Shoes

My Mother told me a story recently about a new pair of shoes. It seems that, during the depression, when she would have been about 10 years old, like a lot of others their family had little money to spare. Some kind friends in the Church bought her a new pair of shoes.



She said: “They were the cutest shoes and I loved them.” The only problem was that they were too small. Mom said that they made her toes double up, but she didn’t care because they were so cute – she wore them anyway. She wasn’t going to tell anyone they were too small because she was afraid she would never get another pair. The shoes held great meaning and worth for her.

Shoes (or sandals) have often had considerable significance in the scriptures. Removal of shoes is often a sign of reverence. In Exodus 3:5, the Lord told Moses:

…Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Putting on shoes sometimes has interesting connotations. In Luke 15:22, When the prodigal son returned, his father instructed the servants thus:

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

Servants and slaves in biblical times were not allowed to wear shoes unless the special requirements of their job demanded it. So when the father instructed his servants to put shoes on his son, he was elevating him to the position of family member, from that of a servant or slave, as the prodigal son had proposed.

The Savior’s feet are often depicted in paintings without shoes or sandals, or with the simple leather latchet sandals of the peasant, symbolizing that he is the servant of all.

How often have we heard someone say, as they assumed a position in the Church, that the person they are replacing has large shoes to fill? This kind of real humbleness is what the Savior has counseled us to seek in this life. Recognition of our own complete inadequacy to achieve salvation without Him is the true humbleness that the Savior asks of us.

I am reminded of John the Baptist’s conversation with his followers in Luke 3:15-16:

And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

Christ’s shoes represented John’s feelings of humility toward the man John recognized as the Savior from the time John was still in his mother’s womb. John was devoid of vanity or pride. He knew that he held the Aaronic Priesthood, but that the Savior held all the Keys of the Kingdom. He recognized that his priesthood came from the Savior through a long line of Levite priests—indeed, through his own father. In Matthew 3:11, John said:

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

To explain John’s humbleness and deference to the Savior, Joseph Smith added the following to this verse. In JST Matthew 3:38, we read:

I indeed baptize you with water, upon your repentance; and when he of whom I bear record cometh, who is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, (or whose place I am not able to fill) as I said, I indeed baptize you before he cometh, that when he cometh he may baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. (italics added)

In BYU Studies, vol. 36 (1996-97), Masada and Life in First-Century Judea, in an article entitled Loosing a Shoe Latchet: Sandals and Footwear in the First Century, Shane A. Baker (Collections Manager and Staff Archaeologist of the Museum of Peoples and Cultures at Brigham Young University) says the following:

John the Baptist uses the symbolism surrounding the act of removing and carrying sandals to show his subordination and deference to Jesus Christ. In trying to help his followers understand the significance of the Savior’s role and John’s relationship to him, … John attempted to highlight the transcendent role that Christ would play in contrast to John’s own humble ministry by reaffirming his unworthiness to untie the Savior’s sandals in order to perform the humble service of washing His feet or carrying His sandals. John drove home his point by couching it in terms of common cultural practices that would have been familiar and important to his audience.

But as expected, while the humble among John’s followers understood His message, recognized the Savior, and realized that John was the prophesied Elias, The haughty and proud Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and other Jewish leaders (whose shoes were often close-toed and ornate) never got the message. They were not sufficiently humble to recognize the Savior of the world when they were face to face with Him. Luke 22:66-71 describes the final confrontation between the Savior and the high priests:

And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.

“We ourselves have heard of his own mouth.” Even when the Savior told them plainly of His divinity, they failed to comprehend His words. He said “If I tell you, ye will not believe.”
Contrast that with Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s final testimony, delivered in General Conference two weeks before his death (Bruce R. McConkie, “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane,” Ensign, May 1985, 9):

I feel, and the Spirit seems to accord, that the most important doctrine I can declare, and the most powerful testimony I can bear, is of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ…
I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.

A painting by Doc Christensen called “Sacrament Meeting” depicts a family receiving the living water that is representative of the blood of Christ. It is the Savior himself that is offering the water tray. The father is placing his hand on the Savior’s hand in reverent recognition, the mother recognizes Him and is in awe, the young daughter knows Him, and the toddler son has his arms outstretched toward Him. The nail prints in His wrist and hand are evident. No one else in the congregation recognizes Him or is aware of his presence. But in fact, He is there spiritually every week as we renew our covenants with Him – watching and waiting, as the servant of all, for us to take advantage of his overarching atonement and let Him into our hearts.

The Savior’s simple sandals were representative of John the Baptist’s true humbleness. Let’s recognize the Savior’s transcendence in our lives both figuratively and literally, humble ourselves, and not let the (figurative) ornate shoes the world offers block our acceptance of His admonition in Isaiah 58:2, to:

…seek me daily, and delight to know my ways…

And if we do so, we shall find Him, as He promises in Proverbs 8:17:

I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

He has told us; let us believe.