This resurrection story became the occasion for St. John to add a mystical reflection on the unity between God as mediated by Jesus and the Church. Unless we are united in Jesus there will be no Easter peace among us. When we cut ourselves off from the spirituality of the community by trying to disengage from Jesus, we become dry, arid, and useless. When our arguments within the community, inevitable   in  every intimate life, breach the peace and unity which Jesus revealed by his resurrection then we all wither and dry up.

Once upon a time a parish decided it was time and long past time to remodel their church. Virtually everyone thought it was a good idea, with the exception of those who opposed everything anyway. The pastor appointed the liturgical committee to investigate what kind of changes they should make. The committee talked to many experts and came back enthusiastically with a plan. The statues must go, the vigil candles must go, the stations of the cross should be reduced to roman numerals on the all,   the body on the crucifix must go, the altar rail must go. Nothing they said should distract from the pulpit, the baptismal font (at the door of the church), and the altar. The church would have to become clean and simple. Many people in the parish were furious. They did not want to see their splendid old church turned into a Protestant chapel. The liturgy committee felt personally assaulted. The old church was not liturgically correct, you can't do post Council liturgy in a pre council church, only a liturgically correct church would do. The parish split wide open. Families who had been close friends for years stopped speaking to one another. Kids fought in the school playground, teen age romances broke up. The pastor took a discrete poll and found that if he put the issue to a vote, the community would split fifty/fifty. No one was listening, no one would think about compromise. So wise man that he was the pastor said that they would postpone the decision till next year. Who knows he said to another priest, maybe the last judgement will come before next year.