Most people’s view of Christ, I suspect, is based on gospel stories and their imagination of the past. This has value, but it has little to do with contemporary life. At best this approach can only ask, What would Christ have said or done in response to today’s concerns? And can we be sure that our imagination of Jesus’ reaction is correct? Actually we do not need to use our imaginations. We have an authentic means of encountering Christ in contemporary society. We meet him in the Church.

Someone has counted 96 images of the Church in scripture. From these the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists a sheepfold, gate, a flock, a vine, a building, the household of God, a dwelling place of the Spirit, a spiritual house, a holy city, the "Jerusalem above," our "mother," and spouse of the Lamb. Of all the scriptural figures the Second Vatican Council selected three as appropriate for our times: (1) the new People of God; (2) the Body of Christ; and (3) the temple of the Holy Spirit. All these images are useful because no one figure can plumb the depths of the mystery of the Church.

Of all the images of the Church my favorite is the Body of Christ. The Church is not just an organization, but an organism. Members of the Church are joined to Jesus as branches to the vine and as our members are to our bodies. As our souls give life to our bodies so does the Spirit of Christ animate the Church. Christ is the head of the Body and Augustine suggests that we cannot speak of the "whole Christ" without considering also the Church that is his Body. The Church in this figure is the new Body of Christ, replacing in this world the physical presence of Jesus. When Paul persecuted the Church the head in heaven complained, "Why are you persecuting me?"

There are many reasons why I think the Body of Christ is the most powerful image of the Church. It helps to answer the objection that I want no Church to stand between Jesus and me. The Church cannot stand between Jesus and you because the Church is Jesus. As our bodies are the continuation and extension of those that we possessed in infancy, so there must be a continuity between Jesus’ members of our day and those of the first century. A church that purports to represent Jesus cannot have its origin centuries after the origin of the Body of Christ.

The figure of the Body of Christ shows the need for unity with the Church because, as Augustine says, the Spirit does not pursue a separated member. The figure explains how the teaching of Jesus is preserved and correctly interpreted. Jesus who taught the truth through his physical body still makes his voice heard through his new Body, the Church. "Whoever listens to you listens to me." As the movement of a hand signals an invisible decision of a person’s will so the Body of Christ makes visible the invisible will of Christ. What the Body of Christ binds on earth is bound in heaven. Those who avoid "organized religion" because of real or alleged defect they find there are avoiding the venue that Jesus himself has chosen for an encounter with us.

The image of the Body of Christ explains why there must be unity in faith or else the Body of Christ would be schizophrenic, and, for similar reasons, why it must be one in its organization and worship. The image explains how the sacraments of the Church are really the actions of Christ. The Body of Christ helps illustrate the meaning of the communion of saints. As our bodies share goods so do members of Christ’s Body share spiritual goods.

Since we are the Body of Christ everything we do is a function of that Body. Thus it is essential that we avoid sin in order not to disgrace the Body. Our sins offend not only God but fellow members of the Body of Christ and reconciliation must occur both between God and us and also between us and members of the Church.

It is only through the Body of Christ that we can be saved. Christ is the only mediator between God and the human race. Salvation is achieved only through belonging to the Body, or for those who through no fault do not, by being joined to it, or at least being related to it in an imperfect membership. This explains the ancient saying of the Church, Outside the Church there is no salvation. Salvation must occur in some way through the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ, the Church, is the sign or sacrament of the kingdom of God just as the eucharist is the sign and sacrament of the presence of the body and blood of Jesus. Since the Church as Body of Christ makes Christ present we are at no disadvantage compared with those who saw Jesus in the flesh. It may challenge our faith to see Christ in the Church just as it was difficult for those who saw Jesus to recognize that under the veil of his humanity there was the very Son of God. If we can see the Church as the new Body of Christ through which Jesus teaches, governs, and dispenses grace we have a living, contemporary Christ immersed in the history of our times and not a memory. This view of Christ’s presence should lead us to respect and love the Church as we would Christ for that is who and what it is.