It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose

 

 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"  He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."  And they asked him, "What then?  Are you Elijah?"  He said, "I am not."  "Are you the Prophet?"  And he answered, "No."  Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us?  What do you say about yourself?"  He said:  "I am

    'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

    "Make straight the way of the LORD,"'

as the prophet Isaiah said."

 

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.  And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"  John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.  It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."  These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 

 

- John 1:19-28 

 

Yesterday we read what is termed the "Prologue" to John's Gospel (verses 1-18):   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as receive Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.   

 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"  He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."  Here John's Gospel shifts from the theological Prologue to the stirrings of Christ's ministry.  This ministry begins with the witness of John the Baptist.  The Gospel will the take us to the calling of the first apostles (John 1:35-51), the first "sign" (of seven) given by Christ at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), and then Christ's rest at Capernaum (John 2:12).  My study Bible references John's Gospel starting with the term, "In the beginning" (see above) similarly to the opening of Genesis (Genesis 1:1), as a parallel that will continue through this opening of the Gospel, covering seven days.  On this first day given in today's passage, John the Baptist bears witness to the Light -- the Christ -- in the presence of the Jews from Jerusalem, the priests and Levites who come to inquire about who John is.  This parallels the creation of light on the first day in Genesis 1:3-5.  We will observe the other daily parallels on the following days given of this first week of ministry in John's Gospel. 

And they asked him, "What then?  Are you Elijah?"  He said, "I am not."  "Are you the Prophet?"  And he answered, "No."  Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us?  What do you say about yourself?"  He said:  "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  "Make straight the way of the LORD,"' as the prophet Isaiah said."  My study Bible comments that John the Baptist is a prophet but not the Prophet, the Messiah, whose coming was foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).   John the Baptist replies to the religious leaders by quoting from the prophesy of Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3).  

 

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.  And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"  John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.  It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."  These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.   John's baptism is one of repentance, a traditional call for prophets.  However, it did not grant remission of sins, but it prefigured and prepared people for the baptism of Christ which was to come, my study Bible notes.  (See Romans 6:3-11.)  My study Bible adds that John is a figure of the Law in that, like the Law, he denounced sin but could not remit (literally "put away") sin.  Both John and the Law point to the One who can remit sin.  That is, the One among you whom you do not know, as John says to the Pharisees, the One whom John declares is "is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

 

 Why do we need preparation for Jesus Christ?  Why was it that John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus Christ among them?  The Jews had long had expectations of the Messiah, but this in itself comes from God's preparation of the world for Christ.  As we can read in the Gospels, so many of those expectations were false or inappropriate to who Jesus truly is and was, and His ministry would be one that would clarify what it was to be "saved" by this Messiah, this Deliverer longed for by Israel.  But preparation is clearly important and essential, else this would not be the way that a salvation plan "for the life of the world" would have unfolded.  John the Baptist is the last in a line of prophets who gave us (and of course, the Jewish people) the word about the Messiah who was to come.  So many of the things that we understand about Jesus, and the titles that are used about Him (such as "Prince of Peace") come from the prophets.  Isaiah writes, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).  In the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period (that is, the centuries prior to the coming of Christ) there is found the Book of Enoch, parts of which make striking references to the figure of Christ as we understand Him.  In Enoch's vision there is with God another being who has the "appearance of a man", whose "face was full of graciousness," who is "the Son of Man who has righteousness, with whom dwells righteousness, and who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden" (see The Book of Enoch, chapter 46).  Our Bibles contain the books of the Old Testament precisely because of this necessary preparation to understand who Christ is, and what is the story of our creation, and the grace of God working throughout our history to call us back, to redeem and to save, from the things that destroy life in this world, so that we understand ourselves and how we are called back toward God and a destiny with this Son of Man (see also Daniel 7:13).  All along, from the patriarchs like Abraham, to the prophets, and now to the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, God has been preparing the people for Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, who will initiate a new age in which we still live as we await His return.  John the Baptist, in his tremendous example of holy humility, says of the Christ, "It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."   Let us, also, receive that for which so much care and grace was taken to prepare us.