Whether we look at it from a faith point of view or a scientific point of view, if we go back far enough in history, we all share the same heritage - which means, in a very real sense, all of us are branches from the same family tree. The biblical story says that we all share the same spiritual DNA; and the scientific story is that we all rooted in the same physical DNA. We are all connected. We are all family. While our growth from that original DNA has taken us each in different directions, it’s still all related - and we know ourselves more fully when we see how much we share in common with others, and how even the differences we see in others is an extension of something that is in us.
Paul says it much more succinctly. He discusses the unity in diversity of the Church, and by extension the unity in diversity of the human family, by talking about us as being different from one another, yet connected as ONE BODY. He reflects on this idea for the entirety of 1 Corinthians 12, perhaps because it was a really important idea in a place like Corinth, a major intersection for trade routes, rivaling Athens in ancient days. Due to that, there was incredible diversity in the city in Paul’s day - people from different parts of the world, of different cultural backgrounds, of various races, of different income levels, from the ruling class to the merchant class to the working class to slaves, covering a wide range of social strata. Yet as different as they all are, Paul reminds them that ultimately, THEY ARE ALL CONNECTED. They are all one Body - the Body of Christ. So they are not just to tolerate one another, they are made FOR one another:
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good… Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body… As it is, there are many members, yet one body… 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. (1 Cor 12)
Physically, when any part of your body is hurting, you can feel that pain in your entire body. Indeed, if left untreated, the pain in that one part of your body can spread to other parts of the body. If you do damage to your pinky toe, and you don’t take the steps necessary to care for it and allow it to heal, it can effect the way you walk… and give you hip or knee or back problems… which can then cause you to lose sleep… which can lead to all sorts of other problems. Worse, if you have an infection in one part of the body, and you do nothing to treat that infection, it can quickly become a much larger issue. To be healthy, we have to show care and respect for the whole body.
If we are all part of One Body, as Paul repeatedly declares, that has profound implications for how we are to live out our lives in both local and global community. We are all connected in the same body of humanity. So when we see another in distress, it is not just their problem - it is our problem, too. We can no longer pretend that the one who is hurting is not part of our own body - whether they are a refugee at the border, or a homeless man on the street, or a woman who cannot afford her medication, or a worker who cannot afford to put a roof over her family’s head.
We really are all in this together - and ALL means ALL.