Christ’s Body, The Church

Christ’s Body, The Church

1/24/10

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

This scripture first makes me think about the human body, and I recalled a special I saw on soldiers that had come home from overseas with life changing brain injuries. During this special one wife of these brave soldiers was having a hard time dealing with this new reality when she met her husband’s hospital roommate’s wife. This woman asked her husband’s name and proceeded to address him directly. Knowing full well he could not comprehend or at least communicate back and that act changed how she viewed her husband, she saw his humanity. I too had found myself praying with just such a person with his mother, and during a prayer when I thanked God for his presence I could feel (and see) that she looked up and with her body confirmed I got it. Which is not that the soul is trapped in the body it is enmeshed in its earthly glory, as Paul writes in 1 Cor. 15:40 “There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another.” Paul is carefully straddling this mystery that we will participate in the bodily resurrection, but he is not clear what the heavenly body will be, but both have glory and a place.

I know that ancient Judaism was a religion of a specific landscape that is a specific land, a specific people, which is quite evident with the importance of the Temple. Christ comes fully human and fully divine with his body which hangs on the tree and is resurrected for our salvation. Jesus comes to Thomas with his wounds (not as a ghost or a spirit) opening salvation for every body, yes everybody, but every human body. We are therefore baptized into Christ’s body, so we can participate in the bodily resurrection prior to Jesus’ return and/or our heavenly body.

I believe this is important because if we simply think faith is to get us into heaven we would not fulfill the great commandment or commission. Our earthly bodies are not just purgatory for the soul but our opportunity to help God bring love to more people and bring loving order to the earth. (On earth as it is in heaven). This is why it is important to understand our free will to be with God is played out on this physical realm and to be in a correct relationship with God for an eternal life with the Divine, it must be fulfilled by the person you are on earth. Our thoughts, our feelings, are as much a part of our physical body as our personality or soul, so when we are baptized into the one spirit we have these bodies to work with and as the church we are Jesus’’ earthly body. This is bordering on metaphysics, but I believe strongly with this idea makes it more clear why we respond to God’s salvation with feeding the poor, healing the sick, comforting those that mourn, etc.

Thus we come to Paul’s point we are interdependent on each other, but also require diversity to make the church. This may even relate to the different churches and styles or Christianity, but it certainly is important for an individual congregation like FCC. We cannot all be preachers, or choir directors. We need everyone to find their calling that utilizes their gifts and talents.

It reminded me of a Sunday School I taught I while back. We split the class into two teams, boys and girls. We asked for them to blindfold one team member and told them that they would have to direct the blindfolded member to the object somewhere in the room. Well in this 4 & 5^th grade class I had the brothers Sam and Johnny. Sam was the younger and his hand shot up to be blindfolded. As he was being fitted, his brother Johnny said, “Listen to only my voice.” Well they figured out part of the lesson already. When I said go the girls were all directed the blindfolded girl who was confused and went slowly, while Sam took off like a sprinter, when his brother simply said, “Forward.” Before Johnny could say stop or careful, Sam had already bounced off the table across the room. I was terrified and laughing at the same time, and when I realized that this 4^th grader bounced well and was fine, I simply laughed, as he was directed to the object winning the game.

If we do church right we will all have that enthusiasm that Sam had when he heard forward. Just as our body when working correctly communicates smoothly and effectively, we will do the same when we get people in the right positions. We will live the resurrection with our bodies as the church, as the Body of Christ.