Those who are not against us, are for us: A Meditation on Mark 9

And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw

one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us:

and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But

Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall

do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.

For he that is not against us is on our part.

Christian unity is a difficult and touchy subject.  As Pope Francis conducts his tour and teaching in America this week, his very presence makes an argument for Christian unity.  In the West, for well over a thousand years, the Bishop of Rome has been a center of unity among Christians, often enforced by political and military might.  The Pope as central mark of unity for the whole Christian world did not emerge until several centuries after the Apostles were dead, as evidenced by the various rulings and decrees of the Ecumenical Councils.  However, it was proposed in emphatic terms by early medieval popes, and rejected by the Eastern Orthodox Churches just as emphatically in the Great Schism of 1054.  Roughly 500 years later in the West, the Reformation would reject this notion as well, particularly with the Augsburg Confession of 1530, and the subsequent clarifying documents to that Confession which round out the 1580 Lutheran Book of Concord.  Of central importance in these schisms is whether unity in the Church is found in the person of certain office holders, or in the very Word of God.

There is no doubt, to the scholar and the casual observer, that the visible Church of Christ is divided into thousands of variant communions today.  Within the Reformation churches there are Anglicans, Methodists, Calvinists, Lutherans, Baptists, Charismatics, and countless variations on each of them.  Within the Eastern Orthodox churches, there are national and cultural ties that define fellowships, many of which are at odds with each other over territorial controversies.  Even within Roman Catholicism, the radical distinctions between Jesuits, Franciscans, Benedictines, Carmelites, and so forth highlight enormous divisions.  While Rome is held together by its common submission to the Pope, there’s no denying that the various competing camps within Rome continue to jockey for power and influence.  In such a mess as this, where does the Christian find unity both with Christ and His Church?

We hear Jesus guiding us toward that answer in this short section of Mark 9.  While St. John wanted to forbid a person from casting out demons in Jesus’ Name because the person wasn’t following the Disciples, Jesus points out that following the Disciples is not the heart of the matter—following Jesus, however, is.  It was not important, as St. Paul would write later in his first epistle to the Corinthian church, that the disciples have disciples in their own names, but rather that all disciples be of Jesus and in His Name.  For this reason we can see that even when the chief of the Apostles is acting and thinking wrongly (as St. Peter was in Acts,) his office of apostleship is not enough to cement his authority against correction—rather, be they prophets or apostles, saints or martyrs, doctors or theologians, the only thing that makes them worthy of gathering around is their faithfulness to Jesus.  The Disciples themselves found their unity in Christ, as would all future disciples; i.e., the Church is not united by the power or authority of any particular disciple of Jesus, but instead is bound together by the same Jesus who calls all His disciples unto Himself.

In the context of Christian unity, this shifts the focus away from man-made efforts at uniting Jesus’ Church, and back to Jesus who is the chief corner stone and head of the Church.  It is Jesus who called each of His 12 Disciples, and Jesus who calls all His disciples of every time and place.  The question really becomes, “How is it that Jesus calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies His Holy Church—His Holy People?”  The same way He always has:  by His Word and Spirit.

Consider the centrality of Jesus’ Word, as He gives His parting comfort to His disciples before His Passion, in John 14:

Jesus answered and said to him,

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;

and My Father will love him,

 and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

He who does not love Me does not keep My words;

and the word which you hear is not Mine

but the Father’s who sent Me.

Therefore it is in our Lord’s Word that we know Him; that we are called into His fellowship; that He gives us new and eternal life; that He forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness; that we are given faith to believe and receive His grace; that we are conformed to His image, rather than the image of the fallen world.  Furthermore, as it is by Jesus’ Word that we are called unto Jesus and made one with Him, so it is through that same Word and that same Jesus that we find fellowship and unity with one another.  There, under Jesus’ withering Word of Law, we find ourselves to be sinful and fallen beings, justly deserving death and hell.  There, under Jesus’ life giving Word of Gospel, we find ourselves forgiven and set free by the sacrifice He made for us on His Holy Cross, given eternal life in Him as He burst forth fromHis tomb on Easter morning, and sent forth in His life to live our lives in righteousness and truth.  There, in His Word of Law and Gospel, we find ourselves living as both sinner and saint, called unto lives of humble repentance and faith, given new hearts and new natures by His Holy Spirit to abide in His Word of Life both now and for eternity.

How is it that we see the unity Jesus creates in His Church and among His People?  By His Word and Spirit.  There we find our true brothers and sisters, alive by grace through faith, because there we find the same Jesus who calls all of us out of our darkness and into His marvelous light.  There we see our fellow saints and sinners who struggle to live into the Word of Christ, and who by His Spirit glorify His Father by abiding in His Word.  This fellowship is not made by politicians and bureaucrats, by Magisterium and Council, or by any name bandied about of men.  This fellowship is created by God alone, kept by God alone, and made perfectly whole by God alone.  This fellowship, this One Holy Catholic Church against which the gates of hell shall never prevail, is formed by and in the Word of Christ.  There we know Him, and those who belong to Him.

Do not despair of the Church’s unity, dear Christian—it was never yours to make.  Rather, return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Return to Jesus your Savior by abiding in His Holy and Eternal Word:  let the Word of His Law break your prideful heart, and the Word of His Gospel bind you up, heal, and inspire you forever.  And as you abide in Christ by His Word, you will by His Word and Spirit see through Him all those He has also gathered unto Himself, be they prince or pauper, Pope or Patriarch or humble family huddled in a mass of refugees, bearing His Spirit of Life through His Word of Life.  There you will see that the Church has always been, and shall always be, united—as eternally indivisible as Christ and His Word.  There in Christ, find your peace, your strength, your contentment, and your innumerable brothers and sisters in the communion of the saints washed as you are in the Blood of the Lamb.  Amen.