Insufficient: Mark 1:6-8
Somedays what we really need is to be held by our hand. You likely don’t remember being two. You probably don’t remember someone holding onto your hand everywhere you went. You don’t remember how awkward it is to always walk with one arm raised high above your head because you live in a world of giants. When you’re two, that’s exactly what you need when you go out into the world. When you’re two and people hold your hand, they keep you safe. They are doing a job you can’t do for yourself.
How does this speak to John the Baptizer? His behavior is odd, but don’t miss John’s message by focusing on the oddities. John points us to the mighty one coming after him. Sometimes we need to get away from the world, give God space to work in our life, and obey His call for change. That’s all true and good, but the space we give to God isn’t the actual point. God is the point.
When John points to Jesus by mentioning his inability to untie Jesus’ sandal, he doesn’t mean it in a self-deprecating fashion indicating how much better Jesus is. The Greek word for worthy in this passage is hikanos, and it is most often used in the Bible as a measure of capacity. It isn’t that John the Baptizer isn’t worthy, it is that he does not have the sufficient characteristics to do what Jesus will do.
In the Hebrew scriptures, sandals were a symbol of covenant. Moses was asked to take off his sandals before the burning bush, which is where the covenant between God and Moses begins. Another great example of the sandal is the story of how Boaz redeems Ruth’s inheritance, found in Ruth 4:6-8, by receiving the sandal of the person who had the first right for redeeming Ruth’s inheritance.
John the Baptizer isn’t making some claim about humbleness. John the Baptizer is making a point that he doesn’t have the necessary characteristics to take the sandal from Jesus and do what Jesus came to do. John can’t bring the Holy Spirit down from heaven and give it to mankind. John can’t wield the power of God and make blind people see, deaf people hear, and dead people walk. John can’t take the sin of the world upon his shoulders, die on a cross, and be the transaction that allows God to let go of our sin. Jesus, however, can. Therefore, John will let Jesus keep his own sandal.
John knows his place. He knows that for God’s change to happen, Jesus needs to be the one who walks the path. Jesus needs to be the one who brings the Holy Spirit to us. Jesus needs to be the one to come to us and walk hand-in-hand with us on the path of God’s change. John can’t keep our souls safe, but Jesus can. Somedays, what we really need is to be held by our hand.
