Currently The Sum of All Fears By Tom Clancy see related

"Among you stands one whose sandals I am not fit to untie"

I just found a little fact about this statement that I had been unaware of and thought I'd share with yall.  The above words were spoken by John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus, to the Temple officials who were sent by the Sanhedrin to find out who John was presenting himself as.  They did so because he was attracting many people and having them repent of their sins as though the priestly leadership was not doing their jobs completely.  They were indignant and feared losing their power if John assumed too much for himself.

So they sent an entourage of priests and scriptural lawyers (scribes) to ask JtB who he was presenting himself as.  He denied being Messiah, the One who was to come to straighten out everything Adam and Eve messed up.  He denied being Elijah, who is prophesied to return before Messiah when He returns as the Conquering King.  He also denied being the Prophet spoken of by Moses, a direct representative of God.  This relieved them all, since these were the identities that would threaten their power.  But they were still curious, so they asked him again, "Who do you say that you are?  What do you say about yourself?"

He answered with scripture, "I am a voice crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the paths for the Lord!'"  But he further answered, telling them that "...among you stands One, the thong of whose sandle I am not fit to untie."

Now that has a lowly enough feeling for us 21st century Westerners.  But in Israel at that time the removal of the sandals and the washing of feet was beneath all but the slaves.  An Jew would never be caught doing such a dishonorable task, but John says that with respect to "the one who stands among you" that it would be too great an honor for him to remove His sandals and wash His feet.

I'm sure this perplexed and maybe brought the tension level back up for the priests and scribes and those who sent them since no stronger statement about the greatness of a person could be made.