The Head of the Body Always Feels the Pain First
…Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. Ephesians 5:23 NLT
When you pray and tell Jesus about the trials of your day, do you ever stop and ask Jesus how His day was? Remember, while you may have seen one person being abused, Jesus saw every soul that was abused that day. You hay have seen one hungry child. Jesus saw every hungry, hurting child.
A few years ago I was playing a Bible game with my 5th and 6th-grade Bible-chain-referencing class. One student was trying to guess what Bible character the rest of the class was thinking of. Before he could guess, a 5th-grade boy accidentally let it slip and gave the answer away. The class voiced their disapproval of his gaffe, and the embarrassed boy was in tears, as he put his head down on his desk in shame. Before I could even say anything, a 6th-grade girl got up and walked over to him, put her hand on his shoulder, and patted his back, resembling more of a mother than a grade-school girl. She told the class it was an accident that any of us could have made. The class quickly changed their behavior, though I am sure they never intended their slight show of disapproval to cause so much pain. I remember thinking at the time that the girl acted so quickly and instinctively, that it was as though she actually felt his pain.
mage © Phil McKay from GoodSalt.com
The Bible tells us that the church is the body of Christ, and Christ is the Head of the body. Just to show how important every member of the church or body of Christ is, consider this. When you get up in the middle of the night and stub you tiny toe on the night stand, damage-detecting sensory neurons flash a message to the spinal cord, spinal cord neurons relay the message to the brain and the brain is the first part of the body that feels the pain. Likewise when the weakest member of the church gets hurt, Christ, the Head of the church is the first One to feel the pain.
When you hit your little toe on the night stand, your hands immediately go to the aid of the little toe. Your brain sends them there, to comfort and support the smallest member of you body. In relieving the pain of the toe, the hands are also relieving the pain of the brain, the head of the body. Likewise when we rescue the abused, and feed and comfort the smallest hungry child, we are relieving the pain Jesus feels as the Head of the body.
For he has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy. He has not turned his back on them, but has listened to their cries for help. Psalms 22:24 NLT
In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. Isaiah 63:9 NLT
As members of the body of Christ, we are His representatives on this planet, and it is our responsibility to feel the pain of others and to provide the support and encouragement they need. Jesus wants to act through us to bear the burden of those who are suffering.
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