"John said to Jesus, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of good in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us."
--Mark 9: 38-40
When I was growing up my sister and I fought like crazy. Everything from what channel to put the tv on to who got to sit in the front seat: “Mom, Joe spit on me!” “Dad, Ashley punched me!” Round and round we went for the better part of 12 years until my sister finally moved away for college. It seemed as though we were all too eager, all too quick to jump in with whatever misdeeds the other had committed, as if pointing out how bad the other was would somehow make us look better by comparison. I suspect such a rivalry is common for most households where there are multiple siblings; after all, every kid wants to feel special. It’s just that sometimes we think that in order to feel special we have to tear someone else down.
Adults are not immune to this sort of behavior though; in fact, we see this problem in the very first Gospel with behavior exhibited by none other than Jesus’ disciples. Earlier in this ninth chapter of Mark the disciples tried casting out a demon with no luck. You may recall that last week the 12 got into an argument over which of them was the greatest, to which Jesus scolded them like a parent admonishing the dysfunctional behavior of children. Perhaps in response to that, and in order to regain favor with Jesus and feel special once more, John, acting as a spokesman for the rest of the 12, points out that the disciples had seen someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, but because he was not one of them, not part of their community, they tried to stop him. We can almost see the look of pride on John’s face, can’t we? That guy isn’t one of us, Jesus, so we told him to quit it! Aren’t you proud of us? But this episode isn’t really about exorcisms, is it? Instead it’s about the fact that the disciples are all too quick to condemn this man because he is not part of their group; after all, they have the market cornered on this whole Jesus phenomenon, and if someone else is doing their work—and doing it better than them—then that’s a threat. They don’t feel special anymore, and they aren’t afraid to tear down this freelance exorcist in order to regain favor with Jesus.
What we see from the disciples is a phenomenon that still plagues a good many of us who call ourselves Christians, something that is born out of our belief, our assurance, that through Christ we have been made part of the elect, part of those whom God has called to live into the work of the ministry of Christ here on earth and to be joined with him in Paradise when that work is done. But, as Walter Brueggemann points out, the awareness of being God’s elect has often bred a form of elitism, a sense of self-importance that subtly builds barriers between groups and persons rather than bridges. For whatever reason, he says, the need to be loved, to feel special, can lead to a lack of self-criticism and an increasing mistrust and questioning of others. This is what we see from siblings who point out each other’s faults so that they will gain favor with a parent, and we see it in the disciples who criticize the freelance exorcist in order to get back into Jesus’ good graces. Very often we still see it on a day-to-day basis whenever folks take up a defensive posture against someone they presume to be a threat.
It is not uncommon for any of us to take up a defensive posture from time to time. Especially in my life in the church I have seen this, and to be fair, I have fallen into this way of being myself. I’ll give you an example. In my last semester of seminary I took the General Ordination Exams. They consist of seven lengthy questions over five days time, and depending on if you have a strict bishop or not, you may need to pass all of them, most of them, or maybe even none of them, in order to get ordained. As my time in seminary was coming to an end and I was looking for my first job, I got word that my ordination would be delayed. The reason: I had not passed all of my General Ordination Exams. Later, I found out that another seminarian from my diocese had also not passed all of the Exams, and what’s more this person had passed even fewer than I had yet was still scheduled to be ordained before me! I was livid and got pretty defensive. What about that other person?! Why am I the only one being punished?! My bishop and powers that be must have had some sort of personal vendetta against me. And the other seminarian, through no fault of their own, was a threat, and animosity, jealousy, and righteous anger burned in me for this person. who was going to get ordained right out of the gate, in spite of having worse scores than me. I was all too eager to point out how everyone around me had made a huge mistake. It consumed me until someone finally pointed out that my anger was not holy and righteous but instead was coming from that place of self-importance. I was going to be a priest, after all! That made me important, special. That sense of feeling special had morphed in that experience, and instead of being humbled to be given the chance to serve God in the church, I had become defensive of my own entitlement and fell into the pit of mistrust and the questioning of others.. Thanks be to God for dear friends, mentors, and spiritual directors who brought me out of that pit.
The church certainly has a way of making us feel special, but it can also tempt us into thinking that we are more special than others, that we are immune to criticism or that anyone who is not with us is against us. This happens whenever someone gets scolded for brewing the coffee or touching the thermostat, when those are , of course, someone else’s jobs and always have been. It happens anytime someone feels threatened by another, especially someone coming into the church from another faith tradition, as though such a person does not truly belong to the church, as John felt about the freelance exorcist. Quite frankly, brothers and sisters, we Episcopalians have garnered the nickname ‘Frozen Chosen,’over the years in part because we have a reputation for being a little less than warm and friendly, and in part because our assurance in being among the elect has left us with a sense of self-importance.
But Jesus offers us Good News (as he always does)! Those who are not against us are for us, he says. This is a pretty big flip-flop from what we’re used to hearing, and it’s powerful in its simplicity because it takes us out of those defensive postures. The freelance exorcist was not against the disciples. The powers that be that felt I was not ready for ordination were not against me. And that person who you have had a really hard time with (perhaps a member of your church), is not against you. Jesus’ words today are for all of us who have a really hard time remembering that there are experiences out there besides our own, those of us who go on the defensive the second we feel threatened! There are feelings and opinions that others have that we can learn from, but if we stand in our position of self-importance then we will treat them as an adversary, and that is not at all what Jesus wants from us. Like the 12 with the freelance exorcist, Jesus invites us to see our brothers and sisters as fellow workers on behalf of the Kingdom and to respect them and their work, just as we would our own, not being quick to point out their faults or taking a defensive posture when they are just trying to help, trying to be the best Christian they can be. Faith is not a sibling rivalry! We do not have to earn Jesus’ love, we do not have to try to be special and regain his favor over and over again. We’ve already got it! That is what grace is all about! Grace has been given to all of us so that we may no longer be held hostage by the dark sin of self-righteousness.