The Feet of Jesus

On Sunday, we kicked off our final “Central Steps” series called “Step Out: Serving Like Christ”. We talked about how the church is the body of Christ in the world, meant to represent (re-present) Christ. It brings to mind the famous quote from Teresa of Avila,

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

So we had fun asking how Jesus used his body – his hands, feet, eyes, ears, and so on (even where he chose to put his butt!) – in a sort of ‘choose your own adventure’ sermon. I asked for someone to call out which body part they wanted to hear about, and I went with it for a few of the body parts. Due to time constraints, we didn’t get to talk about hands, feet, or mouth, so I figured I’d share a bit of my thoughts on one…his feet.

How did Jesus use his feet?

He used them to go wherever his Father called him to go, to whomever he was led, to wherever he was needed, to fulfill the mission his Father sent him for.

Often times, his feet took him to places he was not ‘supposed’ to go.  He was not supposed to go into the house of a sick woman, into the house of a known leper, or into the house where a girl had just died. In those places, he risked being made unclean, he risked sullying his reputation, he risked humiliation. And with his feet, he went there anyway.

He went into the heart of sadness and grief: to a parade of mourners outside of Nain, to a tomb that caused him to weep with those grieving. He didn’t run from the hard things in life, from the pain and brokenness, from the snotty tears. Instead, he used his feet to straight towards that hurt.

His feet took him right into the crowds of the harassed and helpless – like sheep without a shepherd – so that he could use eyes to see with compassion, his hands to feed, and his mouth to teach and liberate.

He used his feet to go to ‘enemy’ territory – Samaria – in order to make friends out of ‘enemies’, by offering himself as life-giving water to the dry and thirsty.

He used his feet to go to foreign lands, and when he did, he went into the heart of their darkness: to their tombs, to a man so possessed by demons that he was condemned to ‘live’ as if dead, shackled and chained the best he could be. He did this in order to liberate, to break chains, to give new life from the dead.

He used his feet, finally, to journey into Jerusalem – into the belly of the beast that had set out to devour him – to allow himself to be devoured so that, instead, we could live.

He used his feet to go where he needed to go – to give his life.

When I reflect on how Jesus used his feet – knowing that we are sent as he was sent, to be his body in the world – I am challenged to use my feet to go where I’m not ‘supposed’ to go, to walk into the pain and grief and brokenness, to run into the fire rather than away from it, to the harassed and helpless, to the poor and the powerless, to the enemy, to places I would never go otherwise.

I am challenged to use my feet to go to the places, people, and situations where I’m called to give myself. 
 
How are you challenged?

For us to be Christ’s body – his feet – we need to follow his command to “go” with our feet – into our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth – to re-present him. It’s why he has poured his Spirit out on us. 

We need to ‘step out’ of ourselves, ‘step out’ of our comfort zones, ‘step out’ of the church – into the world that God loves.

This season, hear and receive – and follow – his call again to ‘step out’ with us, as we follow Jesus together.

I hope that you’ll join us for the next 5 weeks, and join a summer Step Group to reflect and discuss this all further.