Saturday, July 3, 2010
1 Corinthians 12:25-27 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. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY IS NATURAL IN THE CHURCH
A Christian has the comfort of knowing that when the devil assails him, he does not assail one finger but the entire body, that is, all Christians in the world, nay, God and Christ besides. The relation is the same as that obtaining in the body. When someone steps on the smallest toe, the entire body is affected, the eyes look displeased, the nose wrinkles, the hand grabs for the toe, and every member wonders and asks what has happened. For it is characteristic of this oneness that no piece or part lives and feels for itself alone without having the life and the feeling of all the others, that is, of the entire body. When the lowliest member of Christendom suffers, the entire body at once feels it and is astir so that all come together, complain, and cry. Then our Head, Christ, hears and feels it ... For this is what He says through the prophet Zechariah: Whoever touches you, touches the apple of My eye (2:8).
This is certainly a precious promise, designed for the good comfort and consolation of Christians against their persecutors: to know that our plight comes so close to Him and that He so greatly interests Himself in our suffering that He calls these "touching the apple of His eye."
- From "What Luther Says" by Ewald M. Plass
