For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine.
1 Corinthians 11:18-19; NRSVue
When the wealthy, privileged members of the Corinthian church we’re living it up even at the Lord’s table at the expense of the poor who came in late because of their work/jobs, along with a number of other issues between the rich and the poor in that setting, whatever unity would have been maintained would have been a farce, empty. On top of that was a penchant for division (1 Corinthians 1). But what if everyone in that situation would have just had to agree to live with all of that, to be united in the midst of all those differences, to get along in spite of the rich eating most of the meal and more or less drunk, all of that before the poor arrived? What if the poor just had to look past all of that?
Unity is a good ideal, but it all depends on what you mean. People might unite in spite of differences for some common cause only to disband later. The kind of unity Christ calls for is different. Yes, we sometimes have to put up with each other, true in every human relationship. But the kind of unity Christ calls for might very well mean division. Remember when Jesus taught that he had not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34-39)? He wasn’t speaking of an actual, literal sword, but of the inevitable divisions which come from following him, even in one’s family, dare I say, even church family? Jesus said that his true family were those who do God’s will (Mark 3:31-35).
Who did Jesus sit with often incurring the rebuke of the ones who had affluence and power? The disenfranchised, the despised. Those on the margins and outside of the boundaries of accepted society. Is it any different today?
The church rejects certain people. In the past those who were black who could not enter white Bible kind of church assemblies. In the present queer people who believe and want to follow Christ. The Spirit seems to be evidently working in their lives as much or more than any of the rest of us, yet they are held at arm’s length, not really fully included. Because the Bible tells them so, they say. In that case as in days of old, we would argue that Jesus draws a line. We have to agree to disagree. And most importantly, we have to quit holding on to a unity which is not real and certainly not practical. Or go ahead and keep pretending at the expense of those on the bottom who really are not full participants, not fully included no matter what.
Unity is not real or good if it’s merely unity for unity’s sake. It has to be an “in Christ” unity of the Spirit which refuses to budge from Jesus’s priorities. And yes, the other side will argue with their finger pointing at Scripture, both sides, actually (see the excellent exegetical work of Luke Timothy Johnson, etc.). There’s no use pretending and holding on to something that isn’t real. Believers can amicably part.
The basic thought here is derived from How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace, by Melissa Florer-Bixler. My understanding of what she is saying in that book, which resonates with me.
Jesus community 