Never fear doing the right thing

 

While reflecting on the gospel today, I found a lesson that speaks very much to our times.  John the apostle went to Jesus and told Him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”  And Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.  There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.  For whoever is not against us is for us.” [Mark 9:38-40]

To say, “For whoever is not against us is for us” seems so foreign to our ears today.  The phrase, “Whoever is not for us is against us” is more often heard.  It sounds the same, but there’s a subtle nuance there.  There seems to be so much of “us vs. them” in our country and in our world.  But the danger in that is that we can get so caught up in identifying who we are in terms of being opposed to who “they” are, that we actually get in the way of doing good.  I doubt that John saw it that way, but that’s what he and the others were doing.  They found themselves trying to prevent the driving out of demons, in Jesus’ name, just because the person doing it wasn’t part of their group!  And Jesus had to tell them not to do that.

In some ways, this story is similar to a child who tattles on a sibling.  Say that one sibling does something that is permitted by the parent, but another sibling is jealous of it.  The result is that the jealous sibling tattles for a silly reason.

“Exclusivism” can be defined as a tendency to think that something is good only when I do it.  It’s a form of spiritual greed in which we have a hard time rejoicing in and supporting the good deeds of another.  This is a dangerous but all too common struggle for many.

The ideal, in our Christian life, is to look for the works of God everywhere and within everyone.  We should so deeply desire that the Kingdom of God be built up that we are overjoyed whenever we witness such activity.  If, on the other hand, we find ourselves jealous of another for the good that they do, or if we find ourselves trying to find fault with what they’re doing, then we should be aware of this tendency and claim it as our sin, not theirs.

With the threat of war looming (once again) in Europe, and conflicts going on in so many parts of the world, is it possible that Jesus is calling us to work together to drive out the demons of fear and hate with the love He has for all of us? [James 4:13-17]