ACC ~ John 1 v27

JOHN CAME TO TEACH THE PROUD HUMILITY

AUGUSTINE: And yet, just notice how this forerunner of his Lord, of one who is God and man, how much he humbles himself. No one has arisen greater among those born of women than this man, and here he is, questioned about whether he is himself the Christ. He was so great that people could make this mistake. They wondered whether he was himself the Christ, and they wondered about it seriously enough to question him. Now if he had been a son of pride, not a teacher of humility, he would not have taken steps to make them think that, but he would simply have accepted what they were already thinking. It would possibly have been overreaching himself to wish to persuade people that he was the Christ. If he had tried to do so and had not been believed, he would have been left high and dry, both rejected and dejected, both despised among people and condemned in God’s eyes. But there was no need for him to persuade people. He could already see they were thinking this about him. He could simply accept their mistake and boost his own prestige….

Consider how inferior to him he would have been, even if he had been worthy. Consider how much he would have been debasing himself if this is what he had said: “He is greater than I am, and I am only worthy to undo the strap of his sandal.” He would have been calling himself worthy at least to stoop down to his feet. But now, as it is, see how exalted he proclaimed him to be when he declared himself unworthy even to touch his feet, or rather his sandals! So John came to teach the proud humility, to proclaim the way of repentance. SERMON 293A.4. [1]

[1] WSA 3 11:255*.

THE SANDALS OF THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE INCARNATE FLESH

GREGORY THE GREAT: It was a custom among the ancients that if someone was unwilling to take the wife he should be taking, he who should have come to her as bridegroom by right of relationship would undo his sandal. [1] How did Christ appear among men and women if not as the bridegroom of his holy church? John said of him that “he who has the bride is the bridegroom.” [2] Since people considered John the Christ, a fact that he denied, he was right to declare his unworthiness to undo the strap of Christ’s sandal. It is as if he was saying, “I am not able to lay bare the footsteps of the Redeemer, because I am not unrightfully usurping for myself the name of bridegroom.”

We can also interpret this verse in another way. We all know that sandals are made from dead animals. Our Lord came in the flesh; he appeared as if shod in sandals because he assumed in his divinity the dead flesh of our corrupt condition….

The human eye is not able to grasp the mystery of Christ’s incarnation. In no way can we discover how the Word took on a body, how the supreme life-giving Spirit came to life in his mother’s womb, how he who has not beginning both is and is conceived. The sandal strap is the bond of a mystery. John is not able to undo the strap of his sandal because not even he who recognized the mystery of the Lord’s incarnation through the spirit of prophecy can subject it to investigation. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 4. [3]

[1] Ruth 4:7.

[2] Jn 3:29.

[3] CS 123:24-25*.

CHRIST HAS LEFT HIS FOOTPRINTS ON OUR SOULS

AMBROSE: Moses was not the bridegroom, for to him comes the word, “Loose your shoe from off your foot,” [1] that he might give place to his Lord. Nor was Joshua, the son of Nun, the bridegroom, for to him also it was told, saying, “Loose your shoe from off your foot,” [2] lest, by reason of the likeness of his name, he should be thought the spouse of the church. None other is the bridegroom but Christ alone, of whom John said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom.” [3] They, therefore, loose their shoes, but his shoe cannot be loosed, even as John said, “I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”… To whom else but the Word of God incarnate can those words apply? “His legs are pillars of marble, set upon bases of gold.” [4] For Christ alone walks in the souls and makes his path in the minds of his saints, in which, as upon bases of gold and foundations of precious stone the heavenly Word has left his footprints ineffaceably impressed. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 3.10.71-74. [5]

[1] Ex 3:5.

[2] Josh 5:15 (5:16 Vg).

[3] Jn 3:29.

[4] Song 5:15.

[5] NPNF 2 10:253*.

Jn