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| (Photo cred: Z S "sorrow") |
(Originally written for Douglas County Publishing: Pastor's Meditation May 10, 2016)
When we think about organizations or
teams of people, there are different images that come to mind to describe when they
work together as they should. A
well-oiled machine. A labor force as
running like clockwork. Those images capture
the efficiency on display, and the lack of problems or hang-ups as people carry
out their tasks.
The church, believers who put their
hope in Jesus Christ and who look to him for their salvation, are also an
organized group. We are a people
together. Throughout Scripture, the
church is referenced collectively as the bride, the flock of sheep under the
Shepherd’s care, and the good seed that has been sown. We are also each called a part of the one
body.
One of the places we find this is 1
Corinthians 12. From chapters 11 through
14, Paul writes at length about worship practices, about those who hold certain
gifts, and how they ought to be used. In
the middle of telling the Corinthian church how to worship God and using their
gifts to honor him, he has them think about the way a body works.
For
we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jew or Greeks, slave
or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but
of many…As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need
you!” And the head cannot say to the
feet, “I don’t need you!” On the
contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and
the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor… But God
has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts
that lacked it, and there should be no division in the body, but that its parts
should have equal concern for each other.
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored,
every part rejoices with it (1 Cor. 12:13-14, 20-26).
To be clear, Paul’s intention in this
context is likely referring to people and their gifts. He realized his audience (and I believe it
remains true for us today) would see their differences, and some might think
their talents and gifts were lacking compared to other believers. That recognition would lead to a
self-evaluation that they must be less valuable. But God would have us understand that each of
us and each of the gifts that he has
given to us is necessary, even essential.
But I can’t help read verse 26 about
suffering and rejoicing together, and think that this shouldn’t apply to other
areas of life as well. If we are living
in community, then we ourselves experience and we experience with other people
suffering and joy. A loved one is
diagnosed with cancer, a fragile baby must spend time in the NICU, someone
close to us passes away at a very young age.
A student graduates high school or college, a healthy baby enters the
world, a marriage is celebrated in a wedding or a milestone anniversary. The reality of life in this world and this
age is that these events and others like them happen all at the same time.
We may go through seasons where it
seems like we only experience sad and painful circumstances. Other times it seems like nothing but
blessings and joy can fill our days. But
more often is the case that we are pulled in both directions at the same
time. This is not an easy thing; this is
not an easy life. If we truly want to
honor and show compassion to all people, then we hear Paul’s words echoing, “If
one suffers, all suffer; if one is honored, all rejoice.” That might mean we go back and forth in
emotions and feelings as we draw near to people experiencing both the hurts and
the celebrations of this life. Yet there
are times when we may feel too much of our own suffering to rejoice with
another, or on the other hand, too much being honored to deeply suffer.
But when those times come, let us
walk through them together. One’s grief
or joy may not be at the same level as another person’s, yet we can present and
understand what those parts of the life in faith are all about. We journey together as the church because
Christ has brought us together, and because Christ is together with us. The one who suffered once for all on the
cross is present with us because we are united to him. He is the head of the body, the one who
gathers his church. We may not always
feel connected to every other part, and yet we are reminded that God has combined
us, and he is the one who has declared all should have equal concern for each
other.
J. Todd Billings sums it up well in
his book Rejoicing in Lament: From
one standpoint, the church is a gathering of sinners who are both old and
young, healthy and sick, growing and dying.
But, by God’s promise, the church is also people who move through birth,
health, dying, and even death on a journey to resurrection because they belong
to Jesus Christ. For the end of the
story of God, and of the church, is not death, but resurrection. We go through all things belonging to Jesus
Christ because he has brought us together.
While we must not minimize the highs and lows that we experience here on
earth, let us keep the hope of the future eternal resurrection.
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