“He is the one who is coming later. I am not good enough to be the slave who unties the strings on his sandals.”
John the Baptist was sent by God to tell people about the one who was to come—the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Effectively, John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. He said of himself, “I am the voice of someone shouting in the desert: ‘Make straight a road ready for the Lord.'” When people asked him if he was the Messiah, John freely admitted he was not. Although he baptized people, he only baptized with water. The one to come, John said by way of contrast, would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” (Matthew 3:11).
John knew he was not on the same level as the one to come. He knew the one to come was the Lord. That’s why he said, “There is a man coming after me who is greater than I am, because he was living even before I was born,” (John 1:30). And that’s why he said the words of our verse for today: “I am not good enough to be the slave who unties the strings on his sandals.” After all, what mere mortal compares to Jesus, the Messiah, the second person of the trinity come to earth? John knew he was nothing compared to that.
Although John disparaged himself in comparison, Jesus did not speak about him in those terms. Instead, he did just the opposite. He spoke highly of John. He made a point of telling people how great John was. Indeed, he said that John was a prophet and more than a prophet. He even said, “I tell you, no one ever born is greater than John,” (Luke 7:28).
If someone as great as John the Baptist was willing to set aside his pride and acknowledge his unworthiness to even untie the strings on Jesus’ sandals, then how much more should we be willing to set aside our pride? Although it’s true that our connection to Christ makes us greater than John, as Jesus himself said (Luke 7:28), we’re still obliged to follow Him and promote Him and not ourselves.
Although, we like John are unworthy, Jesus counted us worthy, because of His great love for us, and went to the cross so that we could become His co-heirs in the kingdom of God (Romans 8:17). We have gone from slaves to princes! By faith we can call Jesus our master and our brother. Amen.
