Whose against me?

When I was a cub scout many years ago we would every year go to the local Anglican Church for Church parade. You always felt by our local parish priest that even though we had done nothing wrong that he frond upon it.

One of the problems with some in the Catholic Church is that we have all the answers and other Christian denominations have nothing to offer. This was one of the problems that the disciples were facing in today’s Gospel. They had great problems with anyone else. They refused to recognize the authority of an exorcist who does not belong to their company. “Master we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he is one of us we tried to stop him.” He had been successful in his ministry where earlier on in Mark the disciples tried to cure the man from a spirit of dumbness. The father appeals to Jesus saying “I asked your disciples to cast it out but they were unsuccessful”

The disciples were threatened by another person’s success. The disciples seem to feel diminished, reduced and lessened as disciples.  I wonder if they were thinking if Jesus refused to acknowledge this person then it would help their own self esteem. Instead Jesus states and reaffirms this outsider and states “anyone who is not against us is for us.”

We see this division today in the many Christian communities that there are. There is still that rivalry between the communities and sometimes this has lead to fighting on the streets. During the Council of Trent in response to the Reformation it naturally felt as of the Church was defensive.  In the progressive 60’s the Church was able to think about it relationship with other Christian communities. In its ground breaking document on Ecumenism it states:

  The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided. Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.

The document goes on to say:

It follows that the separated Churches and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church.

It clearly states in both of these passages that we must always strive for unity but also recognize the differences between us. The document and points out that we share a common believe in Jesus and baptism. We are all on that journey. What divide us is human pride and some major doctrinal belief. Also the Church does hold the truth and the fullness of truth but other Christian communities have elements of that truth. But there is a greater deal that unites us like our believe in Jesus and our work at making his word known to the world.