The term ‘ecumenism’ as we understand it today did not exist in the time of Jesus. Yet his teaching and actions demonstrate a strong desire for unity. Three key biblical texts indicate this desire for unity and cooperation among those who followed Jesus.
The first is a command for his apprentices to love one another as he had taught them (Jn 13:34f). The second, much loved by ecumenists today, is a prayer of Jesus that all who follow him will be “one” just as the three members of the Trinity are one (Jn 17:20f).
In both passages, Jesus states a purpose or goal. In John 13:35, he says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”; and in John 17:21, he says, “so that the world may believe you [the Father] sent me.”
A third text is the story where the disciples of Jesus report that they have tried to stop someone from performing an exorcism because he was not their disciple. Jesus replies, “Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mk 9:38-41). This is seen as a critique of sectarianism.
The three parables told by Jesus in Luke 15 (the lost coin, sheep, and son) are also instructive. These stories give us a sense of the preciousness of “lost” individuals, and the joy inspired by restoration, which may legitimately be applied to “lost” communities of faith.
Just as great effort is expended to find the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son, great effort should be made to reach out to church communities that begin as separate, isolated groups, or that find themselves in such a state as a result of internal or external factors, with the aim of welcome, reconciliation, and (re)integration into the fellowship of the global church.
There is no indifference expressed in the parables of Luke 15 – only a profound sense of loss of unity that is replaced by joy as the community experiences a return to wholeness and harmony. This is what Jesus desires for lost people in all times and places, and for the church today. We are not whole until we are one; we are not in harmony until all the singers and musicians are present and acting as one.
However, Jesus did not pursue unity at any cost. There were times when his presence and influence proved divisive. At times, Jesus advocated for principled separation or permitted his influence to lead to separation and retreat from some form of unity (e.g., Mt 10:34-36 // Lk 12:51-53; and Jn 7:43).
On the whole, though, it is clear that the ministry of Jesus was radically inclusive in nature. The four Gospels clearly portray the universalising scope of the inbreaking kingdom of God and the Christian gospel, a development in salvation history that heralds an end to traditional social, religious and ethnic boundaries. Jesus frequently reached out in love, often at considerable personal cost, to people who were poor, disabled, marginalised, and powerless, inviting them into the centre of his life and circle of influence.
The Gospels frequently record radically ordinary encounters between Jesus and “sinners,” women, Samaritans, Gentiles, and various social outcasts. His twelve closest followers were largely from the margins of Jewish social and political life. Jesus made space for all at his table. He reserved the strongest criticism for leaders of Jewish religious sects who emphasised their distinctive, exclusive and superior qualities in relation to rivals.
Everyone who claims to follow Jesus is called to pursue ecumenism in the sense of promoting “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3), preventing divisions, and restoring unity where division has occurred.
Christians are called to love one another, to take actions to preserve their “oneness” in Christ, doing all in their power to discourage falsehoods and false stereotypes about other Christians and churches. They are expected to seek mutual understanding, and to respect cultural, liturgical and theological differences within the boundaries set by Scripture and according to the wisdom of the universal creeds and early ecumenical councils. They are required to pray and work together for Christian unity in pursuit of the church’s core mission.
What can you and I do to more authentically express the radical love of Jesus toward fellow sisters and brothers in Christ whom we don’t know, or toward whom we feel indifference or fear?
What can we do to model the inclusiveness of Jesus’s ministry and mission in our own contexts?
What can we do to transform apathy or resentment into fellowship and cooperation among our churches for the sake of Jesus and the kingdom of God?
What can we do to bring a lasting answer to Jesus’s prayer for Christian unity?
We are better together.
Rev Dr Rod Benson is General Secretary of the NSW Ecumenical Council.
Image source: United Church of God
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