That Beautiful Feet Verse
(It's about good news, not so much feet.)
Isaiah 52:7-10 | Luke 7:18-23
Reading through Isaiah during Advent: Isaiah 51-54
Sometimes there are passages in the Bible that are just too familiar to some people. They lose their beauty, their bite, or their context.
The messenger who brings good news to others…how beautiful.
Feet carry the whole body everywhere. The body really struggles to move without the support and dexterity of the feet. God has a message - it’s good news! But it requires movement and demands its sharing. So the feet of the messenger who accomplishes this - beautiful.
(It can be you and me, by the way.)
But don’t forget the terms of the good news, said over and over again by Isaiah and then repeated and demonstrated by Jesus.
Isaiah 52:7-10
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of a messenger
who proclaims peace,
who brings good news,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God rules!”
Listen! Your lookouts lift their voice;
they sing out together!
Right before their eyes they see the Lord returning to Zion.
Break into song together, you ruins of Jerusalem!
The Lord has comforted his people and has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm in view of all the nations;
all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory.
Luke 7:18-23
John’s disciples informed him about all these things. John called two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord. They were to ask him, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?”
When they reached Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you. He asks, ‘Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?’”
Right then, Jesus healed many of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he gave sight to a number of blind people. Then he replied to John’s disciples, “Go, report to John what you have seen and heard. Those who were blind are able to see. Those who were crippled now walk. People with skin diseases are cleansed. Those who were deaf now hear. Those who were dead are raised up. And good news is preached to the poor. Happy is anyone who doesn’t stumble along the way because of me.”
Prayer
God,
Thank you for a new day! Help me to bring good news to people today, either in the generalities of the gospel of Jesus - the salvation of the world - or the particulars of every day life. In all of these things, give me confidence and compassion, boldness and patience, wisdom and discernment.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.