Unifying Power of Christ

Pontificating that religion is the source of many of the world’s problems has renewed fervor these days. Given the sectarian strife that fills the media it is understandable that such a conclusion would be reached. People clinging to a particular view of what constitutes obedience to true religion commit violence in the name of that conviction, and that to great destruction. It is hard to deny that throughout history great evils have been perpetrated “in the name of God.” But to reason that because something evil has been done in the name of religion therefore all religion is evil, is fallacious. Making general or sweeping statements is rarely helpful. It usually signals that the hard work of thinking through an issue doesn’t want to be done. Nevertheless, whatever the reason, the atmosphere for asserting a positive role for religion in society is fouled. I would suggest, however, that despite what might be popularly understood, Christianity has true potential for unifying disparate groups.

Consider Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman recorded for us in Mark 7:24-30. The encounter as well as its placement by Mark in the context of a discussion of what constitutes true obedience to God, signals that the blessings of the Messiah are not constrained by ethnicity. The Syrophoenician was a gentile. Yet when she humbly acknowledged the power and person of Christ he graciously extends the benefits of his presence to even her. It is important to note that he does this despite that fact that he teaches on several occasions that he “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). This intention was, in the end, not to exclude but to fulfill his Messianic role for, as he said to the Samaritan woman at the well (also someone not expected to receive of the blessings of the Messiah) “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22).

What we see beginning in the ministry of Jesus is expanded in the apostolic era. The directive by Jesus to his disciples to wait until endued with power in order that they might be his “witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), is accomplished and they dutifully carry out their commission. As a result Peter is soon sent to a gentile soldier’s household and Paul will declare that those who are inheritors of the covenantal promise come from every strata and strain of society: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

The unifying work of the gospel brings together in loving communion people from across the entire spectrum of humanity. No matter what our gender, education, ethnicity, social status, or previous religious commitments, we are all sinners in need of saving for “there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22,23). Only in Christ will a sin-fractured humanity find its unity for he alone in the “Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).