John 1:26-27

John 1:26-27

[26] John  answered  them,  saying,  baptize  with  water:  there standeth one  among  whom  know  not;  [27] He  who  coming  after  whose  shoe's  latchet  am  not  worthy  to  unloose. 

What does John 1:26-27 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

John replied by implying that his authority to baptize as he did came from an authoritative figure who was present but yet unknown. John did not identify Him then. This would have exposed Jesus to the scrutiny of Israel"s leadership prematurely. John only realized that Jesus was the Messiah after he said these words (cf. John 1:31). John simply referred to this One and implied that he baptized in water under divine authority. He stressed the great authority of Jesus by saying he was unworthy to do even menial service for Him. Thus John bore witness to Jesus even before he identified Him as the Messiah.
"To get the full impact of this we must bear in mind that disciples did do many services for their teachers. Teachers in ancient Palestine were not paid (it would be a terrible thing to ask for money for teaching Scripture!). But in partial compensation disciples were in the habit of performing small services for their rabbis instead. But they had to draw the line somewhere, and menial tasks like loosing the sandal thong came under this heading. There is a rabbinic saying (in its present form dating from c. A.D250 , but probably much older): "Every service which a slave performs for his master shall a disciple do for his teacher except the loosing of his sandal-thong." John selects the very task that the rabbinic saying stresses as too menial for any disciple, and declares himself unworthy to perform it." [1]