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 the
outsider - John may have to work on his goals-achievements about accepting a
child as if they were Jesus. John expects a "good job" stroke for preempting an
outsider’s work that apparently parallels the kind of good being done by Jesus. After
all, unauthorized prophets are well-documented in the Hebrew Scriptures (most notably,
Numbers 11:26-30).
the name of jesus - The story recalls the story of unauthorized use of
the name of Jesus in the book of Acts (19:11-20). Yet, we see the use of "the name of
Jesus" as playing a huge role in the early church. Jesus here seems to take the view
that anyone who is able to exorcise in his name should be free to do so. Such exorcists
will not speak badly of Jesus. Jesus takes a sort of "whoever is not against us is
for us" approach.
lesson of the outsider exorcist - The ‘foreign exorcist’
raises a problem for today’s churches. In an age of fiscal and personnel constraints,
we need to learn cooperation. There is no reason for churches in the same locale to
duplicate each other’s services to the larger community. However, we quickly become
possessive. Each group wants to keep its own territory. Even though ecumenism has taught
us to respect other churches, real cooperation is more difficult. We tend to add shared
efforts on top of our regular worship or social outreach and then wonder why people loose
their drive for shared ministry. [1]
What experience do you
recall of a shared ministry project that required ecumenical or interdenominational
teamwork?
Name several "non-ordained" or non-sectarian Christians that you’ve
encountered over the years; what have been the joys and the sorrows of such encounters?
Short of amputation, what do you need to cut out of your life in order to avoid sin?
What can you do to "salt" your relationships withy peace this week?
 Begin with the gospel story -
but tell it imaginatively and make the story fresh. You could "freeze" the story
at different points in order to point out something that you’ve discovered about the
story that might throw light on the narrative.
Defend John’s position from a biblical perspective-John is following a long line
of cautions against outsider-ministry-cf. Numbers 11:26ff. Draw a rough analogous
situation that is current; name some of the untrained
TV religious personalities that seem to cause more damage than good and that undermine
local church ministries.
Yet recall Jesus’ words about this outsider in the story and explore ways to
understand and grow through his high level tolerance of such outsider-ministries. Recall
positive stories of encounters and interdenominational, or odd-person team-ups that have
achieved far greater results than if any group had attempted it on their own.
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[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible VIII (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995),
page 639.
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