When one part of the body hurts…

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the scripture that talks about when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers (read it below).  I’ve tried to understand that, but too often is seems that we are left to hurt alone, and the rest of the body doesn’t often notice.

Because of the scripture, it must be true that we do all hurt together, but it seems that ofen we don’t notice it.  It is like being paralyzed.  When a paralyzed person injures a part of their body that is affected, they don’t feel it.  They might not even notice it.  When we aren’t paralyzed and we merely stub a toe, we feel it!

I had a friend with bad knees who had undergone many surgeries.  The nerves around his knees no longer felt pain and he would often rest a hot cup of coffee on his leg and not realize it had burned him.  He had several circular scars from this happening.  His body had become injured, and he never realized it until he saw the wounds.  However, looking at the wounds didn’t cause him pain either, except to know that he had to put some ointment on them, and perhaps a bandaid to cover them.  They were a rather distasteful to him, as were the scars from his surgery, so he would generally wear long pants to keep them hidden.

I’m concerned that we don’t feel it when a part of the body of Christ hurts.  What is our reaction?  Do we gaze upon the wounds without emotion?  Perhaps we try and put a bandaid on it, cover it so we don’t need to look at it, and pretend it isn’t there.

Just something I’m mulling over.  Feel free to jump in with discussion.

1 Corinthians 12: 14-26

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. f the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.