DAILY HOMILIES #disunity

Apart from the Gentile converts, a large number of those who embraced Christianity were Jews who believed that Jesus was truly the long-awaited Messiah, but those who didn’t believe felt threatened and sought ways to end the spread of Christianity among Jews. However, in their attempt to stop Jews from converting to Christianity in their numbers, the Jewish authorities suffered many setbacks. One of such setbacks was their lack of unity.

When the devil fights you from outside and cannot bring you down, he tries to fight from within. Nevertheless, as Jesus said to the apostles in today’s Gospel passage, when you face such attacks, “Do not be afraid.”(John 6:20). Even in chaos, God is never far from you.

Wherever it occurs, disunity prevents people from facing a common enemy. Think about this, if only the Pharisees were united in thought and doctrine with the Sadducees, perhaps they would have been able to put an end to the missionary enterprise of Paul but they couldn’t stop him. In our Gospel passage, Jesus is praying for unity among his followers. Even in the prayer, Jesus highlights the scandal of disunity when he says “. . . MAY THEY ALL BE ONE . . . SO THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME.”

Last Sunday, we read how the issue of circumcision brought a debate in the church at Antioch between Paul and the men who had come from Judea. Unfortunately, one of the principal sources of disunity among Christians today is arguments over matters of doctrine. In his prayer for unity, Jesus said: “that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17:21) Disunity among Christians is truly a scandal to non-Christians. One may wonder: Why is it that all Christians are using the same bible yet they never agree among themselves?