The church is more than a building but it’s also more than a voluntary association of people. At least, that’s what Paul thinks. According to Paul, the church is much like the human body, which has many parts. If the body is healthy, all of its parts work together in harmony. The same is true of the church, the Body of Christ.
Paul tells us that we’re joined together as the Body of Christ through our baptism into Christ. It doesn’t matter if we’re slave or free, Jew or Greek, because we’re all one in the Spirit of God.
Paul doesn’t give us a detailed anatomy lesson when he describes the Body of Christ. He just assumes we all have a basic knowledge of how the body works. He focuses our attention on the diversity of parts in both the human body and the body of Christ. In a healthy body, every member plays their part.
You may notice that Paul uses a bit of humor and sarcasm to get his point across. He asks us to consider the possibility that because it’s not a hand a foot might think that it’s less a part of the body. What of the ear, is it any less a part of the body if it’s not an eye? Well, of course not! Then Paul pushes the image to its extreme, by asking what if the whole body was an eye? Just think for a moment about that image—one big eye rolling around. That’s something you might encounter on Dr. Who! And it’s kind of scary! In any case, if the whole body is an eye, how would we hear? If the body is just an eye how would we hear? The same is true for the body of Christ, which has more than one part!
So, there is one body with many members, and every member, even the ones that seem weaker than the others, is indispensable. After Paul makes that declaration he talks about clothing parts of the body. In other words, shouldn’t we take care of the body so it remains healthy and fulfills its purpose?
As you may have noticed, each January we’re inundated with TV ads that remind us that it’s time for us to take care of our bodies. So, start up your diet and join a gym! And if you agree to the plan then in 2022 you can become a new you!
While I haven’t heeded this annual January message and joined a gym or started a diet, you might say that Paul has something similar in mind here. He’s encouraging us through this imagery to take care of the body of Christ so that it can reach its full potential!
As we’ve already discovered the Corinthians had been pursuing spiritual experiences but they weren’t growing into spiritual maturity. You might say that instead of eating a healthy diet they were indulging in spiritual junk food. You know like the chips I love to eat!
So, like a good dietician, Paul encourages them to give up their junk food and take up a healthy diet that includes the variety of spiritual gifts that God had provided them. Since everyone has been gifted by the Spirit, instead of seeking spiritual highs, Paul encourages them to use these manifestations of the Spirit in pursuit of the well-being of the congregation and the larger community.
So, it doesn’t matter if you’re a foot or a hand, an eye or an ear, or some other part of the body that may not be visible, you have a place in the body of Christ. Remember that Paul points out that “God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose” (vs. 18). Therefore, if the body is going to be healthy then each of us plays an important role in the life of the body.
It might help here to remember the word given to Jeremiah at the time of his prophetic call. When God called him to take up his prophetic duties, Jeremiah was a bit uncertain about his qualifications. So God told Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). The same is true for us, because we have been reborn in baptism and gifted for life in the body of Christ.
The body is composed of many different parts, and each part has its own purpose and contributes to the welfare of the body. Therefore, we should take care of that body, even giving greater honor to the members of the body who are considered to be the weaker members.
As we discovered earlier, there were some in the Corinthian church who claimed to be part of the spiritual elite. They called themselves the “Strong.” They had little use for the members of the congregation they called the “Weak.” That’s why Paul emphasized the indispensable nature of the members considered by some to be dispensable. In fact, Paul says that these members deserved greater honor and respect.
It would appear that the “Strong” party in Corinth was composed of the social elites. They had little use for the members of the body who were poor and enslaved. But Paul challenges their social hierarchy and insists that the “Weak” are equal to the “Strong” in the Body of Christ.
So, how might the church as the Body of Christ make sure that every member, no matter their age or gender, education or financial status, is included in the life and ministry of the church?
Since Paul speaks here of healthy bodies, the question of ability and disability gets raised. Theologian Amos Yong has written a helpful book that addresses the way in which the Bible treats disabilities. He suggests that “from a disability perspective, then, people with disabilities are by definition embraced as central and essential to a fully healthy and functioning congregation in particular, and to the ecclesial body in general.” Therefore, “it is the responsibility of the whole body to end the stigmatization and marginalization of people with disabilities” [The Bible, Disability, and the Church, p. 95].
Fulfilling this responsibility starts, of course, with complying with ADA requirements, but it goes much deeper than that. Amos points out that the “church is constituted first and foremost of the weak, not the strong.” That means that everyone, especially those with disabilities, has something important to offer the congregation. That includes more than simply offering ministry to persons with disabilities. Following Amos’ interpretation of this passage, people with disabilities are just as gifted by the Spirit as anyone else. Therefore, they are just as qualified to participate in the ministries of the congregation as anyone else.
Since Amos’ brother has Down Syndrome, he includes here persons with intellectual disabilities. The key here, as Amos reminds us, is that “there is a fine line between honoring the diversity of the body’s members, with and without disability, and overemphasizing either abilities or disabilities.” [Bible, Disability, and the Church, p. 96].
As we consider our place as gifted members of the body let us also hear this word from Paul: “if one member suffers, all members suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” (1 Cor. 12:25-26). Yes, we’re all in this together, so let us “strive for the greater gifts.”
That is, of course, the subject for next week’s sermon from 1 Corinthians 13!
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Puplpit Supply
First Presbyterian Church
Troy, Michigan
January 23, 2022
Epiphany 3C
Image Attribution: Swanson, John August. Last Supper, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56552 [retrieved
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