Jesus picks the team!
Mark 9:40 – “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
It is easy to see who belongs to the team. They all wear the same jersey. They all have the same goal. They all work together to accomplish that goal. Something happens when you belong to a team. You gain a bond and you become fiercely protective of that team. Anyone who is outside the team is seen as an outsider and on a different team or maybe an enemy.
This happened to the disciples. John became upset and defensive of his team when he and the other disciples saw someone else driving out demons in Jesus’ name. They even tried to stop him! They thought that they were doing a service to team Jesus by stopping this guy. But Jesus had to remind them that his team was much larger than what they could see with their eyes. Anyone doing work in his name is part of the team even if they are not part of the physical group.
Jesus opens our eyes to the invisible team, his Holy Christian Church. It is a team of everyone who believes in Jesus. They are the ones who are forgiven by his death. They are the ones who now live for Christ. They show they are part of the team by doing Jesus’ work on earth. Not only will they cast out demons like the one in the gospel, but they will even give a glass of water to someone in Jesus’ name. Sometimes we get to fixed on outward members that we fail to see that there are more members of our team. We want them to look more like us and do the things we do rather than follow the Savior. We must watch out for the pride that overtook the disciples at Jesus’ time.
In the end, we do not pick and choose who belongs to Jesus’ team. In fact, we did not choose for ourselves to belong to the team. The choice to add people to the team remains with Jesus. Our goal is to reach out with the power of Christ’s love and let the Holy Spirit bring more people to Jesus’ team. Let us focus on proclaiming the good news of Jesus rather than who belongs to the team or not. “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
Dear Jesus, thank you for reminding us that there are more people who belong to you than we can count or even imagine. Help us deal with the pride in our hearts that think we are your only team members. Help us keep reaching out to others and bring them onto your team. In your name we pray, Amen.