The Rev. Kristin Krantz, St. James’, Mt. Airy
Epiphany 3C, January 23, 2022
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a, Psalm 19, Luke 4:14-21
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them;
take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.
Our theme for this season following the Epiphany and the Baptism of Christ, and leading up to Ash Wednesday, is living our baptism.
This week we’re once again going to focus on our reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. We pick up where we left off last week, where Paul had both enumerated various spiritual gifts and drove home the point that everyone is gifted by the Spirit and that all gifts are given to support the common good.
He builds on the theme of unity through the diversity by building the metaphor of one body with many members, or parts.
The comparison of a human community to the physical body was not original to Paul. The trope already enjoyed a long history in classical literature by the time he used it in his letter. However, Paul gave it a revolutionary new twist.
Previously, the comparison had reinforced hierarchy, suggesting that lowly workers and slaves should obey their leaders. Paul inverted the metaphor, and rather than arguing for hierarchy and subordination, he used the figure of the body to assert diversity and interdependence.[1]
Just like last week when Paul emphasized that no spiritual gifts were better than another, likely in response to some members of the community claiming status and power through the ability to speak in tongues, this week he drives home the point that body can’t function unless all the different parts work together and are valued for what they do.
Nobody is expendable; everyone is indispensable. Put another way, we belong to each other through Christ.
Paul reaches the culmination of his declaration in verses 26 and 27 when he says, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
And how do we become the body of Christ, and individually members of it? Through baptism.
We come to the water of baptism as individuals, independent and self-contained. We come out of the water changed.[2] Our identity is no longer solitary, for we have been incorporated into that family of families we call the church.
And baptism, when we receive the Holy Spirit and are marked as Christ’s own forever, is not a one-time event. Baptism is truly a way of life.
A way of life in which we have been called, through our readings the last few weeks, into a life of prayer; into using our gifts for the common good; and today, into mutual responsibility and accountability for and with one another.
If you had a chance to peruse The Shell newsletter this past week, you’ll know that in a few weeks we will welcome Bishop Ihloff St. James’ for our diocesan visitation. During that visit six members of our community will be Confirmed.
If you’re unfamiliar with Confirmation in the Episcopal Church, it the sacramental rite in which candidates express a mature commitment to Christ and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop. More simply put, it is a chance for those who were baptized as infants or young children to choose to confirm the promises made for them in baptism; or for those who were baptized as adults to continue deepening their baptismal promises and confirm their commitment to a faith journey.
These six members have spent the last several months exploring their faith and preparing for this sacramental rite. It is a good and joyful thing, and I ask that you keep Ellie, Elliot, Charlotte, Zachary, Connor, and Sean in prayer.
But you don’t have to be in a formal process to examine and deepen how you are living your baptism. That’s the ongoing invitation for all of us all the time.
Because just as Jesus proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” in our gospel reading today, each of us, by virtue of our baptism, can say the same.
And just as Paul’s letter testifies that the essence of community is belonging to each other and valuing one another, our gospel calls us to live into that responsibility in specific ways – by bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom to those who are oppressed.
When we do this, when we are Christ’s hands, and feet, and heart, in this world, we are fulfilling the vocation we’ve been called into as members of the body of Christ.
Let us rededicate ourselves to this work, for it is a sign to the world that we are living our baptism and truly practicing our faith. Amen.
[1] Lee C. Barrett, “Theological Perspective,” Feasting on the Word Year C, Volume 1.
[2] Raewynne J. Whiteley, “Homiletical Perspective,” Feasting on the Word Year C, Volume 1.