Solomon, a baby, and the Body of Christ

Solomon had a dream and in that dream God said, "Ask! What shall I give you?"
And Solomon asked God for an understanding heart
to judge His people,
that he would be able to discern between good and evil.

And God gave him his request and also gave him long life, riches, and honor.

One fine day, while Solomon held court in his palace,
two women with questionable livelihoods stood before him.

With a broken heart, the first woman presented her case.

"This woman and I live in the same house.
I gave birth to a baby and a few days later,
she had a baby, too.
In the night, she accidentally laid on top of her baby
and he died.
So she got up, and took my baby from my side,
and put hers there,
and took my baby back to bed with her.

When I woke up to nurse him in the night,
I realized he was dead.
But when morning came,
I saw that indeed,
he was not my son.
She was holding my son!
And the dead baby in my bed was hers!"

The other woman interrupted and said,
"Not so! The living child is mine and the dead one is hers!"

And Solomon said something like,
"This is a case of she said she said.
You both say that the living baby is yours.
I know just what to do."

In a loud voice he bellowed,
"Bring me a sword!"

A sword was brought to Solomon.

"Divide the baby in two with the sword
and give half of the baby to each of the women,"
said he.

The baby's mother cried out with compassion,
"O King! Give her the baby!
Don't kill him!"

But the other woman said,
"Yes, let's divide him.
Then he won't be mine or yours!"

And Solomon lowered the sword.
He made his decree.

"Give the first woman her living baby,
and don't kill him,
for she is his mother."

And all of Israel heard about this story
and they had great respect for Solomon,
for they recognized God's wisdom at work in him
to be just and true.
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Jesus' prayer for the Body of Christ
is recorded in John 17.

He prayed,
"..that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me,
and I in You;
that they also may be one in Us,
that the world may believe that You sent Me..."

'Don't let them be divided!" was His hearts' cry.
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Sometimes,
there are divisions in the Body of Christ.

Sometimes, we are too willing to 'divide the baby'
instead of humbling ourselves.
We are willing to destroy instead of having compassion on our 'child'
and allowing our 'baby' to flourish and grow.

But, I think, that if we are the real 'parent'
and we truly love our 'offspring',
we will relinquish our right to own what we birthed
in order that our 'baby' not be harmed
by the sword of division.