Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
It had been a long time since the people in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali had been taken into exile in Assyria. No doubt they had come to think of the darkness of that exile as a permanent darkness, and of themselves as forgotten by God. Yet, by beginning his mission where he did, Jesus signaled that they had not been forgotten, that they were not abandoned or forsaken. One question we should consider is what the mission of Jesus had to do with that exile. In what way did what he desired to accomplish assuage or address the wound left by Assyria? It did not seem that the mission of Jesus did or could bring exiles back from distant lands. So we should not miss the significance that it was there that Jesus announced that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. His plan was not to restore Israel at a national level, but to gather around himself a new and spiritual Israel that would eventually include descendants of all of the scattered tribes. But, due to the consequences of sin, the fruit of this new kingdom would be something greater than what was lost. The way that Israel had been scattered and intermingled with the Gentiles meant that in order to gather Israel the Gentiles too would reap what we may call collateral benefit.
For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters,
by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you.
We can see that Paul understood the unity of the kingdom as one of its central aspects. For this reason he instructed the Ephesians to be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (see Ephesians 4:3). It was for this reason that he was so critical of rivalries and discord in the Church. He saw that, as the Body of Christ, they had a new and deeper basis for unity than ever before. Where it had been possible for some tribes to be taken into exile it was metaphysically impossible for the body of Christ to truly be divided. Thus we say in the creed that the Church, in addition to be catholic, holy, and apostolic, is also one. But the Church is also different from Israel in that it requires, not living in a specific place, but thinking and act in a new and spiritual way. Those who perpetuated rivalries were failing to live up to this standard, failing to fully live within the Body of Christ to the degree that they did not share the heart of Jesus for unity.
Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you?
Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
We tend celebrate the idea of unity and excuse ourselves from the discussion about rivalries. But it is not so easy. There are some positions that are fundamentally incompatible with the teachings of Christ. In such cases we are not meant to look the other way and pretend nothing is wrong. But more than that there is a wide diversity of acceptable opinion on matters both political and theological within the Church. We must hold fast to the truth while not creating divisions that ought not exist. The key to doing so is to maintain the centrality of Christ in our hearts and minds. He is the basis of our unity. His grace is our only hope for maintaining it. For that matter, he is our only hope of restoring the many instances in which that unity was broken, in particular, our separated brethren of other Christian denominations.
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
We can see from the calling of the first disciples that the kingdom of heaven was meant to be a swelling current that gathered people together around Jesus. First the people themselves came to him, and then they helped bring more along with them. Step one was Jesus. Step two was becoming a fisher of men. But not just any gathering would do, nor would any kind of unity suffice. Only the kingdom was enough because it was Jesus himself who brought light to the world, light which was otherwise absent. Light was not merely a pleasant metaphor in this case. It was in fact the only lasting antidote to sin, suffering, and ultimately even to the darkness of death. Only thus can we truly say that "on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen".
What is the upshot of the saving light of the Lord for us, or what difference should it make in our lives? How do we know if we are abiding in his light? Judging by the words of the psalmist we may infer that the more we truly recognize the light of Christ the less any lesser things will have power to make us afraid.
Songs In His Presence - His Name Will Be Called
No comments:
Post a Comment