J ILL AND HER HUSBAND are enjoying an evening of good food with their dear friends, Sandie and Brad. Jill, half in jest, says, “When I look at what other people accomplish, I can’t help thinking about all those other things I should be doing: saving starving children, reading the best books, having informed opinions.”
Sandie paused a moment to ponder Jill’s concerns, and said, “All those things are important, but we’re all part of the body of Christ, and we have a role, however small. So what if you’re the nose hair? You have a purpose. You may not have any idea what good you’re doing, but that’s still your job: to be a nose hair in the body of Christ.”
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I DON’T GENERALLY pay attention to nose hair. Only when Lisa tells me they are getting too long and they need to be trimmed. So, I had to look up to see what value there is in a nose hair.
Nose hairs act as a filter that prevents dust, pollen, and allergens from entering your lungs. When particles enter your nose, they get stuck on a thin layer of mucus that coats your hairs. Eventually, the particles either get sneezed out or swallowed.
I also learned this: Not only are there nose hairs you can see, but there are also microscopic nose hairs called cilia. These cilia help push mucus and other debris away from your lungs. These seemingly insignificant hairs have a vital role in our overall health.
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OUR READING from 1 Corinthians 12 picks up where we left off last week. God gives a variety of gifts for us to use for the common good. We are given different jobs to do. Some are highly visible. Others are not visible. Paul continues with a detailed metaphor of a human body to explain the relationship among members of the Body of Christ.
Despite the metaphorical language that he uses, Paul’s meaning is clear: All members of the Corinthian congregation are equally necessary for the full flourishing of the body.
This means that highlighting certain members (to the detriment of others) is problematic for the whole body.
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EACH ONE OF US has a purpose and a place in the church, the body of Christ, just as each body part has a purpose. Each one of us has a purpose.
If we take Paul’s image of the body seriously, perhaps we aren’t the best judge of our own significance; we may not even understand what it is we do, but it’s still our job: to be a nose hair or appendix in the body of Christ.”
We look around and see talents, gifts, (body parts to continue Paul’s analogy) that we think are more appealing, more desirable, more evidence of God’s preference of others above us. Perhaps you’re past that.
Perhaps you are content to be a nose hair. If so, please pray for those of us who haven’t yet arrived.
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THE BODY IS COMPOSED of many parts, and each part has an important function. All of this is by God’s design and the gift of the Spirit.
The first word of verse 27 is a big emphatic YOU! You [plural] are the body of Christ.” “You all. All y’all are the body of Christ, and each one of you is an important member of that body.”
In light of the verses we read last week, this calls us not to some assertion of privileged status, but rather to recognize our responsibility for mutual care of the members of this body; through the mutual care for one another in both the sufferings and the successes of life.
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PAUL HAS an imaginative conversation of talking body parts. What if the body part says, “You have no need for me?” or “I have no need for you”? The dialog underscores the absurdity of a body in which each of the parts were to go it alone, ignoring the importance of the body’s functioning as a unit or whole.
Paul understands the human body as a union of various parts. The foot is different from the hand, but that does not make the foot any less a part of the body. All parts work differently, but they are all needed in the body. As the Spirit chooses which gift to allot (12:11), God “arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.” (12:18)
This means all parts of the body are necessary and important. All the parts of the body of Christ, the church, are important and necessary.
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NO BODY PART can say, “I don’t need you.” No body part can say, “I’m not needed.”
Even if you are the cilia on the body of Christ, those microscopic hairs in the nose, you are essential. Without them, the sinuses clog which leads to infections in the head. Without cilia, bacteria stay in the airways, causing damage to the lungs.
Since the lungs oxygenate the blood, you can say that cilia are responsible for oxygen getting throughout your body.
So, even if, especially if, you see yourself and your gifts as small and unnoticed — as microscopic nose cilia — you are an integral, valuable, critical, needed, part of the body of Christ.
“All y’all are the body of Christ, and each one of you is an important member of that body.”
