Kingdom, Family, Body

1 Corinthians 12

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body — whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

On Sunday we saw the image of the family.  We looked at Jesus in the gospel and saw his family on the outside and others inside being called family.  The image of family to describe the church, the followers of Jesus.  The gospels also speak of the Kingdom of God/Heaven as an image of the church.  And Paul uses the image of the body.

We could look at the differences and similarities of these by seeing that Kingdom is a collection of people that is large.  Family is generally a collection of people that is much smaller.  And then the body is a collection of one person.  Not to say that these are descriptions of different things.  It is that there is not one image that says it all.

Seeing the images together gives us a better understanding of what it means that we are the church together.  The church is united, one in following Jesus.  It has differences in abilities and purposes as a body, and as different members of families and kingdoms.  It works for one purpose, as do bodies, families and kingdoms.  All about following Jesus together.

As we go through these last few weeks before Easter let’s see our place in following Jesus together.  What does it mean that we are each part of the kingdom/family/body?  How do we each work in conjunction with others in our congregations, neighbourhoods, workplaces?  What is the role of the individual follower of Jesus?

What does it mean that our congregations are part of the kingdom/family/body?  How does our congregation work with other following Jesus, regardless of labels on our signs, doors, letterheads, bulletins and buildings?  How are we seeing our place alongside others following Jesus as part of one kingdom/family/body?

Paul uses the differences of Jew and Gentile, slave and free.  We can divide things by ethnicity, culture, economics, gender and so many other things.  They don’t matter.  Paul says we work together as followers of Jesus.  We have the same purpose.  There is one head of the church, whether we use image of kingdom, family or body.  We can see each other and let go of what is different and focus on how we are the same, following Jesus.