Those Beautiful Feet - Isaiah 52: 7 (Farewell sermon)

“Those Beautiful Feet”

Isaiah 52:7

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. The text is Isaiah 52: 7: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Laura has been updating all our insurance information. Addresses, policy changes, increase and decrease coverage, price adjustments…it’s a lot. DO you know that you can insure almost anything? Jewelry, firearms, electronics – the list is seemingly endless. The only question is if you are willing to pay for it, and how much to pay. I was half curious if they were going to offer a policy to insure the buttons on my shirt. Do you know some actors insure their body, beyond basic health insurance? Julie Andrews was in the news recently when she sued a doctor, accusing him for ruining her voice. Then I got to thinking… I wonder, if you and I could afford such a luxury, what part of the body would you or I insure?  A surgeon or a painter might insure the hands; a farmer or a mechanic might insure the knees; a physicist or a chemist might insure the brain; a wine or food connoisseur might insure the tongue.  But how many of us would insure our…feet.  Yes, the feet.  You know:  Those foul-smelling, hammer-toed, callous-cracked, bunioned, corned, and flat-arched appendages carry us from place to place with little or no credit.  They look funny, smell worse, and generally go unnoticed until they hurt or something gets dropped upon them.  

I wonder how tired Isaiah’s feet were as he walked among his fellow Israelites, preaching to them, proclaiming God’s message to them as they were exiled among the Babylonians.  Isaiah’s message was, at times, difficult to hear.  He told Israel that their sins against God resulted in their capture, in the slaughter of their fellow Israelites, and the destruction of Jerusalem.  How Isaiah’s feet must have ached, along with his heart, as he called Israel to repentance for their sins. 

In the text that I have chosen for this morning, Isaiah reminds Israel of God’s rich mercy and His promise that people of Israel will not be destroyed.  They will return to Jerusalem, to the Promised Land, and again make it their home.  Isaiah writes, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’.” (Is. 52:7).   

In the days before cell phones and two-way radios, armies would employ men to serve as runners to carry important messages quickly from one unit to another. Even though the runner’s feet are sore, sweaty, dirty, and possibly even cut and bleeding, his feet are beautiful because of the important message the runner was carrying. Isaiah shares the image of such feet running ahead of the returning Israelites to prepare those who were left in Jerusalem for their arrival.  The message of the runners is that of peace, good things, and salvation.  The conclusion of the message announces the reason for the good news.  The messenger declares to those who receive him, “Your God reigns!” God was not abandoning them after all!  The God of Israel would re-establish His reign, delivering His people from their enemies, returning them to their homeland.  The news was so great and so exciting that Isaiah personified the very ruins of Jerusalem as rising up to join in the joyful songs and celebrations as the Children of Israel returned home.  Those beautiful feet carry the Good News that God would deliver Israel from Babylon, destroying her as Babylon had once destroyed Israel.

How beautiful are the feet of him who brings glad tidings of good news.  In the immediate context, the prophet Isaiah was speaking about those feet that would carry this wonderful good news to the Israelites in Babylon, but as a prophet of God, Isaiah was also foreshadowing another set of feet that would walk the face of the earth and proclaim good news, peace, good tidings and salvation: the feet of Jesus Christ.  In His human nature, His feet were just like yours, and those two peripatetic feet carried Jesus many, many miles during the 30 or so years of His life and ministry.  I imagine he stubbed a toe, but without cussing. I imagine he cut his heel on a sharp rock, but without condemning the rock to the pits of hell. Unlike our human feet, which sometimes will literally turn us down the path of unrighteousness, Christ’s feet never once fell into sin.  Unlike those children of Israel who heard Isaiah’s message, or unlike you and I who are here today, Christ was never corrupted by sin: not even his little toes.  Christ, the sinless Son of God, walked the perfect path of righteousness that the Law of God demanded.

Although His feet may have fatigued, Jesus never tired of walking in the path of the will of God for us.  He never stumbled on the way to the cross.  There, spiked to the wooden beam, Christ’s feet bled for you and for me.  As Christ breathed His last, and as the weight of the lifeless body settled onto the pierced feet, the soldier who stood at the foot of the cross declared, “Truly, this Man was the Son of God.”

Thanks be to God, those holy and pierced feet of Jesus did not remain in the grave for long.  Three days later, the feet of Peter and John raced away from the empty grave with the wonderful news that Jesus wasn’t there!  He was alive!  Later, when Mary saw Jesus in the garden, although she couldn’t touch Him, she fell at His resurrected feet, rejoicing.  Even later that night, Jesus stood in front of the disciples and offered as proof of His resurrection His nail-marked hands and feet.  Oh, what beautiful feet of Jesus!  Because He was standing there – alive, victorious from the grace – He was sharing with them the good news that peace was made between God and man.  Christ earned salvation for us and He now reigns at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

How beautiful are the feet of him who brings glad tidings of good news.  For the last eight years and two weeks, I’ve had the privilege of standing – and sometimes sitting – in this pulpit as your pastor. Some things can be measured objectively. By God’s grace, in that time, 25 people were baptized – including 6 in the last month alone. Most were babies and infants, but a few older children and even a couple of adults were made children of God by water and Word. Twenty children and 18 adults were confirmed in their Baptismal faith, while thirty other adults affirmed their Christian faith to become members of Zion. Twelve couples were united in holy marriage as husband and wife. And, twenty-four saints of God were laid to rest – interestingly, the first funeral I had here was Gilbert Krueger and the last was his wife, Doris. Ballpark, together, we made it through almost 500 sermons, weekly and bi-weekly Bible classes. I have no idea how many steps I did through area hospitals and nursing homes and in your own homes while caring for hurting bodies, souls and troubled consciences. I will never forget my brief and un-illustrious career as a televangelist for 11 weeks while you sat at home, “social distancing.”

