1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts.
Reflection What part of your body would you chop off declaring it is inferior, unattractive or not as valuable as other parts? Your crooked first toe? Your cauliflower ears? Your bulbous nose? Your achy knees? Your dim eyes? Your bent back? My guess is you would protest, “I will not chop off any part!”
Were I to boldly pen the words I imagine God speaking on the subject of chopping off parts I imagine they would be, “No one and nothing can be chopped off, cut out or left behind.” Indeed! Although we are an assembly of many parts, we are one body, one body individually and one body in community. As Paul writes, “there are many members, yet one body.”
Why does this matter? Because the least the lost and lonely among us are as valuable to the one body as the most adored, beheld and beloved. Every part matters, in fact, in God’s economy “the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this.”
In God’s upside down economy, even though the first is last and the last is first the first and the last are equally essential because nothing and no one is left out. So put away the axe. Nothing needs to be chopped off, cut out or left behind. And at the same time bury your pride and pleasure in your accomplishments. Every part is just that, a mere morsel of the One that is incomplete without it. The rich need the poor as much as the poor need the rich.
And there we have it. We the people of God are both infinitely important and as insignificant as as a grain of sand in the Saharan desert. Everything counts when in relationship with all that is. Nothing counts apart from the integral community of all that is. At the end of assembling a jigsaw puzzle, how does it feel to discover you are missing a piece?
Have a 9 minute listen to Richard Rohr's reflection on the paradox of living One and Many by clicking on image above to the right.
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