The Eye and the Hand duke it out: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Westminister Presbyterian Church, Santa Fe, January 24, 2010
“The human body has 206 bones, 639 muscles, and about 6 pounds of skin, along with ligaments, cartilage, veins, arteries, blood, fat, [organs, fibers, tissues]....
Every time we hear a sound; every time we take a step; every time we take a breath [or eat a bit of food], hundreds of different parts [and thousands of different cells] work together, so that we experience a single movement, [accomplish a common purpose]….”[1]
We know more about the human body today than Paul did when he was writing 2000 years ago. But he knew enough to know how powerful and mysterious an image the body would be for the church.[2] Paul describes the our individual bodies as well as our collective bodies forming one gathered community, as the temple in which God’s Spirit may dwell, and inspire and lead and move. The body of Christ—where the mission of Christ continues to be realized.
The body is a holy mystery…I still can’t get over the miracle of birth, but what about the miracle of food converted into energy, or air converted into mostly oxygen, making a sound to sing singing. Our collective bodies as community is a holy mystery…prayer for one another, working together for the common good, paying my salary this is a mystery and miracleJ.
Richard Rohr says, “The spiritual world is hidden and perfectly revealed in the physical world.”[3] Paul makes this point well.
