Indispensable

I Corinthians 12:12-31a

The games that we play often reflect our cultural values and aspirations, both directly and indirectly.  Take for example, the Monopoly game, which was released by Parker-Brothers in 1935 at the height of the Depression.  The appeal of the game was, and still is, getting rich through real estate.  In the 1800’s as travel became more affordable, travel games became more popular.  And in the 1950’s, games based on T.V. shows surged, including The Hopalong Cassidy game, among others.

            Do you remember the Milton-Bradley game called Operation?  Operation has been around since 1965.  The object of the game is to extract a particular ailment from “Patient Sam” with a pair of tweezers without setting off an alarm buzzer and causing Sam’s nose to glow red, which meant Sam was feeling pain and you’d lose your turn.  There were doctor cards and specialist cards, and guess which card was worth more? 

            Now, as kids, we’d try hard not to cause that buzzer to buzz, but inevitably, removing a body part often meant pain for Sam and frequent lost turns.  We also learned that some body parts were worth more than others and therefore worth more in terms of points and winning the game.

            In the scripture for today, there is comparison being made between the church and the members of Christ’s body-- but unlike the game of Operation, all of the body parts, all of the members, have equal value. 

            This was a radical concept for the Corinthians.  Their own culture reflected the divisions in their society.  The Corinthian church, like our own board games, began to reflect the society in ways that did not mirror the teachings of Jesus Christ.  So, Paul writes the Corinthians this letter and in it, he tells them that by their baptism they were made into the very body of Christ.  As that body, whatever hierarchies, distinctions, and differences that set them at odds with each other in the world are ultimately made subservient to this sacred and primary relationship.  So, slaves and owners, people of privilege and those at economic disadvantage, those of high status and those of low status, those who are Jew and those who are Greek, are equally necessary to the body. 

             If you were a body part, which would you like to be?  Take a moment to consider.  Did any of you pick a “lesser part”?  Did you pick a body part that might cause someone (you) to snicker or to turn red?  I thought not.  There is an edge to this passage, and a bit of humor too; did you hear it?  Here is what Paul is getting at:  nobody in the body should be “lording it over” someone else.  And those who become envious that they are not made as “a hand” or “a foot,” a “brain” or a “heart,” should remember that they are just as essential to Christ’s body as those who seem to have all the advantages. 

Paul tells those Corinthians that those members of the body that we think less honorable, we must give the greater honor.  Those whom we perceive as being less respectable (or those we are tempted to call a crass-sounding name of a particular body part) should be given greater respect.  Can we hear the edginess in this?  Can we understand the challenge?  Those whom we are tempted to disregard, we must regard as completely and utterly indispensable. 

So--remember that Operation game?  It means that no member, no body part can be removed, without the body of Christ suffering, without the buzzer sounding, without the pain being felt throughout the church.  “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” 

This doesn’t simply mean that we, as a church, will miss you if you decide to spend your Sundays elsewhere.  It means that we, as a body, are only as strong as our relationship to Jesus Christ… Our identity as Christians is not solitary and individual, but communal and relational.  Or as one writer put it, “A body does not work when one part checks out for a few years; not only will its function be unfulfilled, but the rest of the body will be thrown out of balance.  Belonging [to the body] is not a one-sided affair.  We are given the gift of belonging at baptism, but we are also signing up for the responsibility of functioning as part of the body of Christ.”[1] Therefore, we have the responsibility to share life together.  We are indispensable to each other.

Last week, I mentioned a book in the sermon, called Mountains Beyond Mountains.  It is about Doctor Paul Farmer and his work in Haiti.  Dr. Farmer has spent much of his life fighting infectious disease, including “multi-drug resistant” strains of tuberculosis and difficult diseases like HIV and AIDS.[2]  Farmer noticed that good people around the world, in positions of power, like the World Bank or various medical boards, would do a kind of cost-effectiveness analysis that would frequently place poorer populations at a disadvantage.  Put simply, if you have 20,000 dollars, you might be tempted to use that 20,000 primarily in places and situations where it would do the most good.  Because “multi-drug resistant tuberculosis” was considered to be expensive and difficult to treat, you might conclude that it is better to treat regular strains of T.B., focusing your treatment there, rather than on the more difficult cases.  It would appear to be more cost-effective, particularly if resources were limited.  What Dr. Farmer noticed is that this kind of analysis by the medical community and others often left disadvantaged populations at greater risk.  Vulnerable peasant populations in Haiti and Peru, and infected prisoners in Siberia were often deemed not worthy or effective to treat.  But Farmer also noticed that by focusing on these populations, by treating these seemingly “lost-causes” as worthy of both resources and research, the incidence of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in the greater population would decrease, and the larger world body would benefit.  His viewpoint changed how tuberculosis—particularly “multi-drug resistant tuberculosis” was treated.  But more importantly, he refused to accept the status quo belief that some people and some populations were dispensable or beyond saving.  In the apostle Paul’s words, Dr. Farmer gave greater honor and care to those needier members, so that the whole body would benefit.  And the World Bank and World Health Organization took note.

            Brothers and sisters, I mentioned that this passage has an edgy, disruptive side.  Those whom we deem “neediest,” “least respectable,” and “least honorable” in the body of Christ are treated, not equally, not equitably, but with greater honor and respect.  Apply this to situations beyond this sanctuary and we begin to see how following the gospel can disrupt the status quo, and disturb us in the process.  What if the handicapped child or the economically disadvantaged are given greater resources in the classroom?  What would happen if the janitor or the C.N.A. were paid a salary commensurate or higher than the CEO or the doctor?

On a personal level, we can behave in a myriad of ways that reveal the distance between our various volunteer organizations and the church body, as it was meant to be.  We classify someone as “not deserving,” of our time or resources; we treat sales clerks or waitresses as if we were somehow “better” or more “worthy,” and we thinly veil our contempt when dealing with people who may be radically different from us, but who are, nonetheless, our brother or our sister in Christ.

            What makes the church different from any other voluntary organization?  We are members of Christ’s body in the world.  So, next time, you are tempted to silently say, “I have no need of you” to somebody or some group of people, remember Paul’s challenge to the Corinthians.  Remember Dr. Paul Farmer.  Remember that God believes that those folks with whom you struggle are indispensable to the Body…His Body.  And let that understanding change how you behave and how you relate.