Walk A Mile In My Shoes

As we approach the Feast of Theophany and see Jesus Baptized by John in the Jordan, we are once again confronted with just how far God goes to save us!

Christ is born!

“Walk a mile in his shoes,” I remember hearing a song about that as a young man, and it hit me: I can’t expect to understand someone else unless I try to see things from their perspective. I must “walk a mile in his shoes” to understand someone else.

Oh, I know, this sentiment has been used by those who would insist that we can’t correct destructive behaviors because we “don’t understand” the troublemaker, or if we only understood their harsh history, we’d be more understanding. Whole stories have been rewritten nowadays to give us the “back story” of famous villains so we can see that they were just “misunderstood.”

Look no further than the popularity of shows like “Wicked” to see the narrative that the “bad guy” is actually the “good guy” and the “good guy” is actually the “bad guy.”

But there is something here worth exploring. Ultimately, we Orthodox insist that God Himself did this very thing. He came to us as one of us to show us what we were made to become!

Look at our lesson today in Hebrews 5:4-10:

BRETHREN, one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee”; as he says also in another place, “Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

St. Paul is preaching this Hebrews homily, and he gets to the part where he starts to answer the “so what” question of Jesus' coming “in the flesh” and explains why this isn’t just some religious philosophy but very much tied to the daily struggle of being Orthodox on Purpose.

He’s at the part where he’s talking about the old Jewish priesthood and all the work that was done in the Temple, and he makes the observation that the Jews had become a people that did all the right stuff in their Temple worship, but they had lost the “why” behind the actions!

And that made their actions empty no matter how correct they were!

Of course, that misplaced action has horrible consequences for a person, a community, and a nation.

Their loss of the “so what” answer made them enslaved to doing the right things for all the wrong reasons. They forgot that this work was supposed to humble them, not make them arrogant, because they did the “right” things! They forgot that all this work was supposed to form them internally so that the rest of the world could find its way to God.

By the way, the temptation to be proud of following the rules is very deceptive, and we would do well to avoid this by being arrogant about being Orthodox.

Instead, their “right actions” made them think they were the “special” people to God and better than the very people they were supposed to lead home!

Paul then goes on to say that even though Jesus was the Son of God, in the days of His “flesh,” meaning His earthly ministry before He died and rose again, He “learned” obedience and prayed, and even prayed “with loud cries and tears,” to be “saved” from death, and He was, through His resurrection!

But it was His very humble and free embrace of the suffering of His human life that made Him “perfect,” not in the sense that He was imperfect or had to “get better,” but in the sense that He meant when He was on the cross and about to die – “It is finished!” His humility about His suffering placed all suffering in the proper and mature context. Suffering isn’t forever, and if embraced with faith, it creates such powerful strength and maturity in a person to make them truly free!

Jesus comes to us as one of us to set us on the path to communion with the Uncreated God because He came to us first!

As we enter the time of preparation for the Feast of Theophany, we are wisely directed by the Church to contemplate the implications of God becoming flesh for our salvation. Jesus submits to circumcision, Jesus submits to baptism, Jesus submits to arrest, mistreatment, torture, death, and burial, all in His flesh to undo every fear and temptation that keeps us enslaved to a too-small life! The Feast of Theophany, a word that means “appearance of God,” confronts us with this Truth that God has, indeed, walked a mile in our shoes for our salvation!

Today, as we see a brand New Year before us, let’s brace ourselves for the “why does it matter” question by facing this New Year with the sure wisdom that no matter what happens, we are embracing life with Faith in Jesus Christ; we are committed to living a Normal Orthodox life!

P.S. Be ready, Zabulon; prepare yourself, O Nephthalim. River Jordan, stay your course and skip for gladness to receive the Sovereign Master, Who comes now to be baptized. O Adam, be glad with our first mother, Eve; hide not as you did of old in Paradise. Seeing you naked, He has appeared now to clothe you in the first robe again. Christ has appeared, for He truly wills to renew all creation.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV