Jesus “Brand” Violation?”

Mark 9:38-41, NLT - John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.”

“Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.

 

This passage is a part of a larger section that extends through the rest of Mark 9, but we are going to break it up into a few reflections.  There are several important messages in the larger section.  So we’re going to “chunk” it into smaller sections.

In the chunk above, the disciples notice that others are operating under the name of Jesus that are not part of the group that Jesus chose.  They are casting out demons in Jesus’s name.  The disciples have a valid concern, for the “outsider exorcists” have no official accountability to Jesus.  They could do things or say things that depart from the core of Jesus’s teaching.  This was a common issue in Hebrew circles where multiple Rabbis operated in the same area.  The disciples of each Rabbi were always careful to not say anything that would be contrary to the teachings of their leader and they would be protective of anyone else who invoke their Rabbi’s name.  This is what is going on here.  The disciples are letting Jesus know that His “brand” is being violated. 

Jesus’s answer must have been rather surprising.  However, He does make an important distinction that could be easily missed.  Jesus stipulates that if someone “performs a miracle in my name,” they are an ally.  Don’t stop them.  He goes further: 

“Anyone who is not against us is for us.”

What Jesus is doing here is blurring the line between insiders and outsiders.  Jesus is starting a movement, not a new club.  He is ushering in a surprising new expression of God’s kingdom on Earth.  It is a kingdom that is accessible to all through the name of Jesus.  If someone has a demon cast out in Jesus’s name, it signifies that they have tapped into the power of God’s kingdom.  If they so much as give a cup of water to support the cause, they are a welcome expression of that kingdom.   They should be embraced, not discouraged.  They should be rewarded, not penalized. 

This should cause us to be careful about who we determine to valid Jesus followers in our day.  There are tens of thousands of denominations in the world that invoke the name of Jesus as their teacher, leader, and Messiah.  While there would be a wide variety of opinions on just about every issue, it is the name of Jesus that we all share.  This is the reason that the Apostle Paul, many years later, would make the following statement when responding to similar concerns:

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.   (Philippians 1:15-17)

In a time when denominations of Christians are fragmenting, we should not make assumptions about which ones constitute the “true” or “authentic” expression of Jesus’s kingdom.  The more important questions are, “are people being delivered from evil?” and “is the name of Jesus being preached?”  To see the fragmentation another way, there are currently tens of thousands of unique witnesses to Jesus that could reach tens of thousands of unique kinds of people.  If people find their way to Jesus, who cares who gets the credit?

 

Question:  Have you ever caught yourself discounting the authenticity of others’ Christian faith because they expressed it in a different way than you are accustomed?

 

Prayer:  God, deliver your church from tribalism and divisive behavior.  Help us celebrate when people come to you and experience the miraculous, no matter whether it is through our chosen group or someone else’s.”  To God be the glory!  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to bless people you know who attend a different church than you do.

 

Song:  It Came Upon a Midnight Clear – Josh Groban

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uYmUtQogI4  

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

 

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - November 30, 2021

 

Luke 2:13-14 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

   “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

 

“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” began as a poem called “The Angel’s Song” composed by Edmund Sears, a Unitarian minister in 1849.  The most popular US version of the poem set to music is a tune called “Carol” written by Richard Storrs Willis in 1850.  The pairing of the two makes the popular carol the first Christmas Carol written in the United States.  It was written in the aftermath of the war with Mexico and in the midst of a rising internal conflict in the US regarding slavery.  This conflict would lead to the Civil War just a few years after the poem was written.  Sears himself was recovering from a devastating illness and depression that had forced him to resign his pastorate in 1847.   

 

I find it compelling that Sears wrote these words in the midst of national and personal conflict and struggle: 

"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,

From heaven's all-gracious King."

The world in solemn stillness lay,

To hear the angels sing.

 

Sears imagines the first-century world being quiet and attentive enough to actually hear the angels song and message.  While it is easy to argue that the original angels message was not heard or heeded by most original hearers, stay with the progression of Sears’ thought.  The second verse proclaims that, “Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled,” witnessing that the Angels still sing for every generation their “glorious song of old.” The angels message of peace is proclaimed to every generation.

 

Then comes the controversial and thus, most often skipped third verse:

Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love-song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing.

 

Sears is pleading with humanity to hear the message of peace in a world obsessed with its many conflicts.

 

The fourth verse (in most versions, the third verse) is a more personal appeal aimed at comforting those like Sears himself who are struggling with the burdens of life:

 

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow. . .

 

He witnesses that the angels never-ending song is for them as well and invites them to “rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing!”  The poem finishes with the fifth verse imagines a world who finally hears and heeds the message of peace:

 

For lo!, the days are hastening on,

By prophet bards foretold,

When with the ever-circling years

Comes round the age of gold

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world give back the song

Which now the angels sing.

 

This song has never been one of my favorites because it does not explicitly mention Jesus.  But I have to say it has moved up in my personal rankings this year because it has helped me hear the angels’ message of peace more than I ever have before.  If ever the world needed to “hear the angels sing” their message of peace and comfort, it is now. 

 

Question:  Can you hear the Angels’ timeless song of peace being sung over you this year?

 

Prayer:  God is Highest Heaven, may we hear your song of peace over “life’s crushing load” this most holy of seasons. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray again for all of our health care workers

 

Song:  David Torbett - It Came Upon a Midnight Clear – There are obviously more polished versions of this song, but I wanted a version that included the almost always omitted third verse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TYlfl2QVsQ