient waiting that are our experience in Jesus. I was detained on the island of Patmos for sharing the word of God and the truth as revealed by Jesus.
I fell down at his feet to worship him. He told me, “Don't do that! I am one of God's servants just as you are, and those who accept Jesus' testimony. Worship God, for Jesus' testimony is the prophetic spirit.”
He told me, “Don't do that! I am one of God's servants just as you are, together with your brothers the prophets, and those who obey the words of this book. Worship God!”