NOT SINGLE, BUT MANY

 

February 25, 2025

1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27

Brothers and sisters:

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Now the body is not a single part, but many.
You are Christ's body, and individually parts of it.

Today’s Reading, from the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, tells us that we are each unique in the gifts and talents God has given to us, and therefore, we all have different tasks to fulfill as members of the Body of Christ.

We read that though we have different roles, every single individual is equally important and needed in the Body of Christ, “God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is there are many parts, yet one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:18)

What does this teach us as Christians? It shows us that we all have equal dignity and worth in God’s sight, and that if God sees us as equally precious, we should view each other in this same light. It teaches us to humbly recognize our own gifts as well as the giftedness of every member of our Church community.

One thing that always strikes me is that while God designed us to be dependent on Him, it seems He has also designed us to need each other! This is part of the beauty and richness of the Christian way of life. No one person can “do it all” in life, not in our family’s and certainly not in the community of faith. The good news for us is God does not ask us to do it all. God simply asks us to share the gifts and talents we do have in the present moment.

We, in sharing and blending our gifts together in community are following in the footsteps of Jesus. We are stepping into partnership with Jesus and each other to continue the mission He began with the words “the kingdom of God has come near you”. (Luke 10:9) In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus outlines in the synagogue what the mission is: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free….” (Luke 4:14-21) What an honourable purpose! Think of that, Jesus invites us modern-day disciples, to this same task.

What might it look like if we were to take this mission to heart? Perhaps we would start by an examination of how we can use our gifts and talents for this task to which we have been called, asking ourselves how we might “bring glad tidings to the poor,” “liberty to captives,” “sight to the blind” and “freedom to the oppressed” right now where God has placed us.

Does this call and challenge feel uncomfortable? Well maybe a little at first. But please remember the good news we mentioned already, you and I don’t have to do it all. We are invited to do our part by using our gifts and talents. And then we let our sisters and brothers in the Body of Christ do their part using their God given gifts and abilities, and we all, this beautiful Body of Christ, live out this Jesus way of life, knowing that the Spirit of the Lord is upon us all.

So, lets be generous with our gifts, with our life, and just watch what God will do!