De-Sandaling the Kinsman Redeemer – A Sermon on Matthew 3:1-12 (updated from 2014)

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our text today is the Gospel lesson, where John the baptist prepares the way for Jesus, crying out, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The call goes out from the wilderness. And everyone came. Jerusalem and all of Judea and all the region of the Jordan. Even the Pharisees and Sadducees, that brood of vipers, came. Could this be the Christ? No. He who is coming is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

Did you know that all four gospels include John the baptist saying that he’s not worthy to untie the sandals? What exactly does that mean? We tend to understand that through our own experiences. We hear John saying that Jesus is really great. So great, that John is not even worthy to do the lowliest things for Him. And, you know? That’s totally one hundred percent true. However, there’s an even better way to understand those sandals than through just our own experiences. Because the meaning behind of untying someone’s sandal is defined in God’s Word. But not where you might expect.

You may have heard of the biblical idea of levirate marriage. Where if a man dies without giving his wife a son, that man’s brother must marry her and have children with her. So that the first son born to this wife can carry on the dead brother’s name. The role the living brother carries out is what we call being the Kinsman-Redeemer. Because he redeems his brother’s name from death. Now, there were other jobs a Kinsman-Redeemer had as well. Like the buying back of land, rescuing from slavery, and avenging the dead. But levirate marriage is really where the sandals come into play. Especially if the Redeemer doesn’t want to do his job.

Deuteronomy 25 starting at verse 7. “And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’”

So removing someone’s sandal in Israel wasn’t a job you left to your lowly servants. Taking off someone’s sandal was to accuse them of not doing their job as Kinsman-Redeemer. So to take off someone’s sandal was to receive justice publicly. And to shame the one who did you wrong. This isn’t just some random, obscure law, either. Because this is exactly what happens in the book of Ruth. Where Ruth asked Boaz to be her Kinsman-Redeemer. However, he couldn’t because there was one closer in relation who had the responsibility before him. So what was described in Deuteronomy 25 pretty much happens in Ruth, chapter 4.

Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.

…So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”

Where this ties into today’s text is John’s answer to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They see John baptizing not in the temple, but the wilderness. And they wonder why he’s doing this. Especially if he’s not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet. Because, to them, it looks as though he is unstrapping their sandals. Accusing them of being unfaithful in their jobs to their kin. Because they are the closest in line. The nearest relative eligible to be Kinsman-Redeemers for God’s people.

And by John unstrapping their sandals, he must therefore also be unstrapping God’s sandal. That is, unless John is the Christ. After all, God had given them Temple worship. God had given them the Law for cleanliness. God had set the place of forgiveness. And had put them in charge over it. They had the lineage. They had the responsibility. Given by God Himself. So unless John is the Christ, what he was doing out here in the wilderness said more than that they had failed. Rather John was saying that God was not doing a good enough job keeping His promises.

But John says plainly, “I am not the Christ.” I am not the Kinsman-Redeemer. But you know what guys? Neither was Moses, who had to take off his sandals in God’s presence. Neither was Joshua, who likewise had to take off his sandals in the same way. Because as close as they were, it was not either of them who redeemed Israel. It was God Himself. But there is one who stands among you whom you do not know. And no one can take off His sandals. Not even John the Baptist, greatest of all the prophets. Because He is the Kinsman-Redeemer for His bride. He will marry her. He will redeem her from death. And He will give her children.

In chapter three of John’s Gospel, John the baptist continues to say, “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Jesus as Kinsman-Redeemer is the message of John the Baptist in all four Gospel accounts. Because the Kinsman-Redeemer is one of the most salvific roles in all the Old Testament. The Redeemer rescues the poor man from his debts in Leviticus 25. That includes buying back his land. And even goes so far as buying him out of slavery. The Redeemer seeks justice for the dead in Numbers 35. And receives retribution on behalf of the family. The Redeemer saves the widowed and childless, by giving them family as we see in Deuteronomy 25 and Ruth 4. As John says, the one who has the bride is the bridegroom. Jesus has His Church. Old Testament Church, New Testament Church, it’s all the same bride.

Make no mistake, the church needs a Kinsman-Redeemer. You need a Kinsman-Redeemer. You know what it is to have a debt you cannot pay. Because you too have sinned. You too know what it is to be enslaved. Because Anyone who sins is a slave to sin.  You know what it is to be denied justice. Because you have likewise been sinned against. You too know what it is to be widowed. Some of you literally. Yet all know what death does to our loved ones. What death does to us. We need a Redeemer. And Jesus is that Redeemer.

But you cannot redeem for free. The redeemer that Boaz confronted was willing to pay the price for the land. But he was not willing to pay the price for Ruth. The cost was too high. And it put his own inheritance in danger. However, Jesus was willing to pay any price to redeem you. Even when that price was His own life. Paid for with his body given on that cross. Paid for by His blood shed at Calvary. To redeem you out of death, Jesus entered death Himself. And at His resurrection, also walked out of death, carrying His bride, carrying you with Him.

Jesus has given His bride, His Church a child. And that child is you. You are a member of God’s family. You have been clothed in His baptism. Given a place at His table. Fed with His own body and blood. You are an heir in His house. And that inheritance is forgiveness, salvation, eternal life with Him.

So it doesn’t matter the price that has to be paid. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve lost. It doesn’t matter how much you hurt. Jesus is your Kinsman-Redeemer. And He has bought you back, and brought you back from it all. Jesus has counted you as worthy for all this. Because His love for you is greater than anything else. And because of His death and resurrection on our behalf, there is no need to take off His sandal. Because He has done His job. Jesus has indeed redeemed His people. He has redeemed you. Thanks be to God.