Friend Or Foe

It happened again. The disciples missed the glory of Christ and His kingdom because of their own self interest and wrongful assumptions. Thankfully we can learn from this situation as we also suffer from being short-sighted.

In this text, John interrupts Jesus’ lesson about being the greatest to rebuke a man who’s casting out demons in Jesus name. Why did John want to stop him? Maybe John was motivated by jealousy because recently the disciples were unable to cast out a demon? Or maybe John was still thinking about being great and saw this as an opportunity to promote his status as one of the twelve over this man? It’s worth noting that this man is the only person mentioned outside the Twelve (and later the Seventy-Two) who is specifically described as driving out demons in Jesus’ name, before the gift of The Holy Spirit in Acts.

Instead of seeking to rebuke this man, John should have been filled with awe by what this situation revealed about Jesus. By this ‘outsider’ casting out demons, we clearly see that Jesus’ name is so powerful that even people who were not directly associated with physically following Jesus were able to cast out demons in His name. This proves that Jesus holds almighty authority in the spiritual realm that when someone speaks His name in faith, demons flee.

Jesus responds to John and points out if someone is doing miracles in His name, that person can’t soon afterward speak ill of Him. This man was not against Jesus, but he was with Him, aiding the advancement of the Kingdom of God. When demons are expelled from someone and that person is set free, and Jesus is seen in authority over the spiritual world, it is a win for everyone in the kingdom of God.

Jesus then connects this situation to giving a cup of water to the disciples. And these acts of faith and service, in a Jesus name, no matter how small, will be rewarded.

Once again, Jesus kingdom stands in strong contrast to our assumptions and the kingdoms of this world.

Clearly, Jesus does not want the disciples to stop this man, but to accept him, and rejoice in the kingdom work he is doing.

Jesus sees a larger group of His followers than the disciples see. This is important for us to notice, we should seek to see people, who are in-Christ, the same way Jesus does. Jesus does warns of false teachers (Matthew 7:15-20), yet those speaking well of Jesus and doing miracles in His name are not against Jesus. There are many things that can divide one Christian group from another. Unlike the disciples in this moment, our default should be see those beyond our group, who honor and speak well of Jesus as our brothers and with us in following Christ.

Also, we see that seemingly small acts like giving someone a cup of water in Jesus name has an eternal impact and reward. And we should seek to operate in this kind of kindness with the revelation that these small moments are far more powerful than we assume.

Lastly, we also see Jesus’ heart for people being set free from demonic possession. This is shown to be a call for rejoicing among believers, that someone is set free from darkness.