Scripture: 1st Corinthians 12:26-27
If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Thought for the Day: We are the body of Christ, not for the purpose of hunkering down and protecting ourselves. We are the body of Christ because we are the body of Christ. To be a follower of Jesus Christ means you are to follow Jesus Christ, and we must look to Jesus to define what that actually means for us. Now let’s not pretend that every little decision is going to have a clear and absolute from the mouth of Jesus answer. There are many situations that are a bit more complex than what we might find in the Gospels, and to suggest there is an unambiguous decree for everything is a stretch. With this said, there is still a lot – and when I say, “a lot,” I mean a lot – of straightforward teachings of Jesus. And our starting place in understanding what Jesus might do is summarized, in my opinion, in two moments of his ministry – one a parable and the other an event. The parable of the Good Samaritan tells us how Jesus would treat other human beings, even those decreed as outsiders. And if that is how Jesus would treat them then that is how the body of Christ should treat them. And second, the cross stands as the breathtaking and heartbreaking demonstration of love. The event of the cross answers the question of just how far Jesus was willing to go, and if sacrificing of self is how far Jesus would go, then we might have found the answer to how far the body of Christ is to go. In today’s world, there are a lot of preachers who skip or ignore Jesus in favor of an obscure verse from the Old Testament. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Old Testament. But if Jesus has a pretty straight forward message on a topic, like who is my neighbor and how am I to treat this person, we should not go digging in Leviticus to find an answer that might feel better. Of course, Leviticus 19:18 says, “…to love your neighbor as yourself.”
Prayer: Give me Jesus, Lord. Give me everything I can understand about his life and teachings. Allow it to stretch me and challenge me on what it means to love as he loved. I make this request recognizing the audacity of the request. Amen.
TOMORROW
