The Holy Gospel is written in the first chapter of the Gospel, according to St. John, the beginning of the first verse. Glory to you, Lord Christ. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not ever come. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came to witness as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through Him all might believe. He Himself was not the light.
He came only as a witness to the light, the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made to Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who did receive Him, to all who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Christ. A prayer.
Plan to see the faith in us this morning, and nurture it by your Holy Spirit. I mean, you might have noticed that our Christmas theme in 2025 has been from little things. Big things grow. Where do we get that line?
Well, at the Paul Kelly song, it's an Australian classic about the struggle for Aboriginal reconciliation in the 1970s, and then picked up by industry superfunds. Now it's come to describe things that started small, and yet became big. Here's something small, cells dividing as life grows in Mary's womb. That's very small.
Jesus started small, like you started small, but from little things, big things grow. So this morning I'm going to invite you to a little town of Bethlehem, and to a Saturday night maybe, and to a mate maybe, probably not, and to a manger, a feeding drop, and just see how big this little thing becomes. Jesus said as much about the renewal of all things. The renewal of the world.
He said, what shall we say that kingdom of God is alike? Or what parables shall we use to describe it? It's like he said, a mustard seed. You heard this a moment ago.
A mustard seed from little things, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth, yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants. With such big branches that birds can perch in its shade. Jesus says, his work starts small. Very important.
But, and change is slowed in the kingdom of God. It's not a bug. It's a feature of the kingdom of God. But, like growth, it is unstoppable.
And the outcome is a necessary good shade for the birds. Shoot will come from the stump of Jesse. And a branch will bear fruit, leading to the whole earth being filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters come to see. Or, until us, a child is born, and the government will be upon his shoulders.
From little things, big things grow. And so I want to show you how the kingdom grows by tracing one surprising thread through the life of Jesus. It's a thread I've never heard before. So, you know, I'm on a new territory for myself.
I want to tell the story of Jesus Christ, tracing the thread of his feet, of his feet. You know, those things at the end of your legs. Jesus at them. You saw our Christmas invitation, yes.
But did you see in Carly's stand into wonderful graphic, those little feet. I want to explore this, offer just a small thought about what happened at Bondi. Sunday last, and then offer a friendly Christmas challenge. So, today, five feet, or rather five iterations of the same feet.
And see if you can remember this, maybe tell me, I might text some of you tomorrow and see if you remember it. Here we go, five feet, one, little feet. Then, dirty feet. Then, pierced feet.
Then, little surprise, all things under his feet. That was the best graphic I could find last night. Not a good one, but you see the point. But I've got a better one later.
Rob and I got talking last night. And then, fifthly, your feet. So, little feet. Dirty feet.
Pissed feet. Under his feet. And your feet. This then is the story of Jesus of Nazareth.
He had little feet once. He was born with them, like you were born with them. Ken Torres. Mary and Joseph, as we know, traveled to King David's city, Bethlehem.
And were told in Luke while they were there in Bethlehem, the time came for the baby to be born. And she gave birth to her first born, a son. And she wrapped this baby with little feet in cloths, and placed him in a manger, feeding drop. Because there was no guest room available for them.
Had to go down the stairs and up the back where the animals are. But whose are those feet? These are the feet of the Messiah, promised of old, of the increase of his government. There will be no end to us.
A child is born. These are the feet of the one whom God will put all things under his feet, quoting Psalm 8, if you know it. This is the true human being. These are the feet of the one who came to save his people from their sins.
That's what the angel told Mary. So, Mary is then pregnant. Metaphorically, she's pregnant with the hope of Israel. And the Gentiles, going in like most of us.
And of course, Mary is literally pregnant. She can feel something I've ever felt. But my wife has felt four times. She can feel the feet kicking against her skin.
But in Matthew's account, we catch a glimpse of something bigger. In Matthew's account, Joseph gets a corroborating message corroborating with Mary's, the angel says, Joseph's son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is special. It's from God. It's from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, as I know. And you had to give him the name Jesus, or Yeshua, or Joshua, or Joshua, which means the Lord saves, because he will save his people from their sins. All this writes Matthew took place to fulfill what the Lord had said long ago through the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son.
And they will call him Emmanuel, which means, here it is, God with us. These feet are God with us. These time feet belong to God. Now, God's feet, ahead of God's visitation, there's a tantalizing prophecy in Zachariah that says, the Lord's feet will stand on the Mount of the east of Jerusalem.
The carol says it, he came down to earth in heaven, who is God and Lord of all. And his shelter was disabled and his cradle was restored. It's very important to say where he was born. In great humility, with the poor and mean, or meek and lowly, lived on earth our Savior, holy.
And in heart the herald, valid and flesh, the God had seen how the incarnate deity, or in the creed that we just said, we believe in one more Jesus Christ, the only son of God on Messiah, King. Eternally but God in the Father. This is through that son of God is. God from God, light from light, true God from true God.
Be God in not made. For one being with the Father, and in case you are unsure, quoting John, chapter 1, through him, all things were made. Or if I want to stay on the front of the little things, big things grow, theme, let me quote the six-centre, poet. And I think Dean of some force cathedral in London, John Dunne to marry a mensity, cloistered, in thy dear woman with those little feet.
Or maybe something slightly more contemporary, and see us as Narnia. Yes, said Queen Lucy in our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world. These are his little feet. But despite the fact that many people want his feet to stay little, because then we could domesticate God.
Jesus' feet did not stay clean and fresh. He had secondly dirty feet. He used them. He learned to walk.
God learned to walk. Jesus would have had all the cuts and bruises that came with a play-based childhood. He didn't have a screen-based childhood. Cut some bruises.
Remember them? Day by day like us he grew. He was little weak and helpless. Tears and smiles like us he knew.
