“So John told ‘em, ‘I baptize in water, but there is a Fella who stands amongst us that y’all ain’t met yet. I ain’t even worthy to unbuckle His spurs off His boots for Him’” John 1:26-27 (“The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”).
John the Baptist was one tough dude. He had lived his entire life (at this time he was about 30-years old) in the wilderness. His clothing was rough and rugged, certainly not store-bought and his diet consisted of locust and wild honey. He probably is best compared to a tough-as-nails-wrangler who rode tall in the saddle and could shoot the head off a rattler at thirty paces.
But ol’ John had a tender side. He loved God and lived his whole life for Him. In fact when God got ready to send His only Son to the world to preach the Gospel, He sent for John and told him to introduce Him to all the folks around. And that’s exactly what John did. He even started getting them ready by preaching a message of repentance and baptizing those who repented in the Jordan River (that’s how he got his nickname of Baptist).
Now, John had his own following of disciples. And he couldn’t wait for them to get to know Jesus. So one day when they were all together, he saw Jesus walking nearby. John got all excited, pointed toward Him and just plain yelled it out, “Look yonder! The very Lamb of God Himself!” John 1:36 (“The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”).
John’s job of introducing Jesus to the folks around there was pretty important. But he knew that Jesus had a more important job to do; in fact was the very savior of the world. So, John told his disciples that when he lined himself up next to Jesus, he didn’t feel worthy enough to even pull off Jesus’ boots or to unbuckle his spurs.
You know, Jesus has called all of us to do a pretty important job, too, to tell folks about Him. But when we see His goodness and His holiness next to ours, well I guess we begin to feel pretty much like ol’ John did. All we can do is bow our heads and cry Holy! Holy! And one day “cast our crowns at His feet” Revelation 4:10.
