Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-august-12-2025
Mark 9:33-41
Who Is the Greatest
33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
36He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us
38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.”
As you might imagine, I’ve been thinking a lot about the subject of leadership for the last few days. I always do in the days following the annual Global Leadership Summit. So it’s interesting to come upon a gospel reading listed in the lectionary that addresses Jesus’ thoughts on leadership among his followers. I guess you could say that this passage presents a contrast between the way Christian leadership is practiced and the way Jesus intends us to practice it.
The first part of the passage relates an occasion on which Jesus overhears the disciples arguing over which of them is the greatest. That probably comes as no surprise – a craving to ‘climb the ladder’ is a well-known part of human nature. In fact, it’s considered to be a virtue to want to get ahead in our culture. To some degree, it’s money and other perks that motivate us to move up, but there’s also a powerful desire to be respected and to have influence that goes beyond the desire for money. And that craving for status and influence appears in the church as well as outside it.
But Jesus tells the disciples that among his followers, it’s a willingness to serve others that’s the mark of success – not power and praise. Jesus himself established that standard by saying that he had come “not to be served but to serve” – and he embodied that distinction by washing the feet of others – including the ones who would betray and deny and doubt him. And in our reading for today, Jesus uses a child to illustrate the modest spirit he had in mind for his leaders. In that culture, kids were expected to be quiet and obedient, not to be cute and attention-seeking.
In the second part of today’s reading, the disciples report to Jesus that they have discovered someone – an “outsider” – who claimed to be acting in Jesus’ name. The disciples tell Jesus that they had told the man to stop.
That might seem innocent and understandable, but I think it represents a common mistake in the life of the church, as in the life of other human movements, from governments and political parties right down to the local youth sports leagues. People who are in positions of leadership often manifest a powerful craving to maintain strict control over their organizations, and to make sure that nobody who isn’t “authorized” is doing or saying things in its name.
We Presbyterians are famous for saying we should do things “decently and in order,” but I suspect we are actually manifesting that same craving for control when we spout that phrase from the writings of the apostle Paul. You just feel that you can’t allow random people to stand up in church and start preaching, or declaring themselves Bible teachers, or claiming to speak for the church.
It’s not uncommon to hear people say, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” And usually when they say that, it’s a way of demanding obedience and conformity to the rules and norms. We want people to buy into our whole way of doing things, to “get with the program,” or we put them on the other side of the “us vs. them” divide.
It’s always struck me as strange that we’re often more comfortable with people whose theology is very different than ours than we are with people who agree with us on most things, but not on a couple points of doctrine. We regularly share in activities with the local Roman Catholic churches, but our theological differences with the other Presbyterian church around the corner from ours seem more irritating to us.
So it seems really interesting that in the story, Jesus turns around that familiar saying. Instead of saying, “Whoever isn’t for us is against us,” Jesus says, “Whoever isn’t against us is for us.” Jesus tells his disciples to leave the ‘unauthorized disciple’ alone. He points out that someone can’t do things in his name and then turn around and say bad things about him.
And that seems to me to point to a pretty important principle that we should remind ourselves of from time to time. It’s human nature to be a little suspicious of those who are different than ourselves, and to focus on the differences that divide us. But Jesus’ teaching in this little passage seems like a reminder that what we have in common – the fact that we all follow and serve him – is much more important than what divides us.
I’m not so naïve as to think all those who typically criticize us are going to decide to be our friends any time soon. There’s too much of the “whoever isn’t with us is against us” thinking going around for that, and we don’t have the power to make that kind of thinking go away. But what we can do is commit ourselves to focus more and more on what we have in common with others who claim the name of Jesus and less and less on our differences.
If we can do that, even when others criticize our doctrines or practices or music or whatever, then we will be modeling the Christian unity that Jesus said will cause the world to honor him, and to say, “See how they love one another.”
Let’s pray. Lord, we pray that you will soften our hearts and move us to greater love for other followers of Jesus, even when we disagree with them on points of doctrine. Help us to practice our faith in such a way that when the world sees us, they know we are followers of Jesus by our love. Amen
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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