Finding Unity in Christiandom

 In preaching through the Gospel of Mark, I am always astounded when looking at the rag-tag bunch that makes up the Disciples. Matthew 10 gives us an even better list than Mark.

10 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 10:1–4.

Did you see it? Matthew was a tax collector and he was in the group with Simon the Zealot. As a tax collector, Matthew partnered with Rome in collecting taxes and revenue from the Jews. They were often despised because this was seen as selling out to the enemy. You partnered with Rome to take money from the Jews. A Jew was getting money from God's chosen people to give to a pagan ruler. This was not popular, and it is why we see people who are looked down on as "tax collectors and sinners". They were traitors, and the Jews hated them. Contrast that with a Zealot, a person who believed that the Messiah would come in the image of David, who would be a great military leader. They wanted someone to come and destroy Rome and restore Israel to its greatness under the rule of David. Zealots were often terrorists who attacked Rome and Roman targets. They were the extremists of the Jewish people, and about as far as you could get from a tax collector.

These two men were as different as they could be. Throw in some fishermen, merchants, and farmers to round out the groups and you had quite the team. In the gospels, they even have some spats. We see them fighting about who will be the greatest. We see the mother of James and John ask Jesus for a special place for her sons in the Kingdom. They work together, but they don't always get along.

After Pentecost, there are still some disagreements. Paul and Peter have words about Peter only eating with Jews. Paul and Mark disagreed because Mark abandoned them on a journey. Things in the 1st century were not always smooth sailing. You had people as different as they could be. Peter was still a fisherman, and Paul was a Pharisee as they both became Apostles of Christ. With all these differences, however, they still began a world-altering movement. They moved beyond their differences and impacted the world for Christ.

In the modern church, there are places where we divide. Some of the divisions are doctrine, some are practice, but many of them are areas that are not essential doctrine. In those areas, we should continue to work together. As the Church in the United States, we are facing increasing challenges. We must take a page from the 1st century, and learn to disagree, but have unity in essentials. We can discuss, we can debate, but we must show unity in Christ. Every family has its struggles, but when the things that divide us are trivial, and the things that unite us are foundational, we work together and love one another through the differences and struggles. That is the only way we survive.