『26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.』(New International Version)
Ephesians 4:1—6(Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ.)
『1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 』(New International Version)
Sisters and brothers in Christ,
On behalf of Sin-Lau Hospital I extend a very warm welcome to all of you. I hope you’ll enjoy and benefit from your time in Tainan City,Taiwan.
The theme of our Asia Christian Hospital Association this year is ‘We are Family’ which is based on the Scriptures of 1st Corinthians 12:26 and Ephesians 4:1—6.
I have a friend who worked as a missionary in the African country of Malawi. Malawi is a very poor country with a lot of human suffering—a lot of hunger, a lot of disease, too few hospitals, too little health care provision. But it also has a lot of Christian joy and hope and a way of living together that says “We are family.”
Let me illustrate this.
My friend tells the story of how there was a knock at his door very, very early in the morning. He was angry because he has been wakened so early. When he opened the door he saw a very poor man he knew well. My friend thought that this poor man—Mr. Kumwenda by name—was calling to ask for help.
Instead Mr. Kumwenda joyously presented my friend with a half-sack of freshly picked beans. Increasingly contrite and sorry, my friend mumbled that the poor man had greater need of them and should keep them.
A perplexed and puzzled look came over Mr. Kumwenda’s face, as if my friend were clearly mad. Mr. Kumwenda explained that it was the time of the first fruits of the harvest and therefore customary in his culture to share all one could without counting the cost. Then he said, “This is how we live.”
For him this was simply a description of reality, but one that implicitly understood the need for generously sharing to create a viable community. As members of the human family we are called to live together so that the earth’s resources are shared and abundant life is nurtured.
Similar stories are found in other cultures. In Taiwan I know that pastors in small, rural congregations have encountered the same sort of thing, and you might have as well in your context.
Mr. Kumwenda’s gesture and words were shaped by the richest insight of African philosophy: that we belong to one another and have a profound responsibility to care for one another, especially those the Bible terms “the least of these.”
One African theologian has summed up this core cultural value in the phrase “I am because we are.” A Malawian proverb encapsulates the same idea when it says, “a person is a person because of and on behalf of other people.” The concept of ubuntu as expounded by Nelson Mandela is guided by the same concept of personhood.
As we in the Asia Christian Hospital Association gather here today, we can say, “This is also how we live…because we are family.” In the deepest sense, we are part of the human family and our mission is to bring healing, health and fullness of life to all of humanity, irrespective of creed, class or any other division.
This mission is part of God’s mission. In Isaiah 58:7, when the prophet calls on the people “not to turn away from your own flesh and blood” the Hebrew strongly supports the idea that this means any human being in need. In Luke 10, the Parable of the Good Samaritan underlines that injury, hurt and human brokenness call for a compassionate response from us, even if it is our enemy that is in need.
After telling this story of how one human being reached out to another in need across a barrier of hostility, Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.” And that is what we are doing in our different locations across Asia—reaching out to the communities around us in healing and hopeful ways.
As well as being members of the human family, we are also members of the family of faith—we are members of the Body of Christ, we are God’s people. But the Bible reminds us that even as God’s people, even as the Body of Christ we still participate in the hurt and brokenness of the world. We are family, but like Cain and Abel, Joseph and his brothers, and even the disciples of Jesus, we suffer from jealousy, rivalry and self-interest.
When Paul in 1st Corinthians 12:26 insists that if one part of the Body of Christ suffers, every part suffers with it. He reminds us that we are called to live in solidarity with those who suffer—both those in the family of humanity and especially those in the family of faith. As Paul puts in in Philippians, “look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4).
Why? Because “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5), the man for others, the one who showed a special love for those pushed to the margins of life and forgotten about.
But Paul also reminds us that suffering in the Body of Christ can come about through the hurtful ways of the world remaining alive in the family of faith. So often the context for Paul’s letters is to put right where members of the body have gone wrong.
And Paul helps us to understand what it means to be a healthy family of faith, a faithful part of the Body of Christ. In order to live a life worthy of the calling we have received we are to be “humble and gentle,” patiently “bearing with one another in love” (Ep. 4:2). We are to be unified in essentials—“one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ep. 4:5,6).
But because of the work of the Spirit, who is free and wonderfully creative, within the unity there is also great diversity as a wide range of different gifts are used to build up the Kingdom of God.
Note this very well: the purpose of the greater part of our Christian work is “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ep. 4:12, 13).There are different gifts but all are directed to the wellbeing and restoration of the human family because as Ephesians envisions it, the horizon of all our work, all our service, all our witness is to play our part in bringing “all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Ep. 1:10).
In closing, let me affirm that the Asia Christian Hospital Association is part of God’s missional activity in the world. Through our work together we bear witness that:
We are family—part of the human family, attentive to the needs of all; part of the family of faith, sensitive to the sufferings of the Body of Christ; in all things, playing our part in bringing healing and hope until the day dawns when the tear is wiped from every eye. Amen.
Let us pray—
Our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for bringing us gather together from different countries.Although we have different languages and cultural customs, we know in Christ we are family.Through this meeting we pray that we can grow in solidarity and stick together in our shared healing mission, showing your love and bringing hope to people in need.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, A-men!
Benidiction----May The LORD bless you and keep you;
