The gospel reading for Sunday 29 September (the 19th Sunday after Pentecost) begins with one of his disciples telling Jesus that he and the other disciples had witnessed a man performing exorcisms in the name of Jesus, and they had tried to stop him because the man wasn’t part of their group.
This is perhaps the first sign we see of people being excluded from the ministry of Jesus. Of course since the foundation of the earliest Christian church in Jerusalem, and on down through the centuries, we have witnessed the church splinter into different denominations because of differing interpretations of Scripture and disagreements over certain church doctrines and practices. The funny thing about the divisions in the church, although it is no laughing matter, is that each denomination shares far more beliefs with one another than they do beliefs which separate them from each other.
It’s still disappointing to think that in certain denominations divorced people are excluded from participating in the sacrament of Holy Communion, and are not permitted to remarry in the church. Again certain denominations do not permit members from other denominations to take Holy Communion in their churches, limiting these people to receive a blessing only from the priest. And so the list of exclusions, or barriers, goes on. It boils down to a case of each denomination saying I’m right in my belief and you are wrong.
And yet what does Jesus say in response to the disciple telling him about the man performing exorcisms in his name? He says, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.” (Mark 9:39 NRSV) So here we have Jesus basically saying that it doesn’t matter if this man is part of their group or not, so long as he believes in Jesus and carries out good works in the name of Jesus.
There are many new Christian churches that have evolved in recent decades who may hold some beliefs that are different to those of the mainstream churches (Roman Catholic, Anglican etc), and of course as already mentioned even some of the beliefs of the mainstream denominations differ, but these new churches also believe in Jesus and publicly proclaim the name of Jesus. Isn’t this a good thing in the wake of the ever increasing secular nature of our society today?
We may not agree with everything they believe in, and we not like the way in which they conduct their worship or carry out other activities because it’s different to ours, but I’m fairly certain Jesus wouldn’t have a problem with it, and if he’s happy with it, who are we to complain?
