Read the Psalm

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” Yes, yes, yes. It is the epitome of goodness for God’s beloved to live in unity. It is delightful (pleasant). The images of oil dripping down the beard and robes of Aaron and dew on the mountains of Zion were pictures of blessing. The last line of this psalm compares unity to “life forevermore.” In other words, it is a foretaste of eternity. Brothers (and sisters) dwelling unity is deep blessing. The word “unity” could also be translated “oneness.” It evokes the words of Jesus in John 17 as he prayed:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (17:20-23) 

Jesus seems to repeat Himself in this prayer and the repetition expresses the urgency and passion of the prayer. He deeply desires that the reality of oneness experienced in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit) be what shapes human relationships. Together, as we dwell in the love of Father in Christ through the Spirit, it will produce unity or oneness. That is the natural fruit that is borne. It is good. That word (good) used in Psalm 133 is the same word used to speak of the creation being good as God created it in Genesis 1-2. When brothers and sisters are living in oneness, it is a restoration to the goodness of creation design.

The oneness spoken of in Psalm 133 would have been in the shared pilgrimage to Jerusalem … to the holy place … to the house of the Lord. In this sense, when we are aligned in our purpose to experience the presence of God in our lives above all other pursuits, unity or oneness flows. 

However, we also understand the messiness of relationships where oneness is not the experienced. In fact, for most of us, we know the hurt and pain of broken, seemingly unreconcilable relationships. The idea of oneness may feel unattainable.

As Jesus continued to walk through Holy Week, we see Him gathering His disciples. In this gathering, we observe all the glory and beauty as well as the messiness and pain of human relationships. God the Son was not exempt from difficult interactions, misunderstandings, and even betrayal. Judas, of course, was infamous for betraying Jesus’ love and trust. Peter argued with Jesus about going to the cross. James and John sought to get positions of power and authority because of their association with Jesus. Jesus was set on going to the cross, to make a way for His beloved to live in the Father’s presence. There was not unity around this objective.

As we get nearer to the cross, the tension increases. The cross demands that we lose our life that we might find it. The cross invites us to let go of our own objectives and listen closely to the whispers of God. Amid the tension, Jesus doesn’t fight. He doesn’t argue. He does something entirely unexpected.

He washes feet. On the night He would be betrayed, He served and loved His disciples. Even though not unified experientially, He acted in a way that reflected a deeper unity … a deeper reality. Love and abiding in God’s presence means that we live in ways perhaps not understood. “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” (John 13:7)

Right before Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, John reports that “when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (John 13:1) Jesus lived the good and pleasant way even as the disciples did not understand. Perhaps, our invitation is to do the same. The poet Rumi’s observation that “we’re all just walking each other home” is an apt description of how we choose to see and live from the unity between us all that lies deeper than mere experience.

Reflection questions: who are you being invited to love to the end? What might washing feet look like in your world, with those you are called to love?

Prayer: Father, help me to live the way of Jesus, to love those in my world, whether they understand or not. May I love people to the end. Amen.