How Beautiful Are Your Feet?

It is interesting to study body parts and culture.    Have you noticed that different cultures focus upon different parts of the human body and label those parts good or bad?    In our own culture, we seem to have a preoccupation with a person’s face and their chest.  Whether male or female, we have defined what is beautiful and what is not for the face and the upper torso… and we spend a great deal of money, in our society, correcting God’s “mistakes” so that our own faces and our own bodies will conform to society’s definition of what is good and beautiful and what is not. 

In this country, in 2003, doctors performed 8.8 million cosmetic surgery procedures at a staggering cost of $8.3 billion dollars.  Two-thirds of all of these, 5.6 million procedures, were performed to enhance an individual’s facial features, while another 600,000 procedures were aimed at improving the appearance of an individual’s upper torso.  Whether it was rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, liposuction, a facelift, microdermabrasion, a chemical peel, or botox injections, each of these individuals was hoping to move a little bit closer to society’s ideal image of a woman or a man. 

When we look at the parts of the body for which people are willing to spend enormous sums of money adjusting, we can’t help but notice the parts of the body that people are unwilling to spend much money on at all.  The feet stand out as one major example of a body part that very little money is spent on, unless you want to count pedicures as a cosmetic procedure.  Indeed, unless people truly have difficulty walking and need surgery to reduce the pain and discomfort they feel, feet are really neglected on the list of body parts that we, as citizens of the United States, want to spend money enhancing.

We have already discussed how, in ancient Palestine, feet were considered the lowest, dirtiest, and the least desirable part of the body.  This holds true in many cultures.  In Southeast Asia, the head is considered the highest part of the body, while the feet are considered the lowest, both literally and figuratively. Touching any part of another person’s body with the feet or pointing the feet at people… or even things…is considered extremely rude.  Shoes are removed before entering any sacred place or a person’s home and, during the entire visit, the feet… particularly the bottom of the feet… are tucked out of sight. 

In China, beginning around 900 AD, an emperor decided that the only way to enhance the beauty of the feet of his favorite concubine was to have them bound in such a way that they were much smaller and daintier.  From that time on, this look of a small foot became the symbol of being dainty, being beautiful and belonging to the upper class.  The ideal foot was considered to be three inches long… roughly the size of a human fist.  To achieve this, young girls, from the age of three, had their toes folded under the bottoms of their feet and, if necessary, the arches of their feet broken.  Then, the foot would be bound with long strips of cloth so that it would heal in this deformed state.  For the rest of their lives the women would be required to maintain the binding, otherwise the foot would grow out again. In some situations, as the woman got older, their toes would actually fall off because of lack of blood circulating to that part of their foot.  Because of the deformity of their feet, it was extremely difficult for these women to walk. The best they could do was short, waddling motions that were extremely painful. Somehow, this type of motion became a symbol of beauty within the Chinese culture.  For almost one thousand years, this deforming practice of binding the feet was inflicted on women and girls throughout China until it was finally outlawed in the late 1900's.    But we should not be too quick to judge, for small feet are still considered beautiful, even in our culture.    One of our own fairy tales, the story of Cinderella, tells us that it is the small, dainty foot that could fit into the glass slipper that would win the heart of the prince.

What part of our homes is considered the dirtiest part?    Our floors, of course.  Food that falls on the floor is inedible… unless you adhere to the five-second rule.  Babies are not allowed to crawl around on the floor, unless there is a carpet or blanket that will protect them from the dirt and germs that can harm them.  We don’t invite our guests to sit on the floor, but we may take a seat there if there are no other seats available.  It is the gesture of a gracious host to do so… taking the worst seat so that the guest may have the best.    What part of our body has regular contact with the floor… or the ground?    Why, our feet, of course.  That is why socks are not to be found on the surface of any table in the home… for they have come in contact with all the dirt, germs, and filth that our feet walk through… and have picked up their obnoxious odors as well.    Feet… despised and rejected… best ignored or hidden away.

So, if a person’s feet are declared beautiful, what does that say about the rest of the person?    If the most despised part of a person’s body is beautiful, does it not follow that the rest of that person’s body is beautiful as well?     “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."  The message that the messenger brings is so important… so life-transforming… so precious…that the person who brings it is seen as attractive… gorgeous… lovely… to those who hear that good news.  The message is so important… so life-transforming… so precious… that even the most despised part of the body of the one who brings that message is perceived as exquisite… magnificent… wonderful. 

