One body, Many Parts

Third Sunday of the Year 23 Jan 2010

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 12:12-30

One body, Many Parts

Tonight Second Reading is a continuation of last Sunday Second Reading. St Paul continues to address the concern over the disunity in Corinth. Tonight, St. Paul used the body image to get his message across to the Corinthians.

He said “Now, you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” 1Cor 12:27
In last week second reading, St Paul said “There is a variety of gifts but always the same spirit… it is the same God who is working in all of them” 1 Cor 12:4

There are a few lessens to learn from here:

The first point is that there is this necessity of Unity. Same Spirit, Same God, One Body of Christ… We are all baptized into one body.

The second point that St Paul addressed is Diversity. Unity does not mean uniformity. Here we can see the power of the Holy Spirit at work. We are one body of Christ but diverse in our gifts and talents. We are not all eye, ear, nose, hand, foot. All are important. All are needed to serve the Church, the body of Christ and the community. In another words, we cannot live independently all by ourselves for ourselves. We ought to live interdependent on one another. Interdependently, we manifest the unity and the wish of God.

The third point is that there is no place for arrogance for a particular gift or talent. There is no place for jealousy and envy. No reason for the eye to be jealous of the ear, nor the hand jealous of the foot. “If there were all one part, where would the body be?” 1 Cor 12:20 In the body of Christ, not all are gifted the same way, yet all serve one another and form Christ’s body on earth.

So there is neither room for superior nor inferior complexes. No one brings less to the body of Christ. Gifts are meant for service to others, and not for competition or self glorification. We should trust the Spirit working in human lives in surprising ways. The Holy Spirit always works to enrich the common good of the community. Through all this discussion, what St. Paul wants to put across to us is that the basis of the community’s existence is nothing but LOVE. which will be addressed in next Sunday, Second Reading.