NOTES for Luk 9:50
The Savior's words that those who are not against Christians are thereby "for" them may at first glance seem somewhat strange. Indeed, there are many people in the world who have nothing against Christ or even against Christianity, but who also have nothing "for" it, in general. They are simply indifferent to all this, either remaining agnostics or choosing other spiritual traditions and spiritual paths.
Can such a position be called a position "for" Christ or "for" Christianity? If Christianity is viewed as a certain new religion, then of course the answer can only be negative. Every religion needs supporters, preferably conscious, active, and convinced of their rightness, people who could spread that religion and bear witness to its truth.
But Christianity is not a new religion, but a new life. Life with Christ in His Kingdom, which He brought into the world. And with life everything is not as simple as it is with views and convictions, whether political, social, scientific, or even religious. A person can become a supporter of certain views or convictions only when he understands and accepts them to the end.
Of course, every religion has among its supporters some who do not especially understand not only its theological subtleties but sometimes even the finer points of its doctrine. Yet even such adherents, who understand little of the subtleties, express their support for their religion quite consciously and unambiguously, sometimes even more decisively than all the others. With life, however, everything is not so simple. Often people live their whole life, or most of it, without thinking at all about how, by what, and why they live.
The same is true of the life of the Kingdom, which now, according to the Savior's word, has drawn near. A person can sometimes feel the stirring of the breath of the Kingdom without understanding very well what is happening to him or what he is dealing with. Since Christ's coming this happens often: the Kingdom has drawn near to everyone, not only to Christians. It is an objective spiritual reality, not a spiritual experience belonging to some particular confession, still less monopolized by it.
Today anyone can feel the breath of the Kingdom, provided, of course, that he does not reject in advance everything connected with Christ and Christianity. But in that case it turns out that a person who appears to have no relation to Christianity may be "for" Christ and "for" Christians, if, of course, he takes his experience and his life seriously.
Of course, such "anonymous" Christianity does not yet guarantee that a person will consciously set out on the Christian path, but he will not become an enemy of Christ and Christians either. That means that the path into the Kingdom will be open for such a person, and the possibility of walking that path may be preserved for him for a long time - as long as the One who brought the Kingdom into the world wills.