Last Updated on February 24, 2022 by GMC
A reflection on Mark 9:41
Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
©2022 by Gloria M. Chang
Whoever slakes the thirst of a Christ-bearer,
Honoring the Name, is with us a sharer.
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.
Mark 9:38-41 (RSV)
Vast is the heart of Christ like a billowing sea without borders. How can the Spirit of Christ be confined to the small spaces of our conceptual frameworks? Jesus recognized the work of the Spirit in outsiders casting out demons in his name, for “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
The principle of unity in the Body of Christ, the Holy Spirit, moves permeably through all boundaries. Strangers anointed by the Spirit are also brothers and sisters, Jesus says, “for whoever is not against us is for us.”
In Hebrew culture, the name denotes the character and authority of a person. Christ-bearers anointed with the Holy Spirit speak and act with the authority of the King of Kings.
For the one whom God sent
John 3:34
speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.
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