Luke 9: 43-50 The Greatest, Part II

Luke 9: 43-50 The Greatest, Part II

The second admonition is when John reports that they saw another man trying to cast out demons in Jesus name. They tried to stop him because he was not one of them. Jesus disagreed. Whoever is not against them is for them. That is a pretty ecumenical line of thinking. But it fits right in with something that we read a few days ago – the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Jesus inspires people to join in his mission. He is not threatened by their efforts as long as they do it in the right spirit. The “right spirit” is my addition to the discussion. I believe that any action of ours, done in the “right spirit”, that is, inspired by God’s Spirit, is good and can have a good effect. I believe hierarchy and control is less important that creating a growing movement of kingdom followers. How powerful would such a movement of believers be who are putting themselves out there trying to model themselves on Jesus? How much better to have a system where the inspiration of the spirit is emphasized, instead of the control of the message.

I read a book this past Lent that theorizes that the Catholic Church is going through profound change, and that this kind of change happens every 500 years of so – witness the Great Schism of Greek and Roman churches, the Great Reformation, etc. and is a necessary, even healthy part of being a live and growing organism. At the end of the book the author mentions in brief a different time change theory of 2,000 year intervals. She lays out four phases: 2,000BC – Christ’s Birth as the Age of the Father; Christ’s Birth – 2,000 AD as the Age of the Son; 2,000 AD – 4,000AD (the present Age) as the Age of the Spirit; and then 4,000AD on, as the Age of the Holy Trinity. Interesting to think about. Meanwhile back to the Gospel passage. God knows men and women’s hearts. Let him judge them, meanwhile may all people who are inspired by the Spirit to follow Jesus and do good, do so, I hope with his blessing.