And some who had been sent were Pharisees. And they questioned him: ‘Why then do you baptise if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ John answered them: ‘I baptise in water. Amongst you stands someone you do not recognise, he is the man who is coming after me – I am not worthy to untie his sandal’s strap.’ These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptising.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.