O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.
(LSB 357 st. 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.”
(Isaiah 52:7)
Beautiful feet. That’s something we don’t often think about. Feet are dirty…not beautiful. And yet, Scripture says quite plainly, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.” Therefore, all the prophets who proclaimed God’s Word had beautiful feet. And what about John the Baptist who occupies much of our Advent preparation, calling us to repentance? How beautiful his feet were! Now as wilderness-wanderers, none of these prophets’ feet seemed to be beautiful. And yet, God called them to preach His Word and the Good News of the coming Christ to his people. The preacher sent by God has beautiful feet (Rom. 10:15).
Isaiah’s words can be extended further. There is one who came into the world with the most beautiful feet. Yes, He was even greater than John, as the Baptist himself testifies: “But he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” (Luke 3:16). He is the Christ, the anointed one. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of world” (John 1:29). And His feet didn’t look beautiful either. Rather, they were nailed to a cross. Those beautiful, bloody feet brought the forgiveness of sins and salvation to us. And we await that final day when we will fall at our Lord’s beautiful feet to worship Him as He grants us everlasting life.
Let us pray: O King of the nations, the ruler they long for, the cornerstone uniting all people: Come and save us all, whom You formed out of clay. Amen.
(Zachary Oedewaldt, Vicar)