Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 27, 2009 - Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48]John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." 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. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward."
The Book of Numbers and the Gospel of Mark present us with similar situations. Someone in the community sees someone doing something that the observer believes to be reserved only for certain kinds of folks and wants that supposed usurper stopped! In the first case, the "young man" seems to have thought that God cannot work on someone who is not present at the agreed upon place for a particular ceremony! Eldad and Medad were "on the list" but missed the ceremony. The Book of Numbers tells us that their absence didn't prevent God from bestowing the spirit on them. The Gospel of Mark has one of the apostles reporting to Jesus an effort to stop someone from "driving out demons in your name...because he does not follow us." Jesus' response is quoted above! Membership and/or "certification" can have a salutary effect. Membership helps a group define itself and builds a sense of unity and solidarity. It can also build a sense of arrogance and snobbery and turf-possessiveness. Certification can insure competence and confidence and security. It can also restrict certain types of services and make them more difficult to obtain! When the "membership" or "certification" in question concerns the People of God and what good may be done by anyone acting in the name of Christ, then we have to be quite a bit more careful about our restrictions! No one can claim to have the exclusive rights to the Holy Spirit. We have the promise that our church leadership can be confident of the guidance of that Spirit but not a control of it. Nor should any of us baptized folks claim that only the baptized may be guided by God's Spirit or do mighty deeds in the name of Jesus! If Baptism "configures" us to Christ, we could well spend some time meditating on the the passage quoted above and respond similarly to the Lord. "Whoever is not against us is for us!" AMEN
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