Feet

You've heard it said that the heavens are His home and that earth is God's footstool, the place where He kicks up His feet.  That's certainly a powerful image.

But think about the power in this one:

"Lebanon's glory will come to you: Cedar, fir, and cypress trees will come to beautify my holy place, and I will honor the place where my feet rest."  -Isaiah 60:13

There's a humble beauty and incredible power in this verse, where this place is not His footrest but instead, the place where He rests His feet.  It's the difference between God laid back in the heavens and lounging around the living room.

Resting one's feet was a big deal in the day of Jesus.  Sandals were primitive and roads were dusty.  When you settled into a place to rest your feet, you stayed for awhile.  Someone brought you a rag and some water to wash the weariness off your soles.  If you were an honored or respected man, they might even wash your feet for you.  It was an investment, for both the resting man and the host, to be in a place to rest your feet.

In this passage in Isaiah, God is talking about the Temple.  He's talking about the ornate building in Jerusalem, designed by David, directed by God, erected by Solomon.  He's talking about the place where people would find Him, the place He had chosen to dwell on earth.  It was the place where He would invest in resting His feet, as long as His people invested in His presence there.

Fast forward to the New Testament and a new holy place.  You, God says, are the temple of the living God.  Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you...? (1 Corinthians 6:19)  You are His holy place, which makes you....YOU....the place where His feet rest.

Think about God lounging around your living room.  Think about Him stepping into your space, making Himself welcome in your home, deciding to stay awhile.  Think about Him being willing to make your life the place where He washes the dust off His feet because He has nowhere else to be right now.  He's not going back out; He's here to stay.

That's the image of the feet of God that I want to have.  Not that some cosmic, bigger-than-the-heavens God is using my life as a place to kick up His feet and relax a little.  Not that I'm living under the pressure of God's smelly feet bearing down on my everything.  But that I have in this moment the very presence of God invested in my life and that I have today a chance to invest in His love.

In one of the Gospel stories, Jesus chastises the Pharisee for not bringing Him water to wash His feet.  This, He points out as a sinful woman "wastes" a year's pay worth of perfume by pouring it out on the Christ.  Now, we know Jesus sometimes invited Himself into various places, the Upper Room for example.  But we also know that more often, others invited Him.  The Pharisee probably extended the invitation that Jesus join him, but when Christ gets there, the man is a miserable host.  He doesn't even do the one basic thing!  Here's Jesus, willing to rest His feet for awhile in this man's home, and the man can't be bothered with it.  He wants the Christ but not the investment.  And Jesus points that out.  Publicly.

Christ is willing to come into your life.  You are His temple, and that makes you the place where He will rest His feet.  Your place is the place where He's willing to stop for awhile, come in, sit down, have a glass of wine (He liked wine, ok?), and enjoy your company.  All He asks is a simple rag, something to wash His feet, some sign that you're making the investment, too.  That you're making the space.  That you're making the accommodation to have Him here.

Let the Son of God wash His feet and He will rest them here.  In you.

Isn't that worth your measly rags?