Who's With Us: Mark 9:38-41
The world will know we are His disciples because of our love. It’s a wonderful thought. The ideal state of the church is an expression of God’s love so strong people are drawn to it. The cold reality of our world is that it can always use more demonstrations of God's love.
John comes to Jesus and tells Him about a situation. The disciples saw someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name and they tried to stop the person because they didn't know him. John wants to know if they made the right call.
Jesus corrects them, but He doesn’t rebuke them. The person was fine. People come to Jesus in many ways; people learn to rely upon God’s power differently. Jesus tells His disciples that what is important is learning to rely upon God. Once we enter relationship with Him and are open to His ways, then God can take us where He wants us. Certainly, the things we do in God’s name should align with His character. People doing godly things in Jesus’ name is fine, no questions asked.
The freedom granted in this passage is amazing. We’re all different. God created us to be unique for a reason. In our differences, we see aspects of God we would not see if we were all the same. Jesus encourages to celebrate the different ways we come to Him, realizing it is the name of Jesus that best unites us.
I have a spiritual friend who is fond of saying, “I like how Jesus looks on you.” That expression encapsulates this passage deeply. Jesus looks different on me than on you, but so long as Jesus is what we’re seeing in each other we can be united.
One of my greatest frustrations with the church is our quest for uniformity in community. We present the idea that people must dress a certain way to show respect for God. We make people feel like there is one way to pray. We teach baptism must be done a certain way to be valid. We teach that communion must be performed under a specific set of rituals or it isn’t right. We look down on people for using different translations of the Bible. I don’t believe any of that is Jesus talking. If a person is genuinely in relationship with God, what does it matter how they dress, how they pray, how they were baptized, how they take communion, or what translation of the Bible they use? It is God who saves us, not any of those ritualistic practices. Relationship with Him trumps ritual.
Jesus is about unity, not uniformity. Difference is good so long as we are truly in Christ. Jesus encourages us to refresh each other – to give a cup of cold water to one another – because of Him rather than look for differences. In this way, Jesus' charge in John 13:35 will be true. The world will know we are His disciples because of our love.
