Untying the shoes of Jesus

“Untying the shoes of Jesus” by John Durham

At the close of one of Eld. A. P. Durham’s revival meetings, he was requested by the pastor to give the devotional when time came for the ordinance of baptism to be performed. He chose for his Scripture lesson Matthew’s account of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, and read also Luke 3:16. He drew a graphic picture of the scene of that baptism without referring to the creeds of others whose views differ from those of Baptists.

When the services were over and the congregation dismissed, a lady school-teacher of another faith came up to the preacher to express appreciation for his talk, and said, “This is the first time I ever witnessed a baptismal scene like this, and it was beautiful. But you seem to imply, by your talk, that there is but one way to baptize, while I have been taught that there are three ways, - ‘sprinkling’, ‘pouring’, and ‘immersion’.” He replied, “Didn’t you notice, dear Lady, that just before the baptizing, some brethren stooped down and untied the shoes of the young men who were to be baptized?” She answered in the affirmative. Then continued he, “You remember what I read about Jesus’ baptism; how that when he asked John the Baptist to baptize Him, John protested and said, ‘I need to be baptized of Thee’ and ‘I’m not worthy to unloose the sandals from your feet’. Now, do you suppose that if John had intended to baptize Jesus any other way than by immersion he would likely have mentioned the untying of Jesus’ Shoes?” The lady replied, “I don’t suppose he would; but I never saw it in that light before.” It was reported that she joined the Baptist church soon afterwards. 

From Apostle of Sunshine, as printed in The Baptist Waymark, Vol. III, No. 2, March-April 1995, p. 2