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The Body of Christ
"You are the body of Christ" We have heard those words many times, but what do they mean exactly? A story I heard at a seminar helped to put it a little more into focus for me:
A group of men attended a computer conference in a nearby town. As the seminar ended, they quickly shut down their laptops and raced to the train station; they had barely enough time to catch the next train home. In their mad dash through the station, one of their briefcases caught the corner of a table where a little boy was selling apples to help support his family. Down came the table scattering apples and coins all over the floor. The guys looked back but couldn't stop-their train was about to leave. They got in and sat down for the ride home. But one of them stood up again saying, "I can't do this. I just can't. Please call my wife. Tell her I'm going to be late." He then got off the train and went back to where the little boy was. He found him on his knees, groping for the apples and trying to gather the coins. He suddenly realized what in their hurry they had failed to notice-the boy was blind. He quietly knelt beside him and began to gather the apples. "I'm so sorry we did this to you/, he said. "Here, maybe this will help a little." And with that he put a few bills in the boy's hand. Surprised, the boy turned to him, and almost in a whisper he asked, "Are you Jesus?"
The world cannot see Jesus, but it can see us; it can hear us. And when we show kindness to someone, we are modeling Jesus to that person; because He who is love is patient and is kind. This is how Jesus loves the world todaythrough us His body!
The good news is that God is not expecting us to do this on our own. As St Augustine beautifully put it:
"Love is the invisible presence of God with us, teaching us within how to do right to each other."
-Maria Lund