Aesop told the story of a group of four oxen that lived in a lush field.
There was a hungry lion that would prowl the field and on occasion, attack the oxen. The oxen would work together, get tail to tail and any direction the lion attacked they fended him off together. This kept the oxen safe a number of times until one day they got into a disagreement. Not willing to solve their disagreement they each went off to a separate corner of the field. The hungry lion came and attacked and defeated one.
Then the next week, he came and defeated the next ox and so on, until the four oxen who had stood strong together were no more. Aesop told the story to remind people, “United we stand, divided we fall.”
The Holy Bible records a number of farewell addresses of the patriarchs and kings of Israel. On their deathbeds they passed on wisdom and admonishments. Patterned after the Old Testament farewell addresses, Jesus of Nazareth gave a farewell address in the Gospel of John chapters 13-17.
Jesus knew his time to depart this world and return to the Father was upon him. At the close of the discourse – knowing his hour has come – he prays.
First, he prayed for his Disciples and then for future believers. What was his pray for them, that they all may be one and even more they may be one as Jesus and the Father are one, perfectly one. Has this prayer been fulfilled?
One of the painful words use to describe the Christian Church is schismatic. This refers to the many divisions that have occurred in the Church over the centuries. The Great Schism of 1054 is when the Church divided East-West between the Orthodox and Catholic. Then there is the Protestant Reformation that many date 1517. Soon, the Western Church would be divided Catholic and Protestant.
Nowhere is the discord of the church move evident than at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher – Jerusalem, the traditional place of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. The ancient church is home to six denominations, who all claim and control different areas to some degree. Over the years, fights have broken out over who could walk or sit where in the church. I was told there was a fight over who had the right to sweep a certain area. Above the entrance of the church – to the right – there is a ladder that sits on a ledge and leans up to a window. The ladder has been there since before 1728, when it first appeared in an engraving. Since then, it was been photographed many times and is called the “immovable ladder.” The story goes no one knows which church set the ladder on the wall. Hence, no one touches it as it would upset the fragile status quo. The ladder sits as a testimony of how the Christian Church is painfully divided.
Jesus said, “And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25).
My sincere hope is with all the troubles we are facing, we will back each other up, unite together and answer Jesus’ prayer.
Eric Reece is the faith columnist for The Graham Star. He is the pastor of Robbinsville United Methodist Church.