As Jesus prepared His disciples to enter the kingdom of God, He opened their minds to understand a life where they would be in the world but not part of the world.
For this truth to become their reality they needed to be separated out from the world and brought in to union with God; Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
The separation that Jesus calls them to is total. There is no area of their life that is excluded; there is no relationship that is protected from this division. Jesus wields a sword that cuts His people out of the world, often leaving a trail of offence and conflict.
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household’.
Matthew 10:34-36
Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
Luke 12:51
On the other side of this division, Jesus prays for and establishes the unity of His people with the Father. He does not pray for the world.
I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.
John 17:9-11
Remember, Jesus came to call His sheep out of the pen and in to open pasture. It is in open pasture where they become one flock under the good shepherd.
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
John 10:9
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
John 10:14-16
To become one flock we must let Him lead us out of the pen in to open pasture. Unity cannot be found with those remaining in the pen for they do not listen to His voice. Yes, love will abound on both sides of the fence – but unity cannot.