Week 46—Wednesday Colossians 1:24-29
Colossians 1:24-29
Week 46—WEDNESDAY
“CHRIST’S AFFLICTION FOR THE SAKE
OF HIS BODY, THE CHURCH”
We are asking, Is the church the body of Christ? A woman requested in her will that she be buried not alongside her husband but in a different section, for she did not want to embarrass her husband by being resurrected and leaving him behind, for he was a Methodist and she a member of another group. Is this a part of “the body of Christ”? A church in Mississippi has this big billboard beside it, “This church is the only Church authorized by God to represent Jesus Christ in the world.” Is that a part of “the body of Christ”? A body of bishops sit solemnly and decide with whom they will have Communion, and the basis is not on the basis of a loyalty to Christ but whether the people concerned have had hands laid on them in a certain supposed “succession.” Is this a part of “the body of Christ”? Then “the body of Christ,” with all its spots of wholeness, is disease-ridden—ridden with snobberies and pride and self-seeking.
I can see that there is an inner body of dedicated believers, made up of clergy and laity, who by their very inherent spirit and service do constitute “the body of Christ.” That “body of Christ,” invisible and potent, and scattered through all denominations, perhaps equally scattered, I can accept with gratitude and joy. But that is not what the modern emphasis, expressed in ecumenicity, is talking about when they are talking about “the body of Christ.” They are talking about the organized church as such. If that is what they mean, then “the body of Christ” is a fiction at its best, or a “body” spotted with festering sores at its worst.
If we do not accept “the invisible church” as the real body of Christ, then we must accept Paul’s description: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col. 1:24). Here Christ is afflicted for the sake of his body, the church. He is being crucified in his body. The church is a continuous crucifixion to Jesus.
O Jesus Lord, do you wear a crucified body—crucified by the very church which constitutes that body? Are you still hanging on the cross and will you continue to hang on your cross until we change? Forgive us, save us. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: “The sufferings of Christ for his body”—I can accept that, but save me, Lord, from causing that suffering.