January 23, 2022 – 3nd Sunday after Epiphany
As St. Paul teaches the Corinthian Church, each of us have a specific call from God in the Body of Christ – to offer our gifts and talents to the purpose of the whole. We all have value.
Let us pray. Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us in the many places we are gathered this day. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living word for us this day, and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
The Gospel reading that you have just heard from the Gospel of Luke is pretty provocative. It takes place early in Jesus’ ministry. By Luke’s account, he has started to make a ‘name’ for himself in the northern part of Israel. Luke says to us, “a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.” And then, in today’s reading, he comes home to Nazareth – the place where he was brought up. Now I think that we, in our day, are part of experiences like this. Do you remember the name of Cindy Klassen, the speed skater – born and raised in Winnipeg - and at the age of 26 years won five Olympic medals at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy? Do you remember what it was like when she came back to Winnipeg after the Games? I found out that she was going to make a noon-hour appearance at a particular McDonald’s restaurant – I think it was arranged mainly for school children. But I went there! I didn’t get a chance to meet her but just to be there – to be present with a hometown hero. People are keenly interested in persons from their hometown who become famous.
And so it was in Nazareth. Jesus comes back – the young hometown hero – and Luke tells it like this: “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.” Now don’t be surprised. I suspect that if the late Desmond Tutu came to our Sunday morning worship, I suspect we’d let him read anything out of the Bible that he cared to. And so it was with Jesus. So Jesus chooses a section from the prophet Isaiah that describes what is expected in the future in Israel – God’s Messiah comes to restore the people of Israel – to bring justice, mercy, liberty, and healing for all. And this passage would have been recognized by the people in the synagogue that morning. Then he throws a real ‘zinger’ at them. He says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Now Jesus spent the rest of his earthly life, including his sacrificial death and resurrection proving this to be true. God’s reign on earth has begun – not here in its fullness yet – but the course of human history has been struck! God is redeeming the world.
So the disciples of Jesus Christ have witnessed that reality and the person of Jesus Christ ever since then, and have accepted God’s call to follow Christ in, and with, their lives. And, of course, that includes us. All three Proper Prayers in our worship service this morning refer either explicitly or implicitly, to that call of God. In the Collect Prayer we pray, “by grace alone you call us and accept us in your service. Strengthen us by your Spirit, and make us worthy of your call.” And then, in the Prayer Over the Gifts, at the Offertory, we’ll pray, “Loving God, before the world began you called us. Make holy all we offer you this day, and strengthen us in that calling.” Before the world began … this calling on our lives has always been God’s purpose for us. And then finally, in the Prayer After Communion, we’ll pray, “May we … be strengthened for service in your world.” – empowered to live out God’s call in our daily lives.
The thing is, our individual calling is intimately interwoven with other Christian disciples’ callings. We live out our calling interdependently with a community called ‘the church’. So this is really the essence of today’s Second Reading from Saint Paul – from his first letter to the members of the Church in Corinth – written probably in the mid to late 50s of the First Century. He’s trying to teach them God’s structure and purpose for God’s Church. The foundational part that he’s trying to impress on them is the absolute necessity of diversity – difference – in the church; and yet, its key and identifying characteristic of unity. It is one Body of Christ, with a God-given purpose; and that every call and all the disciples of Jesus Christ are equally part of that one body of Christ. And each one is necessary.
So to do this teaching he uses a metaphor of a human body. Now it’s important to realize this really is a concrete example. He doesn’t use the word ‘body’ in that, sort of, general sense of a group of people, and each member is somebody whose name appears on the list of that group. It is not like that! It’s a concrete example. In this explanation the ‘body’ is a human body. And the ‘members’ are things like arms, legs, ears, eyes, internal organs, and so on. And Paul says these words. He says, “For 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.” And then he uses the body illustration to explain both the problems that members of the church frequently encounter, as well as grasping God’s overall purpose for the Church, wherein lies its unity. His initial teaching reads this way, “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.” Note the comparative thinking. ‘Because, in our day, I don’t sing in the choir I do not really belong to this church.’ Or, ‘because I’m not on Vestry I don’t really belong here.’ Or, ‘because I don’t have a leadership role on Sundays, I don’t think I really belong in this church.’ Sadly, some of us may feel and think this way from time to time.
But Saint Paul makes it clear that is not the way of the Body of Christ. And the he flips the argument the other way on. He says, “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.’” ‘Because you don’t share my priorities for this church, I don’t have any need of you.’ - that’s in a sense what he is saying. Because you – say as the ‘head’ – don’t get involved in the work that I do as ‘feet’, I have no need of you. Why don’t you go off and find a different congregation more suited to ‘heads’ and let us ‘feet’ do what really matters.
If we play with Saint Paul’s illustration – naturally an ‘eye’ is going to view the work of the church differently than a ‘hand’, because those two members are designed for different functions. So what holds it all together? What coordinates the members? The living Christ – the Holy Spirit. ‘Hands’ don’t need to compare themselves to ‘eyes’, or ‘heads’ to ‘feet’. But what all the members of the body need to grasp is God’s overall purpose for the Church. When each of us, and all of us – including the clergy – see how our member complements and strengthens the body as it works with the other members, then diversity becomes a gift, and a strength. Paul describes that interdependent unity. He says, “… 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.” His summary brings it together as he speaks to a real live Corinthian Church – just like our Church. He says, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” - each one of us, and particularly for us, each one of us that looks to this community of All Saints.
St. Paul lists some of the ministries in the Corinthians Church and then he finishes with some obvious questions, “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?” And, for us – do all sing in the choir? Are all in the hospitality ministry? Are all on the Outreach team? Are all members of Corporation? Are all looking after the property? Do all preach or lead worship? And, of course, the implied answer is “no.” But all are necessary! There is no competition – no comparison of importance – no assessment of the value of one over another. All are necessary. All are beautiful. All are part of God’s call on each individual and on us all collectively. Each of us needs to offer ourselves, our gifts, our vision, our wisdom, in response to God’s call. We all have value in the body of Christ.
Loving God, before the world began you called us. Make holy all we offer you this day, and strengthen us in that calling. Amen.
