Immediately following the debate as to who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God, Luke tells us in Luke 9:49 that John replied, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” What’s going on here? Some say that John is only offering this comment as a diversion to deflect Jesus’ words of rebuke that He had just given to His disciples. Others say that no, it’s an earnest concern, and that John had seen somebody actually casting out demons using the name of Jesus, but he wasn’t one of the twelve or one of the seventy-two in the broader company of Jesus’ disciples. And John was miffed at this and wanted Jesus to rebuke the fellow and stop him from carrying out this ministry that he was doing in the name of Jesus.
What is it Jesus sees here in John? It is a spirit that is contrary to authentic discipleship. He sees a narrow exclusiveness, a parochial attitude that basically says, “If he’s not a part of our group in its purest form, he has nothing whatsoever to do with us.” Does that sound familiar? Do we not commit this same offense again and again? Today, we might say, “He may claim to be a Christian, but he’s not really Reformed so we can’t trust him. Or, he’s not an Episcopalian or a Lutheran like we are, so we can’t trust him.” Keep reading
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