NOTES for Mar 9:33-41

Everyone who reads the Gospel notices the characteristic difference between Christ’s words about those who are not with Him and those who are not against His disciples. Concerning Himself, the Lord says: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” But when the disciples complain to Christ about a man who works miracles in Christ’s name without accompanying them, the Lord tells them: “Do not forbid him... he who is not against you is for you.” The disciples are understandable. If this unknown man believes in Christ so strongly that he casts out demons in His name, how can he not follow the path of the Twelve Apostles? Is their path somehow defective or mistaken? No, the path of the Twelve is not mistaken—but neither is it the only one. For centuries, people who join the community of Christ’s disciples have tried to “forbid” those who do not follow them. Today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark directly rejects such attempts.

It is significant that the evangelists tell us nothing about those people who did not accompany the disciples but walked in the ways of Jesus Christ. Only occasionally and in passing do we learn that there were quite a few of them. At one point the Apostle Paul finds a community of people baptized with John’s baptism and, by his apostolic authority, imparts to them the gift of the Holy Spirit. At another, he testifies in a letter to the existence of more than five hundred witnesses to the Resurrection... Ultimately, all who have come to believe in Christ enter the one holy catholic and apostolic Church. But they do so by following Jesus Christ, not someone else.