23. Mystical Body Parts

Human Ears

Human Ankle X Ray Many individuals make up the mystical body of Christ. In the human frame, various body parts perform different functions to make the whole operate efficiently. A foot as the support to a leg differs from an eye or an ear. A hand may manipulate a small delicate object like a pair of tweezers, but it cannot hold up the whole body for an extended period like the feet. An athlete works the pommel horse, swinging her body in ever-widening sweeps, all supported on her hands. How glad those wrists and fingers are to exit the performance without all that weight and stress! ✞

Body Parts' Roles

The role of some mystical body parts is not apparent at first. Though the appearance of our ears is not particularly impressive, their job is vital to your body. They could feel depressed because they are not as large as our feet or cannot move like our arms or fingers. They may not be able to wiggle, but their auditory messages and sense of balance inform our brains about what's happening around us. If our ears or balance fails, we could stagger and even fall. Ears are, therefore, essential body parts. What organ or limb do you represent in your Christian household? ✞

Body Part Functions

Fingers Body parts in the Mystical Body of Christ are like human body parts, which have an essential function in the human body. The various parts of the Mystical Body operate as one. Like an ear in the Body of Christ, Jane is a very thoughtful person who thinks things out carefully and always makes a positive contribution. Her skillful listening and attentive hearing help settle disputes between others. Bill, like the hand, is quite different as he is a doer rather than a talker. He responds generously and quickly to others' needs by mending a washer or carrying a food bag to a needy family. ✞

More Effective Bodies

God uses the differences between Jane and Bill to do his work more effectively. Adrian Plass (1948-present), the British Christian author and speaker who wrote in "The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass," "My function as a writer and a speaker is as a rubbish clearer. I try to sweep away a little bit of the rubbish that's accumulated so that people might look a little further down the road and see what new thing God might have waiting for them." Adrian humorously considered different body parts in his "Sacred Diary," "Anne started by saying that she thought she was probably a bit of dried skin on the elbow, but Edwin, bless him, said that he thought she was much nearer the heart than that." "Thynn said he was a left shoulder blade for some obscure reason, and Norma Twill said she thought she might be a dimple. Couldn't think what I was and dismissed Thynn's assessment of me as a small, unimportant vein in the right foot." ✞

Prosthetics

Christ's Mystical Body contains some artificial limbs! A false body part is also called a "prosthetic" or "prosthesis" by the medical community. It would certainly be essential and invaluable to someone who has lost a limb in an accident. There should, however be no artificial body parts in the Body of Christ because they have no life within them. Some Christians, who decide for Christ but do not become active disciples, are like a glass eye or a prosthetic limb in the Body of Christ. They look as though they are alive, but no life flows through them. ✞

Physical Involvement

Belonging to the Household Body of Christ involves a physical involvement with Christ, more than membership of a church club. Two Christians were talking together, and one said, "Isn't it wonderful to be safe in the arms of Jesus?" "Yes," replied the other, "but I am safer than that. I am as safe as Jesus' arm, for I am a member of his body, of his flesh, and his bones." We are wrong to try to convince ourselves that one can be a Christian without being a disciple. Active discipleship is logically and biblically the only sure sign of membership in the Body of Christ. ✞

Team Members

Football Team in Blue Each member of the Body of Christ relies on and supports the others. Some church members hardly ever darken the church's door but are deeply offended when they suggest they ought to worship with others weekly. Some Christians say, "I believe in Jesus," but are not prepared to serve Him in the Body of Christ fellowship. Belief without belonging is like being, ✞

A soccer player without a team.
A student who will not go to school.
A child without a family.
A bee without a hive.

Christian Tree Branches

Boy's Head John 15 is a beautiful allegory describing Christ and his disciples' relationships like a vine and branches. A parable is a picture that reveals a hidden meaning. Christians are like tree branches springing out from Christ, the trunk. When they function correctly, they produce fruit, but otherwise, they die, and the gardener prunes them off. This passage from John 15 is interestingly towards the end of Jesus' ministry as his crucifixion approaches. Usually, the branches produce flowers and then fruit, but when this fails, they are redundant, and the gardener trims them. This separation from the supportive tree trunk, Jesus himself, like the pruning of branches, is always a dangerous possibility for the Christian. The dead limb may become a threat to the others. It was once normal but is now a cancerous part and threatens the tree itself. The parable of the vine and the branches suggest that contact with Christ can be completely severed. ✞

Keeping Connected

John 15.1-2 says in the words of Jesus, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while he prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that it will be even more fruitful. In the text, we note that the Greek for "he prunes" also means "he cleans." Jesus says in John 15.6, "If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that the gardener throws away." Christ himself and not the other branches separate the dead part from the tree to allow the rest to grow unimpeded. Saint Paul warns the Colossian church members of this possibility in Colossians 2.19, writing, "He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow." ✞

Christian Sheep Flock

Wolf in a Sheep's Clothing The church is also like a herd of Christian sheep. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing, tares in the wheat, or even goats that shouldn't be in the flock. In any flock of sheep, there are wolves in sheep's clothing, according to Jesus' teaching. Thankfully, God generally drives out these imposters from the legitimate Body of Christ. Real sheep are easily lost and led astray and therefore need a shepherd to guide them. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, declares in John 10.16, "They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." ✞

Wheat and Tares

Besides the imagery of the sheep flock, Jesus similarly describes a wheat field and tares. The word "weeds" is translated from the Greek "zizania," growing in the same area. This word means "darnel," a "ryegrass which looks much like wheat in its initial growth." Roman law prohibited the sowing of tares amongst wheat as a criminal act. In Matthew 13.24-30, we read, "Jesus told them another parable, 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.' The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 'An enemy did this,' he replied. The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters. First, collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'" ✞

Good Seed

Similarly, the Body of Christ is like the good seed in a field, but while everyone is asleep, an enemy comes and plants weeds, which look the same as the genuine ones but grow differently. The young inexperienced farmer tends to pull out the rogue plants as soon as they appear, but he would, unfortunately, uproot the good stems in the process. A wiser head permits both to grow until the harvester can separate them. So it is with Christians in the Kingdom of God! ✞

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