Other things are more subjective, harder to measure. I’ve heard many kind things from you about my service here. Thank you, but truly, I believe all of it was God at work in the words spoken, in the messages preached, in the conversations that were had, and in the time spent together. When I arrived, Pastor Judge told me you were if not the most then one of the most loving and caring congregations he had ever seen. I agree. You graciously accepted me and my family. You put up with my quirks, laughed at my jokes, supported me when I was broken and hurting, and through it all demonstrated grace. My first Sunday here, I congratulated you on electing a sinner to be your pastor. I know I sinned against you in things I did and in things I did not do, in some thoughts, in some words, and in some actions. I am sorry for those things. If I have caused offense, please speak with me that I can ask for your mercy and acknowledge what I have done, so that we might part as friends, not as conflicted people.

I’ve said this multiple times, but perhaps not publicly. I want you to know, the very fact that you elected to call me to be your pastor was God’s mercy in action. Without hyperbole, this congregation saved my ministry. It re-energized me. You rejuvenated me. You refilled my heart with joy, my spirit with excitement, and my work with vigor. I have no doubt God led me here in the summer of 2017. And, by the same token, I have no doubt that God is leading me, again, guiding my feet in all of their questionable beauty to Enid, Oklahoma, and St. Paul Lutheran Church and School.

DO me a favor… Move your feet around a bit. Stomp them once or twice. Wiggle your toes. Shuffle them in your pew. Those feet, whether adorned by Prada pumps or Louchesse boots or Reebok tennis shoes, those feet are beautiful. You see, what makes the feet of a child of God beautiful isn’t their intrinsic looks. My dad had feet that would gag a podiatrist and make their office manager clap their hands in glee. His feet were beautiful because of the Good News he carried. My feet, with their absent toes and high arches and thick callouses and aching soles are beautiful because of the Gospel of Jesus. That’s the point: Jesus makes us beautiful. Jesus makes us holy – even our feet. Jesus redeems even those two troublesome appendages that let us boogie and make us stumble. Jesus makes your feet and my feet glorious.

So, what are you going to do with your feet? In a little bit, your feet will take you from this holy hill back to your homes. From there, you – Zion congregation will disperse across the Crossroads. But those feet are not idle. God uses your feet to put you in the path of other feet that also need to hear of Jesus. Let your feet tell the story. Or, at least, let your feet carry you to places where you tell the story of Jesus. Be bold. Speak of Jesus. Tell the Good News that Jesus’ feet carried Him to the cross, that His feet paid the price for the wandering feet of the world, that His nail-marked feet rose on the third day, and you now carry the message of those feet. You carry that message. Don’t wait for your next pastor. Get busy. There’s a neighborhood across the street that needs to hear it. There are people missing from here today who need to hear it. There are people you work with who need to know of Jesus. Remember when the Yellow Pages used the slogan, “Let your fingers do the walking?” Let your beautiful feet do the talking. Let them tell of Jesus and how He makes your feet beautiful.

 

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good news. Don’t give up meeting together. Be here next Sunday and the Sunday after that. I’ll tell you, the next pastor, your vacancy pastor won’t be me. His mannerisms will be different, his way of speaking different, his way of caring for you in his preaching and his visiting will be different. His servant leadership will be different, with different skills, talents and abilities. I guarantee his feet will be different. Those are all good things. Please don’t compare him to me. Instead, rejoice for the feet God gave him and the message he brings to Zion. Like me, he will stand in the stead of Christ and speak glad tidings to you. Bless his feet with prayers, with thanksgiving, with eager ears, with open hearts, thanking God for the message those feet proclaim. Walk together – do you know that’s what “Synod” means? Walk alongside each other, carrying each others burdens. When one is weak, the strong lifts them up. Don’t worry, you’ll have your own turn to be weak, and then someone can help you.

In the summer of 1991, our pastor at Zion, Walburg, Lowell Rossow, left, taking a call to Joplin, MO. I remember the next Sunday, sitting on my bed. Dad fussed at me that I was moving slow and I would be late for church. I told Dad I wasn’t going to go. “Why not,” he sharply asked. Young romantic that I was, even then, I answered, “Because my pastor is gone.” Dad sat next to me on my bed. He said two things. First, he asked if I thought Pastor Rossow would like me skipping church because he wasn’t there. I shook my head. Second, Dad said, “Besides, who is there today?” I don’t remember my answer to that question, but I remember Dad’s answer: “Jesus is there, and He wants you to be there, regardless the man who stands in the pulpit.”

Don’t stop coming to Zion. Let your feet continue to return you to this holy hill. Continue gathering together. This is the body of Christ, hammer toes, bunions, high arches, flat feet, arthritic ankles and ingrown toenails and all. The body of Christ gathers where the head is – where Christ Himself is present. He is here in Word and Sacrament. He is here among the body and He will continue to do so.

Last thing… Goodbyes are hard. I had someone tell me the other day, “I don’t do goodbyes.”  Do you know the etymology of “Goodbye?” It comes out of the Old English phrase, “God be with you.” It’s a blessing, of sorts, praying the presence of God goes with each of you as you part company. That’s the beauty of a goodbye – it invokes the name and promise of God that even if you don’t meet again this side of heaven, you will meet again in the resurrection of all flesh.

So, there will be lots of Goodbyes today. That’s OK. And if you don’t want to say it, that’s ok too because the prayer is the same: God be with you until we meet again.