Date: January 26, 2025

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Sermon Title: “Be the Body of Christ”

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Bob Jon

A young rabbi was struggling with a serious problem at his synagogue. During the Friday service, half the congregation stood for the prayers, and the other half remained seated. Furthermore, these groups would shout at each other, arguing their way was true and authentic. Nothing this young rabbi said or did could change anything. So, he reached out to the founding rabbi, who was 99 years old. He asked this old rabbi, “Was it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?” “No,” answered the old rabbi. “Then, it was the tradition to sit during the prayers.” “No,” he answered again. “Well, what we have is complete chaos! Half the people stand and shout, and the other half sit and scream.” “Ah,” said the old rabbi, “That was the tradition.” 

I have been working as a full-time pastor for 15 years now. Having grown up as a pastor’s kid, I think God had a special purpose, calling me to serve the church as a pastor. It is because I remember the pain from the church where my father was the pastor caused by conflict, division, and accusation. I remember arriving at one church and just unloading all the stuff from the moving truck. I was only 8 years old, and the lay leader came to me and said, “If your father does not listen to me well, you better get ready to move soon.” Maybe some of you who are pastor’s kids have some similar experiences. Even if you are not a pastor’s kid, I am sure some of you got hurt from the division, conflict, or taking sides within the church at some point. 

We gather as a church but come from different places. Some of us have been longer than others. Some of us were born in this neighborhood and some from another state. One of my former churches was in a rural area where 99% of the town were white. People would often remind me that unless I was born in that town, I was not considered an insider. One day, I felt like I had enough, so I responded, “Do you think people in this town would ever see me as an insider whether I am born here or not?” Some of us have prestigious jobs considered as professional and respected in our community. Some of us have to work at several jobs to have food on the table and pay the rent. Some of us have never had to think about discrimination, while for some of us, it is a daily reality. 

Different classes. Different races. Affiliation with different political parties. Different cultures and languages. No wonder we witness the growing gap and division among people in our society and the world today. We find it comfortable to be with those who look like us, those who speak like us, and those who think just like us. In our life, where we need to deal with so much stress and conflict from our children, our work, and especially from politics, why do I need additional burden by being with people who push us, challenge us, or even make us uncomfortable and even vulnerable? It is credited to Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of America.” Indeed, the church is not exceptional from the rest of society in that we choose to be where we want. 

Many of us are familiar with 1 Corinthians, especially chapter 13 where Paul talks about love. “Now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” It is one of the beloved scripture readings for weddings. However, Paul wrote this letter to address the schism, division, and anger among the believers at the church in Corinth. While staying in Ephesus, Apostle Paul heard about some trouble at this church. Someone was saying, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos.” Some people were eating food offered to idols, while others thought it was defiled and, therefore, could defile their bodies as well. As people were arguing against each other, Paul said, “Everyone has knowledge, but knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” 

And in our reading from today, Paul reminds us that we are the body of Christ. We are many, uniquely created in the image of God. We all possess different talents, different interests, and different circumstances. But we are all baptized into one body, as Paul says, being made to drink of one Spirit. We all may come from different places, but God puts us in a bigger family than we can imagine with our own individual families. We are tied not with our own blood but tied by the blood of Christ who died for us all. This is why during the Communion liturgy, the clergy says, “By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.” 

In the context of the Roman empire, it was not new to use the metaphor of a human body as a way to illustrate the importance of unity among the people and nation. Even in our society, we can discuss the importance of balance and unity among people as people of different professions contribute to the commonwealth of our community and nation. We need teachers. We need civic workers. We need cooks at restaurants. We need police officers. We need health workers like doctors and nurses. We assign our value to people depending on how much they contribute to our community and nation. Indeed, in our top-down system, that is one way to explain unity in the body, as the head has the most important function to define a human being, and other body members support the top. 

However, when it comes to the church as the body of Christ, Paul turns such a notion of the body upside down. In the body of Christ, those who are least respected by the measure of our society are brought to the center, treated with greater respect, and given the greater honor. This is certainly the way of Jesus, as he sat and ate with tax collectors and sinners who were condemned as unclean in their religion and society. When challenged why he was hanging out with those people, Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick.”  He welcomed and blessed children. He called women to follow him, and as a matter of fact, they became the first witnesses to the resurrection of Christ on Easter morning. 

When I was appointed to my former church in Connecticut, my district superintendent said, “Oh, by the way, you have a retired bishop attending your church with her husband.” Her name was Bishop Jane Middleton. She formally served the Central Pennsylvania Conference and later as an interim bishop for New York. Honestly, I felt a little intimidated to preach before a bishop who had power and authority in our denomination. But Bishop Jane did not ask anyone in the church to call her “bishop.” She enjoyed being called Jane. She was usually seen in the basement of the church, where we hosted a soup kitchen on Fridays. She never wore the purple Roman collar, which symbolizes the bishop. No one even knew she was a bishop. She cooked and served food to the hungry and poor. 

As Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into his disciples and gave them power and authority to go to the world in his name, Christ has given us his power and authority. But these are different kinds of power than what our world understands. The power to suppress others. The power to coerce others to our will. The power to manipulate and cover the truth. Instead, the power of God is to take our cross, follow the way of Christ, giving ourselves for the sake of others and the world. It is the power to nail our ego, pride, fear, and vulnerability on the cross and witness to the resurrection of Christ gathers us in this body of Christ where we serve one another, especially respect and honor those who are mistreated, persecuted, and forgotten in our world today. 

Paul reminds us that we are the body of Christ, and we all are individual members of it. When one member suffers, all suffer together. When one is honored and rejoices, we all rejoice together. There is no superior member. There is no inferior member. You are welcomed, embraced, and loved in this house of God, not because of how much you can contribute. You are accepted, respected, and loved in every way just because of who you are. You all are precious children of God. As Paul says, there is nothing to separate us from the love of God through the love of Christ. And that love and care of God are not confined to the walls of the church. Christ’s resurrection can never be contained to the walls of the church. 

God has given us our life, our talent, our wisdom, our possession, and our power in resurrection. The question is how we will use them to honor Christ, who cares about the weak, fearful, marginalized, and vulnerable in our world, the world God so loved that God sent God’s only begotten Son.  

Amen.