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“…Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

᛭ INI ᛭

John’s words pave a pathway to the Lord. That is His job after all. He is the forerunner. He’s a herald. He’s like first float in a parade, the opening act at a concert. So, all John’s prophetic preaching is geared toward getting the LORD’s people ready for His arrival. He prepares by preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins. He prepares by baptizing for repentance and the forgiveness of sins. He prepares by preaching Christ, not a lot, but enough to get people pointed in the right direction. He doesn’t steal Christ’s thunder.

So it is with even this statement of John. What a sermon John has in just one sentence! “…Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” Here John preaches repentance. Here John preaches Christ. Here John even prepares for the forgiveness of sins. How is all that wrapped up in one little sentence? Well, when he declares, “Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose,” John is preaching this:

CHRIST ALONE IS WORTHY.

(I. No human being is ever worthy, except Christ the God-man.)

It’s the truth that the world doesn’t want to hear. Truth is: we don’t either! We bristle at being told we’re not enough, that there’s something we can’t do. It’s not just that you personally aren’t worthy, or that I personally am not worthy. Though that’s true. But even John confesses his own personal unworthiness to do even the most menial, lowest, grossest task: “Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” John says this, and it’s true for you and for me, because no human being at all is worthy before God!

It’s not a personal slight against you, but a universal condemnation of mankind. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 4) Because “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Rom 5) Indeed, “God has committed all to disobedience,” (Rom 11) “confined all under sin” (Gal 3) It’s a human problem, the human condition. You can’t overcome what we are by nature. There’s nothing that you can do to fix it. No amount of good, because, as Isaiah prophesies: “We are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” (Is 64) You see it’s not our sins that are like fifty rags. It’s our “righteousnesses” (KNJV)—“our righteous acts,” (NIV) “righteous deeds,” (ESV), that is our good works! What do you think of that? Your good works before God are filthy. “By works of the Law no human being will be justified,” forgiven, worthy “in His sight.” (Rom 4)

John’s sermon about himself and all mankind is true. We are not worthy. But He also preaches Christ. If John’s unworthy to do anything for Christ, then CHRIST ALONE IS WORTHY. And He is worthy not only because He’s God. As John says, “[He] is preferred before me,” because, as John says later, “He was before me.” But Christ is also worthy as a man, the Son of Man. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4) He is worthy before His Father, the substitute for all mankind. Where all mankind is unworthy on its own, “no one righteous, not even one,” then came the One who would make all things new. He lived a holy, sinless life for you.

(Transition.)

CHRIST ALONE IS WORTHY. He alone is worthy since He is God. He alone worthy since He is man. God-man in one Person, the eternal Son of God. But CHRIST ALONE IS WORHTY not only because of who He is. But because of what He does. As it’s revealed in Revelation. The angels, archangels, and the whole company of heaven praise Christ:

“You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev 5)

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5)

To put in terms of our Gospel reading today: CHRIST ALONE IS WORTHY because “He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!”

(II. This is Good News for you, for He makes you worthy!)

And so CHRIST ALONE being WORTHY isn’t just some nice mental exercise, and nice correct answer. CHRIST ALONE being WORTHY is Good News for you because it has everything to do with Him saving us. Just like His coming down to earth is good news: “For us men and for our salvation [He] came down from heaven.” “He is the propitiation for our sins, [the atoning sacrifice, which appeases God’s wrath over sin,] and not for our sins only but the sins of the whole world,” (1-Jn 2) for He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

He is Your Redeemer, which is why, John references removing Christ’s sandal. As we hear from Ruth: “Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.” (4:7) And so Christ, took off His sandal, as it were, and put on your sins all the way to calvary, where He was properly shod with nails into His feet, and hands—pierced for you and your sins.

To redeem is to be the Lamb of God, and by doing this He makes you worthy. He takes away your sins. He covers you with His righteousness. He gives you to eat and drink of the flesh and blood He offered as the Lamb of God. Just as the Israelites ate the flesh of the Passover Lamb, as they spread its blood over their doors, so also Christ purifies and protects you with His body and blood, which passes over “the door of your lips,” as the Psalmist says, thus your heart is cleansed by His blood. Your body also sprinkled clean with the pure water of His holy Baptism, which poured forth, with blood, from His spear-pierced side. This is how Christ has made you worthy, and so you are!

(Conclusion.)

John’s words pave a pathway to the Lord. So it is with even this statement of John. What a sermon John has in just one sentence! “…Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” Here John preaches repentance. Here John preaches Christ. Here John even prepares for the forgiveness of sins. How is all that wrapped up in one little sentence? Well, when he declares, “Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose,” John is preaching this:

CHRIST ALONE IS WORTHY.

No human is in themselves. Only Christ is worthy. He is your God. He is the perfect Man. He is the Lamb of God who makes you worthy. He does so not only through a sinless life, a suffering for you, but also through feeding you His most holy, precious, worthy body and blood to make you forgiven, holy, worthy. Thus we are worthy by faith alone!

You are worthy. Not worthy in yourself, but worthy in and through CHRIST who ALONE IS WORTHY as your God, your Substitute, your Lamb. Now there is no reason to remove His sandals anymore, and yet we shall bow before His feet in eternal adoration. As we shall sing with angels round Christ’s throne:

“Worthy the Lamb that died,” they cry, “To be exalted thus!” “Worthy the Lamb,” our lips reply, “For He was slain for us!” (LSB 812)

So shall we sing forever.

᛭ INI ᛭