The Body

Ralph Stanley graces us with some chilling, live bluegrass gospel, exhorting us not to neglect the body of Christ. 

I've talked about the Samaritans before, that much-reviled religious faction of Jesus' time. If you missed "Even You," click on the link and read it so you can understand -- not just with your mind, but with your heart -- the massive personal, cultural, and spiritual shift I'm writing about today. In a way, this post is building on yesterday's. If you want to understand Jesus and what He's asking you to become, that death grip you have on your bull detector will fail you every time.

"Even You" centers on the story of the woman at the well, and John starts it off in chapter 4:1-4 with drama built on the primal fear of his readers. "Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria."

Dun, dun dunnnnn!

... and a collective gasp was heard among the audience. I mean, everybody knows the Samaritans are evil, disgusting people. They don't follow God's laws, and then there's that thing they do when, well, you know ....

Oh, please! Nobody thinks like that anymore. We're past hating someone for some accident of birth or biology, or even some personal choice.

Really?

Then how come people still use the term "white trash"? Just because some of us are proud members of that club doesn't mean that someone else isn't using the term out of hatred -- even someone who's a less-proud member of the same club.

How about overweight people? Christians? Conservatives? Liberals? Gun nuts? Intellectuals (whatever that means)? Some of those hatreds are encouraged among the red and the blue.

Some of you leave that brand of obvious polarization to the talk shows. You go in for a subtler brand of hatred, branding others "unrefined" or "downscale". With touches of Choctaw and Indonesian blood, and nothing but prominent cheekbones to show for it, I've been tagged for an appearance that's less than "refined". The joke is that some people with larger percentages of those ancestries in their DNA have criticized me for daring to claim them at all, because I'm not ethnic enough.

As for that "downscale" label, how about hardcore, traditional, first-gen bluegrass vs. the smooth, modern, marketable variety? How about the way that each is trying to vote the other out of existence?

Hey! Stop that! Right now! This isn't about hating people on either side of the fence. It's about this, Jesus says:

"And behold, a lawyer stood up to put [Jesus] to the test, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the Law? How do you read it?' And he answered, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.' And he said to him, 'You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.'

"But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' Jesus replied, 'A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?' He said, 'The one who showed him mercy.' And Jesus said to him, 'You go, and do likewise.'" (Luke 10:25-37)

No, this is not about permission to hate priests and Levites, either.

It's about this, Paul says:

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 

"For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 

"The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." (I Corinthians 12:12-27)

Yup, even the Samaritans, modern-day and otherwise.

Here's the deal: As a member of the body of Christ, you will meet, fellowship with, and work alongside all kinds of people who are Not Like You. It is not a sin to be Not Like You. If you treat it as such, you yourself are in sin, because you are hating a sibling in Christ who, like you, has received the Holy Spirit. If someone is in sin -- even if they are Not Like You -- you do not hate them for it. Instead, you do people's court God's way. You do not set your bull detector on stun, trumping up reasons to sound the alarm about your siblings in Christ when, in reality, you hate them because they're Not Like You.

Right about now, the words of your favorite celebrities, media personalities, and self-help gurus -- your idols, in other words -- may be echoing in your head. You've convinced yourself that these people are loyal to you. In fact, they're loyal to your "charitable" contributions and the money you spend on their products and those of their advertisers. You call them by their first names, convinced that they're just like you. In fact, they're way out of your league, and they'll tell you so if you dare to approach them in an unguarded moment.

Jesus is loyal to you no matter how much money you have to spend. You can call Him by His name and call on Him 24/7. But you have to live by His rules -- love God (smash your idols) and love others (smash your bull detector) -- to be part of the Body.

Here's Ralph Stanley with "Turn Back, Turn Back" (starting at about 2:05).