Jesus and His students were hanging out. They said, “Jesus, we tried to stop this guy from driving out demons in your name because he isn’t one of us.” To Jesus, this was ridiculous. “Don’t stop him. Whoever’s not against us is for us” (Mark 9).
Jesus’ students found it less important that this guy was healing people from their demons than the fact that he wasn’t part of their group. That bothered them. They tried to stop him. Can you believe it? They tried to stop someone from healing people! This is the insanity of legalism. Grace says, “Oh, it is so good that this man has healed people from their demons!” The unwritten rules of legalism says, “Why aren’t you with us? What’s wrong with us?”
The root of the problem with Jesus’ students was jealousy and a need to control. I can identify. When I see others doing wonderful ministry who aren’t a part of my group, I sometimes feel this sense of jealousy within my own heart. I have no control over them and this sometimes bothers me. They could be doing great ministry and maybe even better ministry than I am. Moreover, the fact that they’re doing better ministry might be the very thing that’s bothering me.
The only thing that eventually saved Jesus’ students from legalism was their faith in following the perfect non-legalist, who was Jesus. They’d gotten it all wrong. Jesus’ students had a similar mindset as the Teachers of the Law. They were tring to stop this guy from casting out demons (Mark 9) just like the Teachers of the Law had previously tried to stop Jesus from healing people on the Sabbath (Mark 3). The primary difference between the Teachers of the Law and Jesus’ students was that His students followed Him (the grace giver) while the Teachers of the Law rejected Him. His students trusted Him even though they didn’t understand Him.
Eventually, many of Jesus’ students rejected most of their legalism. But, even years later, Paul had to confront Peter for treating Greek followers of Jesus differently from his Jewish brothers who followed Jesus. It was a lengthy process for all of them and still is for us today. We simply need to keep following Jesus, without much worry for what others are doing or saying. If they aren’t against us, then they’re for us. Any other agenda, and we might condemn someone who is healing people from their demons.
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