John 1:24-28<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the passages under consideration here, John the Baptist is very much aware of his role as the forerunner to somebody much \u201cmightier\u201d or \u201cstronger\u201d (\u1f30\u03c3\u03c7\u03c5\u03c1\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2) than he is.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
My confidence in the four gospel accounts here is actually somewhat strengthened by the variation in their reporting of John\u2019s remark involving Jesus\u2019 shoes or, better, his sandals (literally, something \u201cbound under\u201d):<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew 3:11 has the Baptist saying that he is not worthy to carry the sandals of Jesus (\u03bf\u1f57 \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u1f76 \u1f31\u03ba\u03b1\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f70 \u1f51\u03c0\u03bf\u03b4\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03ac\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9). \u00a0By contrast, Mark 1:7, Luke 3:16, and even John 1:27 have him say that he isn\u2019t worthy to untie<\/em>\u00a0(\u03bb\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9\/\u03bb\u03cd\u03c3\u03c9) those sandals \u2014 with Mark also including the idea of \u201cstooping down\u201d to do so.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
If they were all verbally identical, I would find that somewhat suspicious.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, now, a word about standard practice involving threshing floors and winnowing forks, of which, as a modern city kid, I know very little from direct experience:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
When sheaves of grain are brought in by the harvesters from out in the fields, they are opened up and the stalks are spread across the threshing floor. \u00a0Next, pairs of donkeys or oxen (or, less commonly, of some other domesticated quadruped) are walked around and around on top of those stalks, in order to separate the ears of actual grain from them and to loosen the grain itself from its husks. \u00a0Often, the animals drag a heavy \u201cthreshing board\u201d behind them, which helps in the process.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the threshing is done, the stalks and the grain are gathered. \u00a0They\u2019re thrown into the air with a wooden \u201cwinnowing fan\u201d or \u201cwinnowing fork.\u201d \u00a0A wind or a good breeze then serves to blow the the unusable portion of the harvest \u2014 the lighter straw or so-called \u201cchaff\u201d \u2014 away. \u00a0By contrast, the usable grain, which is heavier, falls much nearer to the feet of the person wielding the winnowing fan or fork. \u00a0Thereafter, a sieve is used to purify the grain still further, in order to suit it for human use in baking and so forth.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Matthew 3:11-12 Mark 1:7-8 Luke 3:15-18 John 1:24-28 \u00a0 In the passages under consideration here, John the Baptist is very much aware of his role as the forerunner to somebody much \u201cmightier\u201d or \u201cstronger\u201d (\u1f30\u03c3\u03c7\u03c5\u03c1\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2) than he is. \u00a0 My confidence in the four gospel accounts here is actually somewhat strengthened by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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