“The strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie”
Mark 1:7
Cultural referenceSettledJohn the Baptist
After me will come One more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. (Mark 1:7 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A vague expression of humility.
The cultural key
Handling someone's sandals, touching the dust and filth of the road, was slave's work. A later rabbinic saying held that a disciple should do for his teacher anything a slave does, except deal with his sandal: that was too degrading even for a devoted student. Mark's version has untying rather than Matthew's carrying, and adds the posture, 'to stoop down': the crouch of a slave at his master's feet. Untying the sandal strap is the precise task the rabbinic saying exempted even a devoted disciple from performing.
Recovered meaning
John ranks himself below the lowest task of the lowliest servant. The strongest possible way to say: the one coming is in an entirely different category.