Us

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Us

For     Against

Accepting     Welcoming     Including

Our Way Of Being

Church

(photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Mark 9: 38 to 41

At that time, John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we noticed that there was someone who was driving out evil spirits in your name. We went to stop him because he does not follow us."

Jesus replied, "Do not stop him. If someone is doing a great deed in my name, that person will not be able to speak ill of me.

For whoever is not against us is for us.

Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you are one with Christ, amen, I say to you, that person will always have a reward."

Reflection

John is very upset in this reading from the Gospel of Mark. He has seen someone casting out evil spirits and that person was using the name of Jesus to do this.

John realized that this person was not one of the disciples who was traveling with Jesus. He felt that this was wrong and brought it to the attention of Jesus. 

Jesus is happy that this person is driving out the evil spirits in His name. In doing this Jesus is radically expanding what it means to follow Him.

You don't have to be one of the Twelve or even one of the disciples who traveled with Jesus. You just have to be "for" Jesus---you have to embrace His message, the Good News.

John is an example of the tendency that we can all have to limit the power of Jesus. It is a natural trap that we can fall into because we can easily think that we are the true followers of Jesus and others fall short of the time, effort, and energy that we have put into our walk with Jesus.

We can judge others as inadequate because they have not followed the same rigorous steps that we have. Jesus is much more inclusive than many of His followers!

 Jesus looks into our hearts and He knows when we really and truly want to do His work. He points out that He will take care of the rewards. We do not have to worry about it!

Jesus leads us in the direction of an "us" faith. We are not alone. We are urged to accept and welcome others---even those who do not "follow" exactly.

It is simple, Jesus says. If they are not against us, they are for us.

Our notion of "Church" can be very limiting. Jesus expands it and teaches us to be more accepting of the gifts of others.

It is never about "me".

It is always about "us" and doing what we do in "the name of Jesus"! As Kathy's photo indicates, we have to share the roadway!

1.  Why do we have the tendency to limit the power of Jesus?

2. Do you have an "us" faith or a "me" faith?

3. What is your notion of Church? 

(scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John J. McNamara)