How many times have I read Ephesians 1:22, And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, and never thought until today a most simple implication.
The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet. (Psa. 110:1)" Four times in the NT this passage is referenced. James was sensitive to insult of some when he pointed out, you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool (James 2:3)”
The idea of being at the feet was extremely offensive to society at the time of its writing. What makes the story of the woman wiping Jesus' feet with her hair as she cried (Lk. 7:36-50), is that the religious upper-crust in the story wouldn't go there while the shamed and broken woman did. The former was chastised and the later praised.
Kenneth Bailey penned, In the Old Testament the ultimate triumph for the victor and the insult to the vanquished was to make the enemy a footstool. Bitterly hated Edom is told, "On Edom I cast my shoe. Moses is obliged to take off his unclean shoes at the burning bush because of the holiness of the ground.
The footstool isn't just a casual piece of household furniture. From scriptures, it signifies the low rank from which we all live. And just as the woman of Luke 7, when we see Jesus intercepting our lives, we are filled with gratitude.
Ungrateful people tend to live atop a self-assumed perch similar to the smug religious leader of Lk. 7. The thankful ones, however, are so because they are always looking up; not from resentment of low position, but in gratitude for the gift of being accepted.
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