All For One, And One For All

A Reflection on the First Reading for January 19th, 2019:
​Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 49.3, 5-6

The Lord said to me,
“You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

And now the Lord says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength.

He says,
“It is too small a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

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"All for one, and one for all". Many who have not read Alexandre Dumas' famous novel recognize the motto of the Musketeers. It is a pledge of loyalty to their brotherhood. In the adopting of this motto, the group promises to act for the benefit of each individual (all for one) and each individual promises to act for the benefit of the group (one for all), even under pain of death.


One thing that interests me greatly is making connections between literary classics and the Bible. So I asked myself, what if we were to pull that motto out of context and relocate it in the Bible? What significance, if any, would the sentiment “all for one and one for all” have in the story of how God loves us and calls us to Him? Could there be a common thread between the brotherhood of Musketeers and our brotherhood (and, by this, I include sisterhood as well) as children of God?


The Bible speaks often and powerfully about brotherhood as a mark of Christian faith. Hebrews 13:1 says: “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.” Romans 12:10 says: “Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.” 1 John 4:20 says: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”


In the first reading for this Sunday, God says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” In other words, the story of how God loves us and calls us to Him is not for the Jewish people only; it is also for the Gentiles, all the nations that cover the earth. This is the brotherhood that God wants for us all. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
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“[Y]ou are all one in Christ Jesus.” In the story of God’s love for us, it is Christ who is at the centre. Everything that happens before Christ’s coming leads to Him, and everything after emanates from Him. He is the catalyst who brings together individuals—in many ways unique and separate—and makes us one body. All are united for the purpose of sharing in the One Body: all for one. And, as Romans 12:10 says: “Honour one another above yourselves,” in other words: one for all. Jesus’ death on the cross was the ultimate fulfilment of that motto. ​




​Donna Davis

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

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