The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, May 24th, 2026:
Pentecost Sunday

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1 Corinthians
​12.3b-7, 12-13

Brothers and sisters: No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

The opening verse of the second reading is one of those ones that causes me to stop and question things. I am a pretty contrary individual; if you say “stay in” I will want to go out, and vice versa. I battle this part of my personality daily and so when I read the first verse of this reading I immediately think to myself, “I can say those words and not mean them at all” – and that is because I constantly make the mistake of reading scripture as if it was written in the present day, not 2000 years ago.

Scripture was written in a time where people recognized words had power and authority, partially because not everyone could read and write, so words spoken had to mean something. That isn’t to say people didn’t joke around, but an oath was powerful and a verbal testament was binding. So when Saint Paul writes about someone saying, “Jesus is Lord,” he is referring to a testament that one spoke as fact. Knowing Jesus is Lord is something the Spirit reveals and the heart experiences. It isn’t simply a fact my brain remembers. 

The reading continues on to the image of the body and its members. The power of this scripture rests in the reality that I am not an autonomous individual living my life and believing in my personal relationship with Jesus as if no one else mattered. We are the body of Christ, and my actions impact you and your actions impact me. It is easy to forget this and live my life as if  I am the only one impacted by the things I do and say, but the truth is that the world does not centre on me. As much as I am infinitely loved by God, I must remember that when I decide to do something for my personal good, it may not be for the good of the body of Christ, which is actually where my priority needs to be.
 
We talk a lot about the importance of self-care in the world today. But as a Christian who loves God, trusts God, and seeks to be united to God, I also need to trust that even in the most challenging moments of life, God is seeking my good and the good of the world. I am not more important than you in the eyes of God. We are one!




Sister Teresa MacDonald

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