No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
– John Donne
The Christian’s selflessness in relationship to others is not rooted simply in the selflessness of the divine love which it reflects, but also in the fact that he recognises that his individual life is bound up with the lives of all men and women and that his interest in them is not just something extra or peripheral in his life, but rather something essential and central. The individual person is part of all humanity; his bond with the rest of mankind does not rest simply on a surface interest, but rather on a common ground, common sharing, a common vocation.
The human person cannot exist to the full without other people for it is in dialogue with them that one develops as a person. This should alert one to the bond he has with others. It is enriching to reflect on the attitude to creation that one finds in the theology of Eastern Christendom. Creation is something good which shares in the goodness of God and reaches a climax in the creation of man. He is made in the image and likeness of God himself. The East understands by man here the whole of mankind, humanity itself, for it is in this totality that the divine image is reflected. The essential element of the Godhead is that it is a Unity and a Trinity: one divine Nature and three Persons. Humanity as a whole reflects this image in that the unity having a common nature and a plurality consisting of many individual persons. It is true that the reflection is not perfect in that the relationship between the divine Persons and Nature is different from that of human persons and mankind. But the point that is being made is that it is mankind as a whole that reflects the image of God. To focus too closely on the individual man is to blur the perspective, to lose the natural context in which he must essentially be seen; the whole of mankind. In the Incarnation, the Son of the Father became man, that is, He assumed and redeemed this common humanity which had lost its orientation towards God. What remains, and this is the work of the Church guided by the Spirit, is to restore that orientation in individual manifestations of that humanity, so that the persons who constitute it will consciously orientate their lives to the Father.
Christians have always recognised a special communion to bond among themselves. It is rooted in Christ. Like all the members of a body we are one, and the head is Christ (1 Co 12:12f). In him all barriers are removed (Ga 3:28); He is the peace that brings all men together (Ep 2:14). This common bond in Christ gives to each believer a special relationship to others to whom the Father has given similar share in his life through his Son. But we need to realise that this new life is simply the flowering of that life which has come to all mankind from the Father, and that just as Christians have a special bond in the gift of communion in Christ which comes from the Father, so all mankind has a common bond in the gift of a communion in humanity which also comes from the Father. Indeed the relationship between these two should be clear. The bond that Christians have in Christ is for all people. It is the flowering of that common life which all humanity shares. In this light, the communion of believers can never see itself outside of the context of the whole of mankind, because it is within it that it exists and lives, and its special gift from the Father is a mission to humanity which will bring it together in a more conscious awareness of its fundamental orientation to him. The very nature of the individual believer, and the very nature of the Christian communion to which he belongs, proclaim to him that he is part of the continent, a part of the main. To live his Christian life cooped up in the individuality of his own personal expression of humanity is to cut himself off from the matrix which has given him birth and sustains him in life.
Every man is a fellow traveller to the Father. When we walk towards him it is never alone. He gives us a special gift in our Christian community, but even as we walk with our fellow Christians, we cannot ignore the rest of humanity who were created to walk this same path, and, in their own way, do so. Our destiny is inextricably linked with theirs, and this is by divine intent. We cannot afford to be indifferent to their existence, unfeeling of their trials and sufferings on the way, nor ignorant of our mission and obligation to them. We need to be aware of our common Father and the consequences which flow from that fundamental principle: solidarity, concern, sympathy and mission.
– David Walker
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