The importance of the body
Talking with a friend recently, she lifted her hand to emphasize a point. As she did so, the design and function of the human elbow took front stage in my head. I tucked that away as she continued to share, bringing it out later to examine.
The elbow. What interesting technology! It functions as a simple hinge, with a very specific range of motion. We don’t usually think about elbows until we hit our funny bone, or injure them. But limited elbow mobility or strength greatly impacts daily life.
The elbow's simplicity means it can be operated by the biggest muscles in the arm, and is key in lifting heavy things. Can you imagine a weightlifter putting a barbell above their head if the elbows didn’t stop and hold strong once their arm straightened? How would we hold a baby or hug a friend without them?
The Creator constructed us with astonishing variety and complexity, and the Apostle Paul chose his analogy well when he instructed the Corinthian church that they were “the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV). And yet our history as the Body of Christ is regrettably filled with what Paul described to that same group as the eye saying to the hand, “I have no need of you.”
The insanity of those words stands out starkly. Without the hand, we could perceive many things, but our power to interact with our environment would be devastated. Hands are so foundational that we phrase the intellectual in terms of how our hands interact with our environment: things are within our grasp, we can get a feel for something, and we can touch on a topic or fully unpack it.
Christianity is composed of people dedicated to Christ who vary widely in specifics of practice and beliefs. We have different strengths and capabilities, and different callings and giftings to pursue them. Some of us are elbows, and some are wrists. And yet, there have been times when, I am not proud to say, I judged another’s Christian faith because of those differences. The wrist may pride itself on the complexity of its structure and variety of movements, and the elbow on its strength and position in the arm, but what’s vital is the way an elbow and wrist work together to make actions possible that are impossible if one of them was otherwise arranged.
In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, Paul reminds the church of the simplicity of his message: Christ, crucified.
There are myriad facets of Christianity that can and should engage us daily, and God leads us and teaches us in them all — but in Paul’s work leading wildly diverse, converted Gentiles, he kept the main thing, the main thing.
The human body can do astonishing things, from running sub-four-minute miles to 3-D printing precisely tailored cranial plates for the severely injured; from mundane tasks like shopping for groceries (incredibly complex physically and neurologically), to bearing, birthing, and nurturing a new human being to independence. Every part of the Body of Christ has its role and proper place, and it’s when every part fulfills its God-designed purpose that we see the glory of the Father’s wisdom revealed through us.
Annalea Eastley is the children's pastor at Harvest Valley Worship Center. You can find service times and sermons at hvwc.com.