The Absurdity of the Body
Since I was twelve years old I have battled a series of auto-immune diseases. From Crohn's Disease to arthritis to some psoriasis/acne stuff, to pyoderma gangrunosum. Auto-immune diseases are a bizarre thing, kind of a freakishly, evil twisting of the body's natural order. Our immune system's very existence is to protect us, to heal us, to combat infections and other illnesses. 
But in an auto-immune disorder the protector of the body turns against the very thing it is designed to protect. The immune system begins to attack healthy organs and tissue and body systems. This attack most often presents itself as inflammation in the attacked area.
For me Crohn's Disease means the immune system has tricked itself into thinking that my intestine is bad for me. For arthritis or psoriasis it thinks the joints or bones or skin is the enemy. For pyoderma gangrunosum it is attacking the skin cells in my legs and potentially the lungs and kidneys. The most common treatment for such diseases is to attack the whacked immune system itself and so patients are often placed on immune suppressants, further affecting their health because now they are much more at risk for injury, infection and illness.
The immune system is betraying the very body it is supposed to be protecting and so it is placed in "time out" and unable to accomplish even its true job.
The immune system is betraying the very body it is supposed to be protecting and so it is placed in "time out" and unable to accomplish even its true job.
Treatment is very much a catch-22.
When things are running correctly the human body really is one of the most amazingly designed organisms in the universe. The very concept of the immune system itself, when functioning correctly, is pretty miraculous! The statistical odds themselves of humans being able to successfully procreate defy the logic of the theory of evolution. The fact that nerves tell my brain that I stubbed my toe, which then tells the rest of me to flinch and signals my other foot to pick up some slack while I cradle the injured one all while also communicating to my hands to grab my stinging toe and my tongue to elicit the "correct" language to express my pain. Wow!
In 1 Corinthians 13:12-30, the Apostle Paul uses images from the human body to help us to understand how followers of Jesus should share life together.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Paul illustrates here how absolutely absurd it is, the idea of a body turning against itself such as happens with an auto-immune disorder. The body is supposed to be a well-oiled machine whose various parts serve a wide variety of different purposes and yet remain in sync, cooperative and supportive of one another.
It makes no sense whatsoever for one part of the body to think itself superior than another for all are necessary. Paul's snarkyness about one appendage thinking itself inferior, or another thinking itself better, sends an almost mocking vibe at those body parts who allow their own pride to cut themselves off from the rest of the body. The eye does not think it is better than the hand and choose to smite the hand; this is not a healthy choice of the body. Paul's point is that the opposite attitude is actually what is necessary.
The body does not cut parts off in order to save itself without experiencing consequences to such an action. If a leg is amputated the rest of the body must then function harder and differently in order to accommodate the lost limb. It is not natural for the body to cut off or out one part or another. The body also does not outgrow itself. When a child grows the entire body adjusts, maybe at different speeds, to match the growth of all the other parts. Again, it would be absurd, unnatural, not the ordered way of things, for one part to remain the same and another part to be blossoming into puberty. Body parts do not "outgrow" other body parts.
In 1 Corinthians 13:12-30, the Apostle Paul uses images from the human body to help us to understand how followers of Jesus should share life together.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Paul illustrates here how absolutely absurd it is, the idea of a body turning against itself such as happens with an auto-immune disorder. The body is supposed to be a well-oiled machine whose various parts serve a wide variety of different purposes and yet remain in sync, cooperative and supportive of one another.
It makes no sense whatsoever for one part of the body to think itself superior than another for all are necessary. Paul's snarkyness about one appendage thinking itself inferior, or another thinking itself better, sends an almost mocking vibe at those body parts who allow their own pride to cut themselves off from the rest of the body. The eye does not think it is better than the hand and choose to smite the hand; this is not a healthy choice of the body. Paul's point is that the opposite attitude is actually what is necessary.The body does not cut parts off in order to save itself without experiencing consequences to such an action. If a leg is amputated the rest of the body must then function harder and differently in order to accommodate the lost limb. It is not natural for the body to cut off or out one part or another. The body also does not outgrow itself. When a child grows the entire body adjusts, maybe at different speeds, to match the growth of all the other parts. Again, it would be absurd, unnatural, not the ordered way of things, for one part to remain the same and another part to be blossoming into puberty. Body parts do not "outgrow" other body parts.
Paul reminds us that when one part of the body suffers, is damaged or is missing, then the rest of the body also finds itself in the same boat. When I first got sick with Crohn's disease I was twelve years old. I went undiagnosed and without treatment until I was twenty-seven years old. All my years of puberty and early adulthood I was experiencing lack of nutrition, I was anemic and in pain. Now my bones are small and weak from malnourishment. My posture is better now but was poor before because I was reflexively in curled-up like positions from hurting. My guts were the main target but the rest of my body suffered as well.
It is a miracle that our bodies are able to do all that they do when they are functioning properly. It is absurd, really.
It is also absurd that they would betray and attack themselves.
The miracle of love is just as absurd, and just as miraculous, as the miracle of the functioning body. There is no reason for any of this to work, in the real world or in the illustrative world Paul uses. It is the nature of the body to function together healthily. But sometimes that doesn't happen. It is the nature of humans to think me-first, to be selfish. And yet we have the miracle of being able to choose love over self, to lay aside pride and ego, to choose unity, compassion, community, cooperation, love.
It's all a whole bunch of absurdity.
Or maybe it's just the way of Christ.
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