The Body of Christ: Why When One Part Hurts, We All Hurt

For the past several weeks, I’ve been going to physical therapy. This is new for me. In all the years I’ve played sports, I’ve never been seriously injured until now.

Sure, I’ve had my share of scrapes: years ago I sprained my thumb badly enough to wear a brace from wrist to elbow; last Fall I broke a finger playing flag football with some teenagers.

But this summer, I sprained my sternoclavicular joint and strained my scalene and trapezius muscles doing hang cleans at CrossFit.

That last one is what landed me in physical therapy. And through it all, especially this most recent injury, I’ve learned something about how the body works.

No, it’s not that I’m overweight, out of shape, or just plain old. It’s that the body works together. When one part hurts, other part feels it.

One of the reasons my shoulder, traps, and lats hurt so badly is because they’ve been compensating for my injured neck. They took on more than they were meant to carry. They absorbed the pain and rerouted strength. That may not be the most scientific explanation, but it’s exactly what happened.

This injury affected all kinds of other lifts: hang cleans, front squats, anything overhead (jerks, push press, snatch, bench press, wall walks), hanging movements (pull-ups, knee raises), deadlifts, rows, box jumps, and even running.

It seems like I couldn’t do anything, right?

Well, not exactly. I’ve had to scale back and modify almost everything just to let things heal. I even tried dry needling a couple of times (which, surprisingly, helped a lot).

But here’s the thing: while I’m getting stronger, I’m not at full strength yet. And when the pain lessens, I’m tempted to push too hard too soon. There’s still soreness. There are still limits. My whole body still feels the ripple effects of one injury.

That reminds me of 1 Corinthians 12. We usually quote the part about the body being made up of many parts, but another verse is more applicable, verse 26: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

The church in Corinth had plenty of problems: jealousy, division, and jockeying for position.

Sound familiar?

Paul reminds them (and us) that as disciples of Jesus, we’re called to love one another, to live as one body in Christ. That means when one of us suffers, we all feel it. And when one of us celebrates, we all should rejoice.

Dr. John Delony says often: “I may not have the answer, but I promise to sit with you.” That’s what this passage is about.

Too often in the church we say we’re family, but when hard times come, we disappear. We criticize. We judge. Maybe it’s fear. Maybe it’s the pressure to look like we’ve got it all together.

But God’s Word calls us to something better.

My body knows what Paul meant. When one part suffers, the whole body feels it. But when healing comes, the body grows stronger. The same is true for the church.

So here’s the question: are we hurting the body, or healing it?

Healing looks like walking alongside those who need encouragement. It looks like rejoicing with others, even when it’s not about us. It’s sending a text that says, “Congrats on the new job!” or putting an arm around someone who’s grieving.

This week, let’s choose to heal, not hurt. Let’s sit with the suffering. Let’s celebrate the victories. And let’s become a stronger body together because when the body of Christ is whole, there’s nothing it cannot do.

Anyway, I was just thinking…