Whoever is not against you is for you

First Sunday in Lent

Luke 9:49-50

49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you.”

“He does not follow with us” – that is why disciples tried to stop this unnamed person. It did not matter that the person was casting our demons in Jesus’ name. (Remember the disciples had been unable to do that very thing in Luke 9:40.) It did not matter that Jesus’ name was being honoured. No, the problem was that “he does not follow with us.” This outsider who followed Jesus was an outsider, not like the disciples who were insiders. But Jesus does not agree with how John sees things, Jesus says, “If the person is not working against you, then they are for you.”

Jesus has a very big tent – anyone who works in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, is a friend regardless of their denomination, or their ethnicity, or the ways they worship. Anyone who seeks to follow Jesus, making Jesus the Lord of their lives is a friend, and we should rejoice as God works through them, as the Holy Spirit blesses what they do.

The followers of Jesus come from many different places and even practices – and together we are made one in Jesus Christ alone. He is the thing – the only thing – we hold in common – Jesus Christ alone. We pray for Catholics and Pentecostals, for Zion Church of Christ members and Copts, for Kerala Catholics and Greek Orthodox, that God would bless them and rejoicing that they are our siblings in Jesus Christ. We pray for the Christian churches in Centre Wellington that they would be blessed, and we rejoice when we meet Christians in this community whatever church they may connect with. 

PRAYER:    

Lord God, you call people of different backgrounds and languages and denominations to be your followers. Teach us to rejoice in the diversity of your family, in the diversity of the people with whom we follow you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.