One in Witness and more

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary describe the preparation of the believer for persecution. In the Gospel from John, Jesus final discourse and prayer for His disciples is extended to all to whom the disciples bring the Good News. The unity for which Jesus prays may seem to be elusive in Christianity and in the world. When we reflect on the tension between unity and diversity, we may see how the scenario described in Acts, where Paul understands the difference between Pharisees and Sadducees and uses it to disrupt their council, may suggest that the unity is not about accepting the same dogma. The psalmist understands that the Lord is his portion and cup. The direction to take through conflict to unity may offer persecution but it will be a direction revealed in the intimate communion with the Divine which the psalmist experiences in dream. The unity in the section of John’s Gospel follows the proclamation of the Son being in the Father and the desire that the believers would be one with Father and Son. This is transcendent and it is, as John notes, not what the world of tribes and disunity understands yet.