Sermon for January 23, 2022 Epiphany 3 C House of Prayer Lutheran Church

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 414-21 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

A year ago after Christmas, we couldn’t go anywhere or visit anyone because of the pandemic, so my wife Beth Ann and I decided to remodel the small bathroom just off the kitchen in our house, because all the fixtures in this little bathroom were outdated and worn-out. We thought about how long a project like this would take, with the diverse skills, tools, and materials it would need. I figured—well, for skilled craftsmen who know what they’re doing, probably one day. So for us, if everything goes right and we’re lucky, maybe two days. But everything definitely won’t go right, and I’m sure we’ll be unlucky, so four days. How long did it take? Eight days! This proves my personal rule of thumb for Do-It-Yourself projects: However long I think it will take—double it!

But after 8 days we successfully completed our project, and we gained not only a more functional, better looking little bathroom, but also a sense of satisfaction from working together. Most of you can probably point to a project you have completed, which gave you a sense of satisfaction. Maybe a DIY project. Maybe you designed a machine, or a house, or a new process to do things at work. Maybe you planned a great vacation, and learned how to play a piece of music. The list could go on and on.

Chances are, by the time you finished your project—even if you were working on it alone—that you actually had to rely on many people, even people who were “invisible” to you. This was true for my bathroom remodeling project. It was actually Beth Ann who did all the planning, and then we worked on it together. And when I drove to the hardware store—oh, about a dozen times—for supplies, I relied on the expertise of the people who worked there. When we had trouble attaching the pipe fittings so they wouldn’t leak, we called a friend who was good at plumbing to help us. These were just the people I saw with my own eyes. What about the delivery drivers who dropped off boxes of furniture and fixtures by the front door? We never saw them. What about the truck drivers who brought supplies to the hardware store, or the stockroom workers who unloaded and organized all the supplies before it went on the shelves? They were “invisible” to us as well—yet no less essential to our project. We literally could not have done it without them. They were vital.

Think of this remodeling project as an analogy for how St. Paul uses the metaphor of the human body to describe life in Christ. The one body is made of many members. “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?” If every part of the body were the same, then it wouldn’t be a body. All parts are valuable because each part does not do the same thing. The parts are each valuable because—not in spite of—but because each part is different and contributes to the greater whole (even if one part is invisible to another part).

This teaching of St. Paul contributed to the theology behind the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of a society where each person is valued for simply being who they are, and what they contribute to the greater whole: A dream of each person being valued because of their race or color or gender or background—not in spite of those things, but because of them. Because each person—in all the ways we are particular and have differences from others—each person is valuable and has something to contribute. Furthermore, each person is eternally valued by Christ, who gave his life on the cross and rose again for them and for you.

This is St. Paul’s teaching of where true unity comes from. Unity comes not by everyone being the same but by everyone—with their different characteristics, giftedness, and diversity—being valued, and having something to contribute, some wisdom to share, something to teach others and something to learn from others as part of the one Body.

As St. Paul developed this metaphor, he was also critiquing the Roman hierarchical system that he lived under, where the Emperor was considered god and lord at the top, and then everyone else was given a value based on their relationship to the Emperor, like a pyramid. The closer to the top of the pyramid, the more value. But with his metaphor of the human body, St. Paul teaches how God in Christ tears down the hierarchical way and in its place God is building a new way for people to relate to one another. So that even people who might be “invisible” to the Emperor; or “invisible” to people with wealth, power, or prestige; or for that matter “invisible” to St. Paul himself, or even to you or me—these so-called “invisible” people are as indispensable, and worthy of honor and respect, as those who are most visible and prominent in society. And the purpose of this radical equality through Christ is “so all may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it. If one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” What one person does has an effect on everyone else. What one person doesn’t do has an effect on everyone else.

This is essentially what Jesus taught on the very first day of his ministry, which we heard about in today’s gospel. Jesus goes to the synagogue in Nazareth, just has he’d always done since he was a boy. Now he’s old enough, so it’s his turn to teach. So he stands in front of the congregation to read from the Bible, and chooses these verses from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus is reminding us of how God has always intended us to relate to one another. The poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed—the kind of people who are often invisible or forgotten to much of society—are as valuable a part of the one Body as anyone else. Jesus came to bring them good news of God’s grace and favor. Will we follow him in doing the same?

This new way to live as human beings was a challenge in Isaiah’s day, in Jesus’ day, in St. Paul’s day, and it’s still a challenge in our own day. We’ve come a long way from the days when everyone was assigned value by their relation to the Emperor. But as a society we still struggle to value every child of God equally. We try to live by faith, knowing that Christ has accomplished our salvation; yet we still live with the tension of falling into the same familiar patterns of sin that we can’t break free from on our own. We live with the tension of a world marred by “us versus them” attitudes, by racial prejudice and segregation, by stirring up conflict and division.

We seek to join God’s vision of a human family of equals in our diversity. How do we get there, when the possibility of personal and social transformation seems like such a distant dream? Well, as Jesus said to the folks at Nazareth after he read from the prophet Isaiah, “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” It’s been fulfilled in Christ. So we begin with Christ; not with what you’ve done, or failed to do; but with Christ. Start by taking the time to simply BE in his presence. To enjoy the gift of his salvation. To find delight in the gifts and blessings he’s given. To recognize that YOU are a valuable and vital part of the one Body--you, precisely because of the diversity and contributions you bring. You are valuable, and we need one another. You are a friend and partner of Christ; and because you are, so is everybody else. Amen.