Those feet grew calloused. He was a trady. They walked from Galilee to Jerusalem. And then they walked.
Those feet walked the dusty streets of Jerusalem. And with those feet, he stood his ground against a religiously stubborn. They're often the most stubborn. And he took those feet into the homes of tax collectors and prostitutes.
It's called Grace to sinners, who are open to his love and redemption. And he stood the teach by the Sea of Galilee, the Kingdom of God, is like a mustard seed. Perhaps the moment in the life of Jesus that features most is the night before he died, he washed at a cypress feet, including Judas. And Peter says to him, I should be washing your feet.
We've got this the wrong way around. It's me should be washing your feet. Which is, I think, in one sense, the religious response, what do I need to do to please all the get things right, what do I have to do? Keep control.
But Jesus says, no, we've got this the right way around. The gospel word, the good news, is that Jesus answered Peter unless I wash you. You have no part in me. He must do the cleansing.
He must do the forgetting. He must do the saving. That's what the table is about in a few moments' time. Little feet, dirty feet, thirdly pierced feet.
Jesus, the gospels, all four willingly allow those feet to be pierced along with his hands by Roman nails. Interestingly, in the resurrection, they remain pierced. He willingly died, not because he had a death wish, not because he had a life wish. God knew that for the light, the shine in the darkness.
And for the darkness to not put it out, he had to enter that darkness, even death itself. Not to contribute to the darkness, but to extinguish it to, if I can be frank, win over muck and justice in death. So before we move on, we do need to pause because this last week we've been reminded how real the darkness is, the massacre on Sunday last was horrific and you'll be dealing with it in your own way, in your own prayers. And people still will heal for a long time.
But surely any belief that perpetuates the darkness is wrong. Any belief that perpetuates the darkness is wrong. Any thought that victory will come by violence or coercion or fear? How is that possibly a solution?
How about God offers a path forward, a path provided, getting off the cycles of violence and fear? Jesus went to the cross with people begging him to take life, to bring the sword to bear on Rome. That's what the messiahs of Israel do. But Jesus knew something they didn't know, maybe we learned this morning.
He knew that the real problem was with him, not with governments or politicians. That's the easy answer. I'm not saying they can't improve, they can't. That's not where the problem is.
The problem is not with capitalists or communists. Not with education, it's not even with religion. Not as the problem or the solution. The real problem is in human heart.
We need forgiveness. We need cleansing. Perhaps the simplest way to put it is by the apostle John who said, this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. After his piercing and his death, God is now from the little thing big things grow, putting all things under his feet.
You see why I chose the image? Rob and I were talking, and maybe what I needed, how could you describe something that is only written in Scripture? So maybe I want to do it via icons. So my apologies if you are not a fan of icons, but I'm going to choose this image instead.
I couldn't find one with feet. Except for Michael Angelo's sister and chapel, but he wasn't the right image. God has put all things under his feet. We say that Jesus didn't stay dead.
God raised him from the dead, we are told, as first fruit. It's all about life. First fruit is of a later and greater harvest. You could say that the seed planted is when God promised to save the world to Abraham.
You could say that the seed planted is the moment when Jesus was born. There's a seed planted. Or the moment that the word as he's doing today, asking people to repent of their sins. Or when he rose as the first of many, after all even Jesus used the metaphor in John 12, he said, the seed has to die before it produces life.
Speaking of his death and resurrection, maybe it's the metaphor includes all of it. The kingdom of God is growing and really go down low last Sunday's advent sermon by Rob. And Jesus is currently reigning as a child by the possible, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Which leads me to your feet. Time for my friendly Christmas challenge. One of them is to take a Bible home. This is yours.
If you know you can't locate an easy reading this Bible, within three or four minutes of walking into your home, take one. There's a challenge and begin, for example, with the Gospel of Luke. It's easy with a seed to walk past it or even to stamp on it. It's easy with a small suit out of the ground to dismiss it.
People do that with the message of Jesus Christ. But make no mistake, Jesus wants you to follow him. He commands it. He says, follow me and some do.
Most don't, Jesus said most won't, but some do. He wants your feet. He wants your hands, your head, your head. No anti-intellectualism here.
And your heart as well. It's called repentance. Ironically, you find I believe you're true self or life. If you do repent, for you find yourself aligned with your creator.
And you discover then how to stand with confidence. And which direction to walk in? This is a little very big thing called meaning. And I say this without guile or manipulation.
Because you can no more create faith in a human being than you can force a seed to grow. Just needs nurture with sunlight and water. But I promise you, you'll gain confidence if you live in grace. Because you can take off the mask of I'm a good person.
And start to be honest about what goes on inside. And you can even be confident when things are tough. Robert Habakkuk had a tough life. And he was able to say, the sovereign Lord is my strength.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to tread to the heights. But I promise you, it will be an adventure. They are talkings.
Bilbo used to say, it's a dangerous business photo going out in front door. You step into the road and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to. Who knows where your faithful lead? Or cheeky, Presbyterian writer.
Say that like there's another kind. The late Frederick Bregner, I think died I think last year. He talks about the importance of knowing where you were going. He says, when you wake up every morning, called by God to be self again, if you want to know who you are, don't be a desires by the way.
That's disastrous. It's just disastrous. Rather, watch your feet. Watch your feet.
Because where your feet take you, that is who you are. Seriously, take the first step of faith this morning. Maybe as you come to the rail and take the bread and wine, for years, but have ended up coming in tears and saying, even at the rail to me, this is the first time I've come as a follower of Jesus Christ. Take the first step this morning, after all, from little things, big things grow.
Let's pray. Oh, holy child, it's back to him to send to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today.
Maybe we found walking in the way of Jesus Christ, in whose power we pray. Amen.