Abstract The disabled body of Christ has a critical potential as a metaphor in our time. It reveals the frailty of the body and speaks of the presence of God in our world. As a metaphor for the human body, it serves as an effective contrast to the idealized and commercialized images of the body. It provides an alternative image of communal life for social bodies, a transformable context that is given to us, not created or controlled by us. In addition, it gives us a vision of God's future as already present in human life. The body of Christ is a relevant metaphor for christological, ecclesiological and anthropological reflection. It is important to examine the actual appearance of the metaphorical referent, that is the body of Jesus. If we define it as a disabled and bruised body, the metaphorical potential is increased, and the connection between the three theological areas may appear more clearly.