Christmas Day – Beautiful Feet

Sermons – St. Brendan's Anglican Church

Rev. Dr. Les Martin

Christmas Day 2024
Rev. Dr. Les Martin
Isaiah 52:7–12, Psalm 98, Hebrews 1:1–12, John 1:1–18

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.

– Isaiah 52:7a

+ In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

After I was ordained, my mother went from being a lapsed Baptist to a confirmed and practicing Anglican. Originally, I think she did it some sense to support and identify with me. However, as time went on, she found comfort and meaning in the liturgical traditions of our church. It became a home for her. Much to her surprise, she found her Christian identity enhanced by what it is that we as Anglicans do. Except for Maundy Thursday. My mother, you see, did not particularly care for foot washing.

Although my mother’s feet were fine as feet go, they were adult feet with their share of scars and corns and the like – evidence of years of toil and struggle in this world. What really concerned her, however, were her toes. My mom had really short, stubby toes, with unusually small and oddly shaped toenails. Her brother, my uncle, had made fun of her mercilessly when they were children about the shape and look of her toes. She became self–conscious from this, and so she didn’t care for Monday Thursday. She didn’t want anyone to see her feet – especially her toes.

Long story short: she eventually gained comfort with the rite and one Holy Week consented to the washing. It was a big day, and I think it was healing for her.

As I have continued to age, and my feet have as well, I’ve gained an appreciation for how her feet were in some ways a private part of her body for her. I don’t have the concerns she had about other people seeing my feet, but they’re not exactly pretty to look at. They are pedestrian, if you’ll pardon the pun. I’ve also seen “foot shyness” in others as well. It’s more common than you may think.

When my son was born, my perspective changed yet again. Isaiah’s feet – baby feet – are simply amazing and beautiful. Tiny copies of mine, they are nonetheless delicate and wondrous in their detail, and so very, very cute. I adore them: looking at them, kissing them, and making him laugh when I tickle them. How beautiful are baby feet.

Today is Christmas Day. The feast wherein we celebrate the Incarnation of God in our midst. However, he does not descend fully-formed from the heavens like some Greek God, rather he comes into the world the same way as all of us did. He is born, an infant. With beautiful baby feet. Part of affirming the incarnation of Emmanuel: God-with-us, God-one-of-us- is to recognize the profundity of this mystery. The Logos, the Word that was with God from the beginning, the Word that is God, the organizing principle of all creation, has baby feet today. He has become flesh and taken up residence among us – Eugene Peterson, in his paraphrase the The Message, translates it “he has moved into the neighborhood.” Creator has entered into his Creation, God has become man. A real, flesh-and-blood man. Lutheran author Chad Bird reflects on this reality this way in his poem, “What To Expect When Mary’s Expecting”:

An uncreated God
Of blood and skin and bone.
A Lord within a womb
Who sits on heaven’s throne.
The Father’s only Son
Who’ll nurse at Mary’s breast.
The ever-watchful King
Asleep on Joseph’s chest.
Creator of the stars,
With diapers on his bum.
The right hand of the Lord
Who’ll suck his tiny thumb.

We cannot comprehend the biology, the physics, or the theology of this miracle. We can only confess it as true. In these last days, God has spoken to us in a Son. The eternal Logos, yet also Mary’s boy- adorable baby feet included.

As he grows, my son Isaiah’s feet will lose their infant charm. They will grow, as he grows up. They will wear the wounds of time, and become a bit more awkward in the process. Perhaps, like me, that won’t matter too much. Perhaps, like my mother, he will in some way feel embarrassed by them – he does seem to have her odd toenails. He’s my son: for that reason alone his feet will always be beautiful to me. But, objectively, they just won’t be as cute as they are right now.

Jesus’ feet, however, will always retain their beauty. Not because they retain their infant charm: he grows up too. Rather, his feet remain beautiful for the reason the Prophet Isaiah reminds us of this day: they are the feet of God‘s herald on the mountains, bringing good news of peace and deliverance- that, in Christ, we are reconciled to God.

Beautiful feet: walking the hill country of Judea, proclaiming the kingdom in word and miracle.

Beautiful feet: on the Mountain of the Transfiguration, where Christ is revealed as the Logos he has always been.

Beautiful feet: walking the mountain-like stairs to the Upper Room and towards his destiny, where He will establish for us the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, and, yes, wash the feet of others.

Beautiful feet: high on Golgotha, beautiful, even as they are pierced.

Beautiful feet: for they announce the truth: that God has not and will not forsake us. Ever. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us:

“As long as people walk the earth, Christ walks as your neighbor.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christmas blessings and joy, beloved.