Just prior to his
decision to set out resolutely for Jerusalem, Jesus deals with two
misconceptions on the part of his disciples.
Both of these questions involve the warped perspective of humanity
versus the correct perspective of God. In
both instances, Jesus reveals to his disciples that the viewpoint of God is
what they must adapt to because it is the basis of the kingdom of God.
In the first episode, the disciples are busy arguing
amongst themselves about which of them will be the greatest when the Messiah
establishes his kingdom. Forget for a
moment that Jesus just told them once again that his future contains suffering;
the debate is still woefully misplaced because it focuses on the human
preoccupation with appearing great instead of God’s judgment regarding true
greatness. Jesus corrects their error by
using a child with no rank, status, or privileges to illustrate that in the
kingdom of God greatness will be awarded to those who serve the least in this
world.
In the second instance, the disciples attempt to stop a
man who is copying their ministry by casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Jesus responds to this desire to monopolize
the work of the kingdom by declaring the very generous parameter that, “whoever
is not against you is for you.” In
working for God, we don’t have the luxury deciding who we want to work with and
who we want to be accepting of. Everyone
who is working by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the Gospel, and
the glory of the Father, is on our side.
All of our excuses to exclude those we don’t like or don’t agree with
fall by the wayside in light of Jesus’ declaration of unity for all those who
follow him.
It isn’t easy to adopt either of these perspectives. Our human nature seeks aggrandizement at the
expense of others; it is only by the power of God that we can hope to seek the
benefit of others in a Christ-like manner.
Likewise, it is clear that those who follow Christ are not united, that
divisions have always plagued his Church, but that is no excuse for us to
perpetuate the mistakes of our ancestors in the faith.
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