NOTES for Mar 9:40
This assertion is usually said like: "who is not with us is against us ". So, most people are registered in our roster of enemies. Two maxims of the Lord Jesus muddle here: what we have just read and "He that is not with me is against me" of Matthew 12 30. We see in the second case that Jesus speaks about Himself, it is just an observation of fact, which means we cannot be neutral as regard to Christ, and His rejection from our life will inevitably turn into enmity. There is no posture "between Christ and hell" in the Christian spirituality. Jesus continues by elucidating that "he who does not gather with Me scatters". There are no stops in Christian life: stone falls when it stops going upward. But the Lord Jesus proposes absolutely a different logic in relationship within people. We are called to find out means to do friendship, peace, love with all those, who are not hostile to us. By the way, we are also called to love our enemies.