There are two ways that we can look at this pronouncement.  The first is to believe that the message so transforms the one who receives it that they now view the world and those around them differently.  How many of us have been so changed by something we learned that we no longer see life in the same way?    How many of us have had the good news of the gospel transform our own lives in such a way that the world looks different to us now?    How did the knowledge of God’s amazing grace and incredible gift to us change the way that we see the world?    And, if that is a stretch for some of us, then think about the change that came over you when you first learned that the woman or man that you love also loved you in return?   Or the change that came over you when you first learned that you were going to be a mother… a father?    Did you see things a little differently after that?   Amazing, isn’t it… what one little piece of good news can do to your whole outlook on life? 

Then, there is also the possibility that the person bringing the news to you was transformed by the news in the process.    Have you ever seen the face of someone who was so excited by the news they were bringing that they looked completely different than they did before?    Joy can transform a person.  It can completely change their life and, in the process, change not only the way they look at life, but the way that they look.    Scientific research has proved that slight changes in a person’s attitude can change the extent to which certain muscles in the face or body tighten or relax, changing a person’s appearance.  Science has also shown us that the news we receive can affect our heart rate, body temperature, digestive system… what we believe not only changes us spiritually… it changes us physically as well.    Good news is transforming… and can transform us. 

So, who is it that brings this transforming good news?    Handel’s version of this text that I sang earlier says “how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace.”    We tend to associate “preaching” with preachers and believe that this text is limited to those who stand in a pulpit on Sunday morning.  Not true.  The Hebrew tells us that this is a person who brings good tidings… who publishes good news… who proclaims peace and wholeness… who shares the message of salvation… and that is everyone who is a disciple of Christ.    Didn’t Jesus stand on the mountain and tell his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing and teaching all that he commanded?    Isn’t it our privilege, as disciples of our Lord, to share the good news of the gospel with everyone?

Now, I have heard some folks say that they preach the gospel by the way that they live each day, but there are many individuals who live humanitarian lives… reaching out to help others and putting the needs of others before their own needs.  But not everyone who lives a humanitarian life is a Christian.    Not everyone is a disciple of Christ… trying to emulate Christ and follow his example.    They are good people, yes, but they are not truly disciples of Christ.    What’s the difference? 

The difference is the motivation behind the act of kindness… the reason for the humanitarian gesture.    You see, it is not just the “what,” it is the “why.”    Those who have experienced the awesome wonder of God’s grace and the immeasurable greatness of God’s love find that God’s love flows from them… flows through them… in an unending stream to touch the lives of those around them.  Those who not only know the good news, but live the good news, find that they cannot keep that good news to themselves.  They feel compelled to share it with others.    Those who truly emulate Jesus Christ not only do the things that Christ did… feeding the hungry… giving the thirsty something to drink… freeing the captives… giving sight to the blind… they also share the story of God’s love with those they meet… as Jesus did in so many different ways throughout his life and his ministry. 

Is the good news of the gospel life-changing knowledge?    Yes.    Does it transform people?    Yes.    But we don’t all have to live in the wilderness like John the Baptist.  We are not all called to lead a people out of slavery like Moses.  We do not have to save nations from famine like Joseph… or preach to thousands in the street like Peter.     What we are all called to do is to share the story… to share the news of God’s amazing love and boundless grace… in our own way… with those whose lives we touch every day.    It is that story that tells the “why” that lies behind the “what” of what we do.  That “why” transforms people.    That “why” transforms us.”    Jesus came into the world… not to do humanitarian deeds, but to share the news of God’s love… and to share it in a way that we could understand it.    His deeds were the reflection of God’s love… the “why” of his life.    And that is what he asks of us… to share the good news that we have received with others.

Jesus came to be the Light of the World.  It is his light… the light of God’s love that chases away the darkness of life.    He became our light, so that we could become a light to others who still live in darkness.  Our gift to him is to share that light with others… so that others will know the “why” of what we do.  )   “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."    How beautiful are your feet?    Have you shared the good news with someone today?  Perhaps, unknown to you, they are seeking a light in their darkness.  Be that light.  Share His light.   You see, it costs nothing for you to have beautiful feet.  Amen.

Isaiah 52:7-10