Mark 9: 38 – 41
In The Name Of!
38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is on our side. 41 For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
Now before we go over these verses we need to take a look at what both Matthew and Luke wrote on the same teaching of our Lord.
Matthew 10:40-42, “40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”
Luke 9:49-50, “49 Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.”
Well, what do you think? Are they different? Yes they are, yet you can see the underlining truth where all three are in balance. In this next subsection our Lord Jesus reveals the things that are pleasing and displeasing to God. Seeking greatness displeases Him, while seeking to do things for The Son Of God, our Lord Jesus’ sake pleases Him. Causing those who believe in Him to sin displeases Him, while being a true representative of His, pleases Him.
38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”
Turn on your televisions and you might hear the son of some famous preacher imitate others who were before them. They use the same techniques and statements, like they are somehow magical. They talk in a funny language, like somehow the have to speak slowly and emphasize each word such as ‘in the Name of’. These four little words take about two minutes to be spoken while allowing those deaf or in their graves to somehow hear. These guys may be sincere, but they bother me, sorry.
We are reminded here that the disciples did not just stay at all times with The Lord Jesus. They were given errands to fulfill and they at times went out preaching. Perhaps it was on one such mission that they met the man described here. And on that occasion John and at least one other (‘we’) were bothered at the fact that this man dared to exercise the prerogative which they saw as given to the Apostles. Indeed they had forbidden him. Who was he that he should do so? What right had he to so exalt himself? But The Master, our Lord Jesus will now tell them that they should have realized that the success of the man’s attempts revealed that he was a genuine believer whom God was blessing.
John’s attitude revealed his limited viewpoint. Instead of seeing that the man’s success showed that God was with him and giving glory to God Who worked in such remarkable ways, he had been offended because the man dared to use The Lord Jesus’ name without being a regular disciple.
Now for those of you who are bible students you might be thinking of the situation in the book of Acts where the sons of Sceva had tried the same type of ministry in chapter 19, “ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
How do you explain the difference? The answer is that they were using The Lord Jesus’ name as a magical formula not out of a deep belief in Him. The sons did what seems on the surface to be the same, but they were simply using Jesus’ name as an exorcist’s tool. They did it for their own benefit rather than to glorify God. There they were unsuccessful and discovered that Jesus’ name was not to be trifled with.
Look again at what they said and did with this guy, ‘We forbade him.’ Here was a man of a different ‘denomination’. John thought he was presumptuous, even blasphemous, and had no right to work in The Lord Jesus’ Name. He was not ‘one of us’.
How often through history these words and our Lord Jesus’ wise reply have been ignored. Churches have become wrapped up in themselves and have begun to think that they were the only ones with the truth, and to enforce their own authority. They revealed thereby not their desire for the truth, which is many faceted, but their desire for their own greatness and importance, and their unwillingness to be true servants of Christ. They wanted to be the masters. But our Great King Jesus here made clear that when a man sought to please God, even if he was outside the ‘official’ group, and God blessed his work, it was evidence that God was with him and he should not therefore be halted in his work for God.
This fact is confirmed by the statement ‘Because he did not follow us.’ He was not a recognized ‘follower’. The early authorities are divided between ‘who did not follow us’ and ‘because he did not follow us’. But notice the ‘us’. There is already a hint in this of a feeling of superiority.
39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is on our side.
‘For he who is not against us is for us.’ This does not mean that anyone who was not antagonistic was necessarily to be seen as a supporter and that what mattered was tolerance. Many were apathetically neutral and would not come under the description of supporter. Jesus would not describe them as ‘for Him’. What our Lord Jesus was saying was that where men were active in seeking to serve God, as this man was, they would, at times, be required to take up an attitude towards our Holy Lord Jesus, and those who did not oppose Him or attack Him but defended His ministry thereby demonstrated that they were for Him and His work, even if they did not follow Him directly. Jesus welcomed all who were truly for God.
Elsewhere at a different time He would say what seems the opposite in which we read in the Gospels of Matthew chapter 12 verse 30 and in Luke chapter 11 verse 23., ‘He who is not with me is against me’ But there He was indicating that to refuse to make some response to Him and His teaching and to remain in apathetic neutrality to Him thereby demonstrated the attitude of one who was opposing the will and call of God. On the other hand the man spoken of here in Mark was actually showing that He was ‘for’ our Lord Jesus, and was being very active in being so. There was nothing neutral about him.
41 For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
The action of giving a cup of water is similar to that of the woman who gave her pittance which is mentioned in chapter 12 verses 41-44,” Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
Tiny it may have been but it was vitally important to her and it was vitally important to God. Things that are so small a gift in the eyes of men are huge in the eyes of God. She was truly great.
The giving of the cup of water was given by someone who could not do much but wanted to show their love for Christ, possibly even sometimes in a hostile environment where they could have been severely mishandled for it. What mattered was the size of the love in that person’s heart for God which prompted the action, not the size of the gift.
I recognized this great point and implemented a food pantry. It gives some people who could only afford say a can of soup to enjoy the benefit of giving in order to help someone else.
Remember this, nothing that we do for God passes by unnoticed. In contrast much of what we claim is done for God is done for our own self-gratification. There will be no reward for that. Now go and do likewise.
