“Fulfilled in One Body” – Sermon on Jan 27, 2013
January 27, 2013
Scriptures:
Luke 4: 14-21
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
1 Corinthians 12: 12-31
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? 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. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that 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.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
Sermon: Fulfilled in One Body (much of reflection on Paul is by Sarah Dylan Breuer)
D. Oughton
What does it mean to be a member of the Body of Christ? This morning we heard Paul use the metaphor of the human body with its many parts, and how all the parts are necessary, and none of the parts can do without the others. Now you might be interested to hear that Paul took a similar metaphor that was used in a different way, and put a spin on it that would have put a smile on the face of Jesus. The metaphor had been used with striking docking workers to accept their poor treatment and get back to work. The argument went along the lines of “a body has many parts that must all work together for the health of the body, on which the health of the members depend. The dock workers were told that they were the feet, they belonged in the muck while others belonged in more honored and honorable places. Paul switches this around and argues that the integrity and well being of the whole body requires honor and care of the weakest parts.
Paul also makes the point that, as God’s people, as the church, as the body of Christ in the world after Christ’s ascension, we are linked with one another in a relationship that we can’t dissolve any more than we could have launched it on our own. How could an organ choose to become my liver? Does it have to fill out an application? Go on some Liver Idol television competition? Prove itself as a particularly good and loyal liver to rise through the ranks of mammals judged less worthy? It’s a rather silly question. My body, being relatively healthy, had a liver develop as part of my body in the womb. It was there when I was born; it’s part of God’s creating me. And what could my liver do to become not a part of my body? Nothing whatsoever. If it could and did issue some kind of declaration of independence from my pancreas, that would do nothing to change the status of either as part of my body; it would just make a little meaningless noise.
Paul also speaks of the interdependence of all the parts of the body. We need one another. Paul is NOT just saying that the poor need the rich, the sick need the healthy, and the weak need the strong to protect or rescue them; he’s saying that we ALL need one another. There is no one to whom the Spirit has not given gifts that needed by all of us. What we bring to the body goes beyond our material and physical resources. The gifts of each one of us are needed for the health of the whole human community, and as Paul is emphasizing, as members of the Body of Christ. Who we are as God’s people is connected inextricably with our call to engage in God’s mission. God has made us one Body of Christ, a sign — a living sacrament — for the world of what God in God’s grace is doing in the world. St. Teresa of Avila puts it something like this:
Christ has no body on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ looks out upon the world. Ours are the feet with which he goes about doing good. Ours are the hands with which he blesses his people now.
We experience what it means to be Christ’s Body as we engage in Christ’s mission in the world. And if we want to know more about what that means, we have an excellent starting point in our gospel reading for this Sunday. In it, Luke portrays Jesus at the start of his public ministry claiming a combination of passages as his mission; and in claiming this as his mission, Jesus offers himself and his life as a prophetic sign that “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
These are inspiring words, but they’re not just words — not by a long shot. What would it mean if we really believed that in Jesus, the words of the prophet are being fulfilled today? In our hearing? Isn’t that interesting how Jesus puts that in? This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Does he mean that we must hear, really, really hear this in order for it to be fulfilled? Can it be that our hearing, our attention, our openness to them matters in their fulfillment? Certainly these are words not just for the group gathered in that synagogue about 2000 years ago. Remember that we now are the Body of Christ. How would we respond if we truly believed that in our hearing, perhaps in our very being – the united body – there is good news for the poor – the captives are released, the blind see, the oppressed are freed?
We might also want to think about just who the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed are. Because Jesus says that his good news is for those people specifically. I’m torn between wanting all of us to identify with these conditions and not wanting to move too far away from very concrete situations. So let’s try to hold the mindset of both / and. The Greek translated here as prisoners would be captives taken in times of violence – like prisoners of war. And there is a phrase added that means “and the broken ones.” So Jesus says the prisoners of war and the broken ones will be released – and the word for released has the connotation of forgiveness. So we can look at the more abstract meanings perhaps – those who are broken – broken-hearted, broken-spirited, those who are captive to all kinds of things – addictions, mental illness, greed, materialism, perhaps even imprisoned by fear. The body of Christ offers release from that, in our hearing. Could people walking through this door who are being held captive in some way find some release, some forgiveness, some hope? Which members of our body are particularly gifted in this ministry? It might or might not be people here in FCC, but we are of course part of a much larger Body of Christ. This is why we support denominational, ecumenical and even inter-faith efforts – because we need the abilities of all parts of the body.
And we can also look at concrete imprisonment, and think about what it might mean to have the words of Isaiah come to fulfillment through this Body of Christ. Did you know that the United States leads the world in the rate of incarcerating its own citizens. We imprison more of our own people than any other country on earth, including China which has four times our population, or in human history.” Over two million people are currently locked in American prisons. We have less than 5 percent of the world’s population but a quarter of the world’s prisoners. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to proclaim the release of the captives. What could this mean to us – perhaps involvement in restorative justice processes, perhaps involvement in prison ministries?
Likewise we can think about the ways we ourselves are blind or oppressed, and in what way the Body of Christ brings us sight and frees us, and how we can do that metaphorically for others. And we can also think about ministries that help those who are truly blind or disabled in other ways, think about those who are oppressed by societal forces with which we are too often complicit. How can we, as the Body of Christ help to end such oppression? We need all the parts of this great Body, we need each part to pay attention to their individual gifts, to pay attention to how they are called to work for the building up of God’s kindom. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you, because God has anointed you to bring good news to the poor. May it be so.
