“Beautiful Feet”
Text: Romans 10:5-17
8-13-2023
In the name of Him who sends His message of salvation far and near, dead friends in Christ. Back in the 1960's, one of my brother-in-laws worked for a while in a shoe store at the mall. While recalling that memory, it dawned on me that he must have really needed the money. Or perhaps he had no sense of smell. Seriously, can you imagine being in close proximity with people’s feet day after day? Oh sure, some of those feet were probably okay. But what about the sweaty, stinky, funky ones with athlete’s foot or toenail fungus? You know, maybe my childhood dream of being a garbage collector when I grew up doesn’t sound so bad after all!
Now, in case you think I’m making fun of people who have foot problems, I’m not. In his later years of life, my Dad had to have the nails removed from his big toes by a podiatrist. I’m sorry, but it just looked weird. As much as I loved him, I could not say he had beautiful feet. To be fair, though, neither are mine! But let’s face it, not too many people rate a person’s beauty based upon their feet. Unless you have some kind of foot fetish, that’s the last thing a guy or a gal considers when they feel attracted to one another.
And yet, in our Epistle Lesson St. Paul tells us about some very beautiful feet. It wasn’t the shape or condition of those feet that make them beautiful. In verse 15 Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah and says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But it wasn’t the feet themselves that he was concerned with. Rather, it was the message of the person who was transported by those feet. That’s what made those feet beautiful. When Isaiah wrote those words, he was speaking about the messenger who was sent to the people of Israel when they were in Babylonian captivity. That man walked and ran a long distance bearing the good news. And the message was that the captives would soon be released. So even though his feet were tired, sweaty, and dirty, they were beautiful to the Israelites because of the beautiful message they carried.
St. Paul picks up on that and applies it to the good news of Jesus Christ. In the preceding chapters of Romans, he established the fact that all mankind was condemned because of sin. And he says that there is nothing that we can do in order to rectify that damning situation. The Jews, however, had come to believe that by performing their religious rituals and keeping God’s Law as best they could, they made themselves righteous before the Lord. In fact, they thought that simply by virtue of having been chosen to receive that Law they were in good with God. And so they figured they had a leg up on everyone else.
The Gentiles had developed for their own perverted system of obtaining righteousness before God. At their conversion they were taught that they were not bound by Israel’s ceremonial laws such as circumcision and celebrating Jewish festivals. However, God’s moral laws for living a holy life were still in effect and it applied to them also. They conveniently forgot that part and were living as if God’s Law didn’t pertain to them. It certainly did! But Paul understood the danger of relentlessly hammering that point home. Like the Jews, the Gentiles might also start thinking that by keeping the Law they would win God’s favor. Paul had to stress that this is not what saved them from eternal damnation. Rather, a righteousness based on faith in the finished work of Jesus is what had rescued both Jew and Gentile. So, Paul says in verse 12, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.”
No matter what their background was, it was the same saving faith by which they had acquired the righteousness of Jesus. By faith they were able to confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior. By faith they were able to call upon Him to forgive their sins so that they could stand holy before God, wrapped in the righteousness of Christ. Thus far in the Book of Romans Paul had explained why every human being needs to be saved, and how they are saved by faith. He also laid out very concisely what the substance of that saving faith is. In verse 15, though, Paul walks his argument back and answers a vital question. It’s great to know about this saving faith, but it won’t do any good if people don’t know how to obtain it. That would be like contracting a deadly disease, then hearing the news that there is a serum to treat it, but not knowing how or where to get it. It’s cruel to tease someone with the possibility of a cure without telling them how or where to get their hands on it. They’d be better off not knowing.
Well, sin is a far more deadly condition than some disease. The mortality rate for sin is 100% and 100% of the people born into this world are infected with it. There is a cure, though, and St. Paul is sharing the good news of how and where we can obtain it. That cure is through saving faith in Jesus. We humans are not born with saving faith. Not even the Jews could inherit it from their ancestors. It’s a free gift of God which He implants in the hearts and minds of believers. But He doesn’t just wave a magic wand and create that faith. Rather, all throughout human history God has used the mouths, hands, and feet of people as his means of delivering His message of saving grace. And there is a process whereby that takes place. That’s what Paul is getting at in verses 14-15. This is how God works: He sends ministers out to preach the Gospel so that people may hear it, and by hearing it the Holy Spirit creates faith so that they may believe, and by believing they are able to call upon God for mercy and forgiveness. That’s God’s procedure for getting His message of salvation to us lost sinners. And so, based on that, Paul could claim to have beautiful feet. Not because of what his physical feet looked like. Instead, the message of God’s saving Gospel which those feet carried is what made them beautiful.
That’s true of all Pastors who God has called to be His messengers. Who was the Minister that Baptized you? He had beautiful feet. Who was the Pastor that preached God’s Word to you, taught it to you in Bible Class and Confirmation, and who served you God’s grace in Holy Communion? He had beautiful feet. Who was the Pastor that shared God’s comfort with you when you were in pain or sorrow or grief? He had the beautiful feet of God’s messenger of grace. Because of my duties as your Pastor, I can humbly say that I too have beautiful feet because of the message God has given me to deliver.
But you know, I need to correct something I said earlier. My Dad actually did have beautiful feet. And so did my Mom. That’s because God used them—their hands, their feet, their mouths—to ensure that I received God’s saving faith in Jesus. They carried me to the font so that I could receive God’s outpouring of grace in my Baptism as a baby. Every Sunday they brought me to worship in God’s house where I heard the good news of salvation. And just as important, they raised me in a Christian home that was saturated with that message of grace. That’s what made their feet beautiful. And that’s true of your Christian parents and others who did the same for you.
Actually, beautiful feet can be found on all believers. Yes, God has a special calling for Pastors to publicly proclaim the message of grace in our formal setting here in worship and to deliver it in the Sacraments. However, when you leave God’s house, your feet are also carrying that message out into the world. It’s not meant to be held inside of you, but shared. When you tell others in your day-to-day world about the Savior, and invite them to join you in worship where they too can receive God’s blessings in Word and Sacrament, you then also have beautiful feet.
So... have you been faithful in telling that good news to the sinners around you? Or have you been dragging your feet, both figuratively and literally, when it comes to sharing the Gospel? Worse than that, have your feet become ugly because they carry a message of total hedonism as you chase after every evil lust and pleasure that entices you? Have your feet become ugly because you’ve allowed them to walk away from God’s grace offered here in worship and Bible Study? Have your feet become ugly because of the message of anger or hatred or gossip or prideful judgmentalism that they carry? Have your feet become ugly because you’re carrying around grudges and refusing to forgive?
If you answered yes to any of these then listen to God’s voice calling you to repentance. Let His Word convict your heart and turn you around. By His forgiving grace He can make your feet beautiful again. At the last supper, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. Yes, He did it in order to teach them how to be humble servants to others. But Christ was also sanctifying those sinful feet and making them holy for carrying His message into the whole world. And that’s what He does for you and me as we confess our sins. He washes us clean and sanctifies our feet for His purpose. So you see, you really do have beautiful feet because you are carrying forth His message of grace. May God make us ever faithful in doing so, taking the good news of salvation with us wherever we go. And to Him be the glory, now and forever. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!