Jesus Pooed

There is a tendency in Christians to be ashamed, prudish in discussing our bodily functions, our sexuality, our “fleshy”-ness.  We prefer to see ourselves as ethereal souls and spirits…not wrinkled, pock-marked, near-sighted, pubic-haired creatures.

Yet at the very core of our faith is the Incarnation.  The Creator and Sustainer of the universe came to us as a historical, fully human being: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us...” (John 1:14)  - a fragile baby crying for his mother’s milk, a curious toddler tugging on his dad’s robe, a grinning kid playing with sticks, an awkward pre-teen reciting the Torah…the man eating and drinking with his friends, walking dirt roads in sandals, sailing with wind and salt spray in his beard…the man beaten, bloodied, sweat dripping, limbs aching, heart crushed…the risen man, mistaken as a gardener by women at the tomb, whose wound Thomas touched with a trembling finger, who ate smoky, grilled fresh-caught fish with old friends.

And today - as Paul says about the church, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27).  Notice that Paul doesn’t say we are “like” the body of Christ or that we “represent” the body – he says that we are the body of Christ.

Jesus is God in flesh.  We are now his body.

Is it any wonder we mourn our inability to meet?  To hug one another?  To speak moistly, to sing side by side with spit flying out of our glad, worshipping mouths, to hold one another as we weep?  Grieve, my fellow body parts.  Lament.  We are experiencing a death of sorts.

But let us also remember that death is not the end.  For those embodying the Risen Christ, it is just the beginning.  We witness this in the physical realm.  Dung, decay, death?  Our sovereign God redeems them all – uses them to bring rich, abundant, glorious new life.  This is the miraculous reality of God’s kingdom.

This pandemic does not prevent us from seeing Jesus or being Jesus.  More than ever, we need to remember that we are always and everywhere the body of Christ – resurrected, alive, bringing good news (not depressing or fake news but the most joyful, truest news of all!) to a broken, despairing world.

Whether you are figuring out “new math” with a whining child, thanking the tired clerk at the store, listening to co-workers on a Zoom call, working a late shift at the hospital, having sex with your spouse, baking and sharing treats with neighbours, balancing accounts for a client, or yes – even praying on your porcelain throne - you are his light and love here and now.

Christians don’t believe in a philosophy or an idea.  We believe in the Person of Christ.  The church was never a building.  We are the church - the living, dying, laughing, crying, eating, pooing followers of Christ spread throughout the world, yet remaining forever, unceasingly, united through him - the Word made flesh.

Karen Schaffer is the pastor of faith formation at The Tapestry Richmond
Photo by Julien Delaunay