Have you ever thought about the relationship between your head and your body? Can your body go somewhere that your head hasn’t told it to go? Typically speaking, the thoughts in your head will guide your body and tell it where to go. For example, if the thought comes into your head that you want a cheeseburger, your body will walk itself into your car using its legs. Then, your foot, the lowest part of your body, will press the gas pedal in your car. Your hands will guide the steering wheel, and your eyes will watch through the windshield to make sure you’re going the right way. And all along, your head is guiding it all, because the directions to McDonald’s are stored in your memory, because clearly you’ve been there before. 

The relationship between a head and its body is the way God has described the relationship between Christ and His church. The apostle Paul put it simply in his letter to the Colossians. He wrote, “And he is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18). Just as your head was leading you to McDonald’s to eat a cheeseburger, Christ is our head who is leading us to a new heavens and a new earth to eat from the tree of life (Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 22:2).

The body of Christ on earth is another way in which we are tasting the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5). Even though Jesus hasn’t returned in his second coming, he is present in his people, guiding them as the head of the body! It is a sign for the world that Jesus is alive, that the planet belongs to him, and that he is leading it somewhere good. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important that the church, the body, represents Christ well and follows the leading of the head. 

One of the ways that Christ the head wants to lead his body is toward unity. This was one of the more intimate things he shared with his disciples at the last supper. On the eve of his death, he shared this new commandment from the bottom of his heart: “That you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). And then, right after this, he tells them how this is an essential way to represent Christ to the world. He continued, “By this (love) all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). 

Have you ever broken a bone? Or do you have pain in one part of your body? Let’s take a broken wrist for example. If your wrist is out of commission for a few months, how would it affect the rest of your body? Surely your other wrist will have to take on twice the load. Your head will have to do a lot more work, formulating new gameplans to work around the injury. Using your other hand more will put more strain on other muscles, like your forearm, bicep, shoulder, and back. When one part of the body isn’t working properly, the whole body suffers (1 Corinthians 12:26). This is how the body of Christ works together in unity and best represents Christ. 

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, “For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should 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” (1 Corinthians 12:15). There are many different parts of the body, and all of them are meant to follow the head, Christ. When each part is doing what they are called to do, glimpses of the new heavens and new earth are revealed for the world to see.

Paul explained that the different parts of the body are like the different gifts that come from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4). He said some people have wisdom, some have knowledge, some have faith, some have gifts of healing, some work miracles, some can prophesy, some can discern spirits, some can speak in tongues and some can interpret them (1 Corinthians 12:8-10). And Paul adds that each different gift is given by God’s Spirit for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). 

As different parts of one body, it is essential that we do not compete with each other, or look down on parts that are different from us. Back to the original example, it took your whole body to make it to McDonald’s to get yourself a cheeseburger. Your head guided it all, but needed your eyes, arms, hands, legs, mouth (to order at the drive-thru), and even your butt to sit in your seat! This shows that all parts are essential. Love and appreciation for one another must permeate the body of Christ. This attitude of gratitude will be at the core of the new creation that is being built in Jesus. This is the love that Jesus commanded us to have at the last supper. 

Speaking of supper, you’re free to go to McDonald’s today and supersize whatever you want. But Jesus isn’t leading us to the golden arches. He’s leading us to golden streets (Revelation 21:21). To the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (Revelation 21:2). And there, together with all who have called on his name, we will eat from the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.