Paul has just completed his analogy of the body of Christ to the human body. The human body needs eyes, ears, hands, feet. It needs parts that are visible, and parts that are invisible. Parts that are deemed beautiful, and parts that are not. All are needed. All are precisely what they are supposed to be, doing what they’re supposed to be doing. God values the bowel, as much as the face.
Paul concludes this analogy with a reminder that all are important, all should care for each other, because if one member suffers, all suffer. Sticking with the body analogy, we all know this to be true. When you have a tooth ache, nothing seems right. Or a headache. Or a broken toe.
Thinking about the body of Christ, of all of us humans, I wish this were more true. If one member suffers, I wish I had a more immediate pain or ache. If there are people suffering, and I don’t watch the news, or don’t read those stories, I can blithely continue on my day, without suffering at all.
But I believe Paul’s sentence to be true. From God’s viewpoint, if one of us is suffering, the whole human race suffers. We are not caring for each other, alleviating each other’s burdens.
So what do we do, when there is so much pain and suffering out there, and for the time being, we’re all stuck in our homes, riding out this pandemic? What do we do with all of those people we know don’t have homes, weathering this virus without beds, or soap, or the ability to maintain the recommended physical distances? What do we do, knowing of the people already fighting the virus, and their families? What about all of the pre-existing wrongs in the world? Illness, poverty, violence, corruption?
The pandemic has heightened my sense of impotence in dealing with this suffering; I cannot go out to do something, whatever that might be. But the truth is, even without house arrest, I feel like I couldn’t fix all the world’s suffering. True, I could do my little piece. And even stuck in my house, I could do my little piece. I could donate money to agencies serving the unhoused, I could make protective face masks.
But I alone cannot fix the brokenness. Maybe all of us together cannot either, even in the best of circumstances.
This morning, I’m thinking about how we should just be present and aware of the broken parts of the world. We should sit in solidarity with others who are hurting in their pain. We can do this, because God does this with us. There are times I’m in pain, and while praying doesn’t immediately lift my burdens, I know that God is present with me, sharing the burden. Maybe that’s what we are asked to do, is to just sit with others in their pain. Fix what we can, yes. But when we can do no more, be present with others in their brokenness Today, I will try to see and sit with someone else’s pain. When one member suffers, all suffer. Or at least we should.
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