Not One of Us

Mark 9:38-41 Then John said, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to force demons out of someone. He is not one of us. So we told him to stop, because he does not belong to our group.” Jesus said, “Don’t stop him. Whoever uses my name to do powerful things will not soon say bad things about me. Whoever is not against us is with us. I can assure you that anyone who helps you by giving you a drink of water because you belong to the Messiah will definitely get a reward.

It never ceases to amaze me how tribalistic we’ve become without even being aware of it. It happens in sport –  okay, fine. It happens in politics – something I guess you’d expect. But it happens in far more subtle, more insidiously divisive ways too – in ways we tend to ignore.

Like it or not, society does tend to stratify itself by socioeconomic status. In other words, rich people hang out with other rich people; middle class with middle class; poor with the poor. There are exceptions of course, but look around … that’s how it tends to go.

On top of which, we have a natural tendency to keep away from people who look different, sound different, think differently, believe differently to ourselves. I’m sure if we thought about it, we could all find examples of that in our own lives.

You even see it amongst Christians – I belong to this tribe; they belong to that tribe. Hmm, they believe things slightly differently … better keep away from them.

Mark 9:38-41 Then John said [to Jesus], “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to force demons out of someone. He is not one of us. So we told him to stop, because he does not belong to our group.” Jesus said, “Don’t stop him. Whoever uses my name to do powerful things will not soon say bad things about me. Whoever is not against us is with us. I can assure you that anyone who helps you by giving you a drink of water because you belong to the Messiah will definitely get a reward.

Don’t be so quick to judge. Don’t be so quick to build walls. Jesus died for us all.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.