Spiritual Lessons of Mononucleosis

TMI Disclaimer: this blog post may contain way too much information about my recent medical history. TMI is usually a line of which I am entirely oblivious, my sincerest apologies in advance.

The human body is a curious thing. Turns out that headache and the night sweats were the first of several symptoms of mononucleosis, which I tested positive for last week. Since then, I have developed the worst sore throat of all time, a full-body rash, and most recently, an overproduction of saliva. That makes sleeping an interesting endeavor. When my pride gets over the fact that I will drool, and drool a lot, I guess I will then be able to sleep. Until then, you can go ahead and count insomnia among my symptoms as well.

What we misunderstand about diseases is that we assume it's these sorts of things that diseases cause. That's sort of it, but not exactly. Actually, the headaches, the rash, the drooling tendency, are my body's response to my disease's inherent badness. Ah yes, immuno-response. Please forgive my love-hate relationship with immuno-response. I mean no harm. It's just a little bittersweet, that's all. I know that I have so much, shall I say, snot and spit, in my head for a very good reason. I have something in my body that is destructive and dangerous, and so my body is trying earnestly to create more fluids so that it can expel the virus through said fluids. That it gives me a sore throat and makes me drool is mere happenstance.

Now, of course, none of this is all that interesting to you. Unless you're one of those bioscience types. I'm not. But it's taught me something very intriguing about Christ, in particular his Body, the Church, Christian community, what have you. It's taught me, namely, that community is something that not only has needs, but more specifically, it is something that needs healing. Bodies need healing. His Body is no different. Mono has taught me that at the very worst, significant pain comes with the Body's process of healing (like my sore throat), and that at the very best, mild annoyances are sure to be a side effect as well (like me drooling all over myself). What do we need healing from? You name it. We're people. We're people with bodies that suffer pain and sickness all the time; we're people with spirits that come together into community, forming one Body, the Body of Christ, and all of our spiritual germs intermingle and create all kinds of baggage and mess. Of course, we should not think for even one moment that God did not intend it to be this way. Sometime, after all of these mono symptoms blow over, I'll feel great, like a new man, and I will be so grateful for my health. In the same way, our messy, complicated, dysfunctional, heavy-laden community is a beautiful process for us in making a broken and sinful people whole and perfect again. It's wonderful, beautiful, and it looks something like this...

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. -Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 19-22, English Standard Version

And that is why the community must be made perfect. It houses the Spirit of the Living God. It would be irreverent to offer anything less than something radiantly beautiful, flawless, and exquisite. We just have to acknowledge that at times it will be painful and annoying. And that sometimes we will just have to drool in our sleep. Or, maybe that's taking the metaphor too far? Maybe next time we'll spend more time unpacking the hidden significance of my full-body rash. Whatever the people want!