Insiders & Outsiders

Read Mark 9.38-41

Pentecost +18B

I think this week’s reading from Mark’s Gospel contains a heart-breaking line of Scripture: “...and we tried to stop him because he was not following us” (v. 38). Just pause and think about that for a moment. The disciples come across someone who, as they report to Jesus, was “casting out demons in your name.” That is, they came across someone who was easing intense misery, they came across someone who was following Jesus’ example and doing so in Jesus’ name, but none of that is enough. Why? “Because he was not following us.”