Acting as One

André Weil loved playing tricks. Born in 1906 in France, he excelled in mathematics but became bored by the staid traditions that dominated academia.

After graduating from college, he taught in India for a time. When he returned to France, he had not abandoned his love of trickery or his hatred of the academic systems. He began commiserating with his friend, Henri Cartan. Both hated the textbooks they were compelled to use.

One day, Weil and Cartan met with four other mathematicians who were equally disgruntled. They decided to address their frustrations in an innovative way. They created a new “person,” Nicolas Bourbaki, named for a French general who led French forces during a humiliating defeat by Prussia in 1871. As a joke, they faked a birth certificate and other documents.

But these men also began tackling serious subjects. Working together as “Nicolas Bourbaki,” they began publishing mathematical papers and textbooks. And, over time, their work under this pseudonym had a dramatic impact on the course of mathematics. Although their adventure had begun as a joke, they demonstrated how people could work together and successfully act as one.

This is the kind of unity Christians are meant to have. Jesus modeled this unity by declaring His complete identity with the Father. Similarly, the Bible says that Believers are one Body. We compliment and need each other, and every member has a vital part to play (Ephesians 4:1-5, 4:16).

This principle was put into action by the people who built the tower of Babel. Because they acted as one people, even God declared that “nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6).

Today, remember that you are part of the Body of Christ. You are needed. Do your part.