From the beginning, there was separation. Let me rephrase that, after the fall of Adam and Eve, there was separation. Knowledgeable of what they did, they separated themselves from God by hiding. Thankfully, God never gets tired calling us back.

In God’s wisdom, He knew that He could not send Jesus down to earth without preparation. It began with one man, Abraham, with whom He made a covenant. His family flourished and became a tribe that grew into a nation. That nation was to be a light for all humanity to follow back to a relationship with God. Instead, it became about rules & regulations, who was clean — that is who was socially acceptable, and who was to be avoided. Even those who were descendants of Abraham, the Samaritans, were looked down upon by the Jewish people in those times.

Jesus’ main audience was the Jewish community, however, He did heal those outside of the community who showed great faith in Him, like the centurion. He spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, calling her to belief in Him through conversation over a drink of water. Jesus came to gather us together. The Apostles and the early Church had to navigate through rough waters to figure out how Jews and Gentiles could worship together and become a single faith community. It’s a constant struggle, even 2,000 years later.

Why is it so hard for humans to follow Jesus’ example of gathering people together? It may sound a bit cliche to say, “the devil made me do it,” but there may be some truth to that. The root of the word devil basically means “to reach by throwing apart, let fly apart, strike.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary). Bishop Barron has often remarked that the word means to scatter. That is what sin does, it scatters us and breaks us apart, pitting us one against another.

When we are faced with a temptation that separates us from God or others, that is the signal that sin is in our midst. Perhaps it’s our sin, perhaps it comes from another person. As Christians, we are called to resist the temptation, seek the courage, grace, and peace of God to heal the division. In this way, we will bring together our family, our neighborhood, our community, and our world. We may not see peace and unity in all aspects of humanity in our lifetime, but we can still try to bring a little heaven down to earth.