St. John’s Gospel has a tendency to conclude incidents with seeming throw-away lines which in fact serve as commentary on what just happened. For example, Chapter Seven reports of the dispute that broke about among the various factions of Jewish society over Jesus’ nature and identity. The lines of disagreement become hardened and John concludes the passage: Then each went to his own house. This was not a report about geography but an expression of the breakdown of communication. We might put it, each retired to their own corner. We in our country and in our Church seem to have fallen into the trap of going into “our own house” instead of doing the hard work of learning to communicate with others when we disagree.
