THE FIVE FINGER FABLE. Once
upon a time there was a hand, much like this one (hold up left hand) with five fingers. One day the fingers were standing around
shooting the breeze when the thumb spoke up and said, “You know, I’ve been reading and I am the opposable thumb. I am a great advance in evolution. I allow the man to grasp tools and so to
advance in culture. And I am important.” All the other fingers considered this for a
short while and then said, “Yes, you are
important.”
“Attention! Attention!” proclaimed the index
finger. “I am a natural leader. I point
the way, I push the buttons, I make things happen and drive home the points,
and I am important too.” And all the
other fingers agreed.
Then came the deep husky voice of the middle finger: “Hey youse guys, I am the tallest and the
biggest of all. I got more street smarts
than all the rest of you put together. I
tell it like it is, and I am important too.”
And all the other fingers hurried to agree because they did not want
to cross the middle finger.
“Don’t forget about
beauty” came the mellifluous voice of the ring finger. “I bear the insignia of academic achievement and signs of love and
commitment. I am adorned with silver and
gold, jewels and diamonds, and I am important too.” And all the other fingers agreed.
Finally the high squeaky voice of the pinkie spoke up
saying, “Hey guys, I’m the pinkie. Don’t forget about me. I’m important too!” But this time, instead of agreeing, all the
other fingers jeered and laughed. “You
little pipsqueak important!?! Get out of
here!” And they called him “shrimp”
and “runt” and other names I cannot repeat in church.
Well, the pinkie’s feelings were hurt. But he was proud. So he pulled himself up as straight and tall
as he could and just stayed like that, ramrod stiff. The other fingers looked and him for a short
time, and finally said, “Well, let him go
off by himself. We don’t need him. He’s useless anyway.”
That afternoon the body was typing (keyboarding) an
assignment, but with the pinkie stuck out straight and stiff, not doing his
part, it was hard going, especially with the “A’s”. The body was getting frustrated, but the left
hand kept making excuses.
Finally in frustration the body decided to go for a walk to
relax. It walked along a hillside where
there was a steep cliff. As the body
walked along suddenly the cliff gave way and the body went over the side
towards the deep ravine far below. But
luckily the body grabbed hold of tree root and so did not go over. But with the left pinkie stuck out by itself
the hand could not get a good grip and the hand began to slip. The body ordered the hand “get a grip!” but
it could not do it without all the fingers working together. Finally the other fingers realized that they
needed the pinkie. He was necessary for
the hand to work well, and he was important.
“Pinkie, you are important too”
the other fingers shouted. “We need you!” “Really?” asked pinkie. “Yes!”
they shouted, and the pinkie quickly joined in and the hand got a grip like a
vise on that tree root, until help came and the body was saved. Afterwards all the parts of the body agreed
that the pinkie was important. In fact every
part of the body is important and needed.
St. Paul in
today’s second reading gets a little weird.
He uses this rather unappealing image of a giant eye-ball. He asks “If the whole body were an eye,
where would the hearing be?” It is a
rather strange argument, but the point is clear, every part of the body is
important, indeed necessary.
In fact, the body
can be a body only if there is a diversity of parts. If it were all the same, it could not
function as a body. The diversity is
necessary for the unity of the body.
Paul’s insight is that uniformity is the enemy of unity, that conformity
is the enemy of community. Our working
together as one is predicated on our being different. Only in our difference can we support and
help each other in many different ways.
Unity comes not
from being the same, but rather from having the same spirit, the same mission
and ideals. In the case of the Body of
Christ that means the Holy Spirit. It is
a simple, but radical, insight. We need
each other, and we need each other to be different.
This is easy to
see but difficult to live out. Many
different gifts are necessary for the full functioning of a Christian community. But I have been in parishes, and I bet you
have too, where there were splits in the parish between the “contemporary”
guitar group and the “traditional” organ choir:
Between the school religious ed and the CCD program: Between the Anglo and the Hispanic
groups: Between the "pro-life" people and the "social justice" people, and so on. And when we get out of church and into
society it gets even worse. Just look at the state of our political discourse in this state and in our nation.
We must value and
work for our unity in Christ. This means
we must value and work for our diversity at well. For the two - unity and diversity - are
opposite sides of the same coin.
All of us are one
Body in Christ. As St. Paul tells us: “If
one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the
parts share its joy.” By honoring
all the parts of our Christian community, especially the weaker and more
vulnerable, the pinkies among us, we will all be more honored as the true Body
of Christ. AMEN.
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