Reading this chapter, and reflecting upon the scriptural quotations in it about God's scattered children and Jesus' one flock, God reminded me of another scattering:
Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower which reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth... The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. (Genesis 11:4-7)
We think divisions and misunderstandings between men a great evil, and work hard to overcome them - and so they are, and so we should. But the truth is that God decided that we should be confused and scattered, to stop us uniting in rebellion and alienation from Him. This challenges our simple ideas about God.
The Holy Spirit has linked two scatterings in my mind this morning: that first one in Babel and the second one in the Church, which has also produced division and misunderstanding. Could it be that in the second as well as the first case, "the Lord scattered them" (Genesis 11:7)? And for similar reasons?
Nevertheless, Jesus firmly prophesied: "I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:16). And He is praying this for us: "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:23).
One good purpose I discern in the separated denominations, churches, practices, theologies and points of view, is that it forces me to realise that God is greater than the Church, and Jesus stands over and distinct from us all. Gerard W Hughes in his classic book 'God of Surprises' writes:
'The Church is a sign, and an effective sign, of God's presence among us. God is not static. The Church, if it is to be true to its meaning, cannot be static. We can never adequately describe God: therefore we can never adequately describe the meaning and nature of the Church. As an organisation of human beings, the Church must have structures, laws, discipline, a body of teaching and ways of communicating, but its structures are provisional and it must be constantly developing. God is always greater, greater than the Church. God is at work in all creation and dwells within each one. God is at work across the Christian denominations, across the religions and in the hearts of those who profess to have no religion. No religion can monopolise God, although most will try to do so, claiming that unless you follow their particular way, you cannot be saved.'
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