Differences Make Us Whole

Differences Make Us Whole

Luke 9:49-50

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

9:49 John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your

name; and we tried to prevent him, because he does not follow along with us.” 50 But

Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for the one who is not against you is for you.”

Luke chapter 9 verses 49 and 50 deal with a very interesting cultural situation. In the

Near East, especially during Jesus’s day, artisans held onto the secrets of their trade at

almost every cost. It was normal for a father to pass down to his son all the secrets of

the trade and that his son would follow him in his footsteps. Even farmers would keep

secrets about how they were able to get their crops to grow better than the farm next

door. The sharing of that kind of information didn’t happen very often. There were no

books or libraries available to the common person. Information was passed down

mouth to ear to generation after generation. Luckily for us today we have books and

libraries and artisans that are willing to share the trade secrets. However, there are still

some that want to keep their secrets.

I used to buy chocolate from Fitskee’s chocolate which is in Spry, Pennsylvania. One

day I was speaking to the owner about how wonderful his chocolate was and asked him

if he would tell me what his secret was. He said he would not tell me all the secret but

part of it and I did appreciate that. He said that he used chocolate from Hershey’s

chocolate company and Nestlé’s chocolate company in a special blend to make his

chocolate. I found that fascinating that his chocolate was really a hybrid of others.

Apparently, that is done by chocolatiers all over the world. Thank God for chocolatiers

because where would the world be without different kinds of fine chocolate.

There’s a big difference between chocolate secrets and the secrets of the kingdom of

heaven. The disciples stopped an individual who was trying to help a person by

removing demons from them. The disciples were following their culture when they

tried to stop this person. They saw the ways of Jesus as a trade. Thus, they needed to

protect the secrets of their trade. History tends to demonize the fact that they tried to

stop someone who is trying to do a healing in Jesus’ name. As you can tell it was a

cultural reaction, and they should not be condemned for it. Rather, we should

concentrate on what Jesus said to them which was my trade secrets are no longer

secretive. Jesus wanted us to know everything that he knew. He wants us to go out and

be able to do the things that he did.

He is not trying to hide any of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus wants us to

not only understand all the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to also experience all

of them. When we do anything, and we use the words “in the name of Jesus” what we

are actually doing is saying to God that we are following the ways of his son. The ways

of Jesus have a divine quality to them because everything Jesus did was for us, and he

followed God’s word that we find in the Bible.

It is an honor and a privilege to go out and do things in the name of Christ. What would

the world be like if every Christian would go out and act just like Jesus did. Peace and

love and grace would cover the earth and the evil which is Satan would be forced to

leave. Imagine a world where we would be willing to listen to each other and express

our differences without anger.

There is so much anger in the world that it keeps us from having the true peace and

love that Jesus was promoting during his time on earth. How can we possibly get around

this? I know that we can do it if we really try hard. The first place to start is within the

family unit and resolve any differences with the understanding that we all can have

different opinions and that we need to respect each other’s opinions. However, we

should never force our opinions on others. God made us all different so that our

differences would come together and be there for the best of the whole society.

And then it needs to spread especially inside the church. There should never be

situations where people hate each other in church. Then it should spread out through

all the denominations and all Christianity should come together and realize that we have