“Beautiful Feet” (LWML Sunday)
How beautiful, the hands that served
The wine and the bread to the sons of the earth
How beautiful, the feet that walked
The long dusty roads, and the hill to the cross
How beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
How beautiful, the feet that bring
The sound of Good News and the love of the King
How beautiful, the hands that serve
The wine and the bread to the sons of the earth
How beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
Dear Friends in Christ,
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The “beautiful feet” passage from Romans 10 that we have today got me thinking about feet, and that got me thinking about “The Foot Book,” by Sr. Suess. Ah, the poems of our childhood!
“Left foot, right foot, left foot, right.
Feet in the morning, feet at night.
Left foot, right foot, left foot, right.
Wet foot, dry foot, high foot, low foot.
Front feet, back feet, red feet, black feet.
Left foot, right foot, feet, feet, feet,
how many, many feet you meet.”
This world is indeed full of feet. With apologies to Dr. Suess, may we add that there are also dirty feet and unwashed feet. There are sinful feet that carry people to places they hadn’t ought to go. There are prisoner’s feet, shackled feet, walking to places they don’t want to go. There are homeless feet, feet wrapped in newspapers or rags, feet with no place to go. There are hurting feet, aching feet, hospital feet, and nursing home feet. There are feet that shuffle along with the help of walkers and canes, and feet without the strength to walk anymore. There are the feet of innocent children, refugee feet, orphan feet, and feet picking through garbage heaps looking for food. There are soldier’s feet, and martyr’s feet, and feet walking in violence and blood.
Jesus, for the sake of all the hurting and suffering and pain in this world, and for the sake of all His children’s aching feet, brought His beautiful feet to this world. The Son of God had tiny infant feet, manger feet, a baby’s soft and perfect feet. And His feet were holy feet, sinless feet, healing feet, as He walked through those dusty roads of Israel. “How beautiful, the feet that walked the long dusty roads and the hill to the cross.” When Jesus washed His disciple’s dirty, dusty feet, did He consider them beautiful? Does He still see beauty in us, dirty though our sinful feet may be?
Jesus was crucified for the sake of our sin. Nails were driven through His holy feet into the wood of that awful cross. He died and was buried. But three days later, those feet of His became risen feet, resurrected feet, feet living and moving and walking again. He invited His disciples to touch His nail-scarred feet, and they found them to be pink and warm and very much alive again – and they were overjoyed!
At the Ascension of Jesus, that we read about in our Gospel in Luke 24, the disciples were left looking up at the bottom of Jesus’ beautiful feet, as He was taken from them into Heaven. But before He left them, this is what He told them: "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures, and He told them what He had in mind for their beautiful feet; He said: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in My name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
The power from on high was the good Holy Spirit, the Spirit that would fill them, encourage them, and motivate and empower them to move their beautiful feet, and to take the Good News about Jesus out into the world, and to open their lips and declare God’s praise to everyone, beginning at Jerusalem.
Jesus gave them what we know as the Great Commission: “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” That was their call to take those beautiful feet of theirs everywhere, carrying the Good News that there truly is forgiveness and life and salvation to be had for everyone – and for you! - in the name of Jesus, and that there’s grace to be found through faith in Him.
Their calling wasn’t an easy one. Jesus warned them they’d be mocked and reviled and persecuted everywhere they walked for the truth they had to tell. Some of the feet in this world, after all, can be ugly feet, and angry feet, and God-hating feet. So the feet of those first disciples became prisoner’s feet, and martyr’s feet, and they all walked in blood for the sake of Christ.
But they did what Jesus asked of them, and their beautiful feet brought hope to a world walking in darkness. They baptized and taught and made new disciples, and brought hearts and souls and more and more beautiful feet to know Christ. Everywhere they walked, they established a fellowship of believers, which came to be called God’s holy Christian Church on earth. And from those churches they established, they sent out missionaries and pastors and preachers and teachers, from generation to generation to generation, all down through the years. And that’s how our beautiful feet have come to be here today, to this place, to this Church, to this preaching station in a wilderness of a world – a world still full of sad feet, and brokenhearted feet, and despairing feet, and feet that have walked far away from God. Our feet are here to offer hope!
Today we celebrate the beautiful feet of you ladies of the LWML, you Lutheran Women in Mission. Your beautiful organization does more to carry the Gospel of Jesus into this world than any other organization I can think of or name. Those little mite boxes of yours add up to millions of dollars every year, dollars that help fund Christian mission and mercy efforts all over this world. (Take a look at the list of all the missions the LWML funded just last year; you can find it on their webpage at LWML.org. It’s amazing!) And it’s more than just money; it’s the prayers and love and compassion and mercy that pour out from the hearts of you good Christian ladies. “How beautiful the hands that serve,” that pretty hymn says; “How beautiful the feet that bring the sound of Good News and the love of the King.” Men, I’m afraid we’ve been letting the ladies out-serve us; let’s try to keep up!
All of you, men and ladies, and children, too - look down today at your own beautiful feet. What can your beautiful feet do? Who can you walk to, to bring comfort and care, and to tell the Good News about Jesus? Your feet really are beautiful, you know, because God in His mercy has made them that way. Jesus has come and washed your feet, and your heart, and your precious soul. You’ve been brought to the water of Baptism and filled with His Spirit. You’ve been taught to trust Him, and blessed with the faith to believe in Him; and “anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” That’s a beautiful thing!
And “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” St. Paul says. That’s beautiful, too - but it does give us work to do, with these voices and hands and beautiful feet of ours. How can anyone call on Jesus, if they haven’t come to believe in Him yet? And how can they believe in Him if they haven’t heard about Him yet? And how can they hear about Him, if someone doesn’t come walking along with their beautiful feet to put the Good News in their ears? “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ,” Paul says. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!”
Father in Heaven, this world is full of feet, feet, feet; all kinds of feet, different feet, but all of those feet attached to precious souls who belong to You, and whom You love. Father, may they all come to be washed and clean and holy feet. May they be feet that carry Your people to Your Church, and to worship, and to baptismal water, and to the blessed, life-giving Sacrament. May every foot be set free from the shackles of doubt and shame and sin. May every little foot have a loving home, and may every child of God be loved and be fed. May every foot in the world walk the path of peace at last, and all the warfare and hate and violence come to an end. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly and come soon, and bring Your beautiful feet back to this world. Until then, stay with us, O Lord, by the grace and comforting presence of Your good Holy Spirit, until all of us are using our beautiful feet to walk together in Heaven with You. In Jesus’ name; Amen.
How beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her Groom
With His light in her eyes
How beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure lives so that others may live
How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