On Call

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Phrases that spoke to me today:
• the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you
• the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable
• that there may be no division in the body
• I will show you a still more excellent way

Applying the Word to My Life:
Paul describes the body as one thing made of many members - eye, hand, foot, ear - each built differently, each doing something the others can't. He doesn't stop at admiring the differences. He goes further: the parts that seem weaker are the ones the body can't do without, and the parts we're tempted to think less of are exactly the ones we should invest with the most honor, not the least. He isn't describing bodies in the abstract - he tells the Corinthians directly, you are the body of Christ, and each of you a member of it.

I see what he means most clearly with the friends I've had the longest. A storm knocks a tree onto somebody's barn roof, or a truck gives out forty miles from home, and one phone call is all it takes. Whoever's free and able just shows up. Who that ends up being changes every time, depending on what's actually needed and who happens to be around - not on whose turn it is or who owes who.

It can look, from a distance, like some kind of communal economy - everyone giving what they can, everyone getting what they need. But nobody's ordering anybody to show up. That's the entire difference. Two things can look almost identical on the outside and be nothing alike underneath, once you ask why anyone's actually doing it.

Paul isn't asking the Corinthians to rank whose gift matters more. He's telling them the parts that feel least impressive are the ones the body needs most, precisely so nobody has to earn a place in it. You don't qualify for the body by being useful enough - you already belong, and the body is built to need exactly what you are.

That's what makes the difference between my friends showing up for each other and a system that requires it. Nobody's entitled to the help. Nobody's obligated to give it. It gets given anyway, every time, because that's what love does when it isn't being managed by anyone.

Paul isn't finished making his case, either. There's one word underneath everything he's just said about the body. It isn't fairness or equal shares. It's love, freely given - the only thing that actually holds a body like that together. We call that body our Church.

My Response for Today:
Today I'll answer the call before I calculate whether it's my turn.