THE BODY OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD
Psalm 122; Ephesians 1: 20-23;
Pirates
at sea—real pirates—can be menacing, defiant, and ruthless. Thankfully for
those who go to the movies that are Disney productions, pirates can be cut from
the cloth of crankiness and craziness.
My father e-mailed me this joke last week: A pirate ran into a buddy he hadn’t seen in
over a year. “Hey!” his friend exclaimed, “I haven’t seen you in ages! You look
all beat up! What happened?” “What do
you mean?” the pirate asked. “You have a wooden leg!” his friend noticed. “Oh
that,” said the pirate, “A cannon ball took off me first leg.” “And what about
your hand; you have a hook!” his friend noticed. “Argh,”
said the pirate, (because all pirates say that) I got into a sword fight and me
hand was cut off; I was fitted with this hook instead. “And what about the eye
patch?” his friend said. The pirate let out a big sigh. “One day we were at sea
and a flock of birds flew overhead and one of them dropped something in me
eye.” “You’re kidding!” his friend cried out. “You lost your eye from that?” To
which the pirate said “No, I went to wipe me eye and it was me first day with
the hook.”
A
man without a leg, without an arm, without an eye; how many people do you know
with less than all their body parts?
Some would assume that people are weaker as they become blind or deaf or
lame; some are. But there are others who, with human will and God-given grit,
do more than they did with all their
limbs and senses! Fanny Crosby, the
writer of many hymns of faith such as “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine!”
“Rescue the Perishing!” and “To God Be the Glory,” was totally blind; her words
have inspired generations. Marlee Matlin
is one actress who has brought attention to signing and deafness by winning
performances on film, and recently she got accolades for dancing without being
able to hear the music. Beethoven also was profoundly deaf and wrote and
conducted almost all of his symphonies, especially his 9th, without
being able to hear. What greatness. And
one man I admire greatly, Fred Gard in our own
church, has been in a wheelchair since the 50s. He ran his own construction
company, lives on his own, and drives himself to church, gets into his own
wheel chair, wheels himself in from the parking lot, and then he wheels himself
out, attending as faithfully as some and more faithfully than some mobile people! None
of this is to say that a person needs a physical disability in order to be
great; there are other great hymn writers such as Charles Wesley; there are
other great composers like Bach; and there are other fine elders and members in
this church and others. But when it comes to the church being described as the
“Body of Christ,” in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and in other New Testament
letters, it is brings to our minds a rich analogy to our human bodies, with
many parts, each part with a different function. We are blessed with a double
meaning connected with Christ’s body, now resurrected from the dead, and the
analogy of the church being the spiritual body of Christ. If, for example, you
notice the cornerstone plaque on the north corner of the front porch as you
leave, you will see the words from our text today: “With Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone.” Jesus is no more buried under the corner of the
building than you are or I am of course. But for those hearing it in the first
century, they were used to hearing analogies about their trades (Builders
understood the importance of Jesus if he was called “the cornerstone;” it helped
them understand his importance. In a
farming community, there might have been a grower of grapes to whom Jesus said
“I am the vine, you are the branches: cut off from me you can do nothing.” Of
course that was not literal; but the farmer certainly got the meaning. So it is
with us; if Jesus is the Head and Cornerstone, then we honor that, as gruesome
as it may sound if we get stuck in the physical realm. A body without a head
cannot function spiritually or intelligently.
Yet how many people try to live their lives without having the mind of
Christ in them? I’ve seen plenty, haven’t you?
So the Body of Christ, which is the church, is not the building, it is
the people who, like a good rowing team, pull in synchronous motion together.
What
does the body of Christ look like, you may ask?
It looks like the beehive of activity that was here Friday and Saturday
for the Attic Sale, with men, women, youth, and children, according to their
abilities, sorting or cleaning jewelry, clothing, appliances, books, and other
donated items. On Sundays some preach, some sing, some usher, some pray, and later
some offer Sunday School lessons or show hospitality by
preparing food to share. On mission trips the body of Christ includes drivers,
cooks, carpenters, roofers, naturalists, and generalists. You see, the body of
Christ goes with us where ever we go as the church, and the way it goes with us
is just this: From one of Paul’s other famous letters: “Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal to God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of mortals; and
being found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even death on a cross.” The body of Christ, which is YOU and Me in
the world, and any of us in ministry wherever we are, are persons praying to
and honoring our Lord and Savior, and humbly living like he did. The Body of Christ can be healthy and
capable, like on our best days of human health. On those days the church (that
is, you and I, both collectively or individually,) tells others how much our
congregation means to you- that is part of witnessing; we take food to those
who cannot prepare it for themselves- that is hospitality; we rejoice with a
newborn child or with other milestones- that is celebration; and we physically
help those who cannot help themselves- that is compassion. Like the pirate, on
our worst days, the church seems like a half blind cranky individual who cannot
see injustice, pain, or outsiders; on our worst days we have spiritual arms
missing from foolishly fighting with other Christians or other faiths; and on
our worst days our work is hobbled by injuries brought on by accident, sin, or
situation. In so many ways, the church is human; but on our best days, the church is the divinely
chosen bride of Christ, instrument through which God works holy purposes out;
on our best days God uses us to carry out plans to change and reach the world. On our best days we do what Jesus would do.
Jesus’ physical body was bruised and striped for our transgressions, but his
spiritual body is united with his bride- the church- in the work and blessings
God intended for that union to produce. You get the picture. No matter where
you are, will you go with the mind of Christ? On our sharpest days, our blindness to justice can be transformed into
vision; our deafness to cries of anguish can hear a voice; and our paralysis in
fulfilling the Great Commission can grow into reasons to walk … or roll, for
the sake of our Savior. The Church’s one foundation, not the bricks and mortar
foundation, but the Spiritual and Salvation foundation, is Jesus Christ her
Lord. Thanks be to God!
Jeffrey
A. Sumner