Daily Bread

John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.

I love that Jesus is not suspicious of the person casting out Demons in his name but, in a spirit of generosity, gives them the benefit of the doubt.

For me, the faith lesson of this little passage is the danger of becoming a clique, an elite, or a self-important 'inner' group. Jesus was always about expanding the circle to include others, not about contracting the circle to make an exclusive set.

My wife, Helen, told me of a school she worked in where she greeted the cleaner by name and stopped to chat with them. The cleaner looked stunned and said, "No-one knows my name!" How awful is that, that most of the staff simply walked past them without even giving them the time of day?

Us flawed humans have a tendency to club together and form societal cliques, at school, at work, or even in our churches — and in our denominations, the question to ask ourselves is whether we have the same generosity of spirit towards professing and practising believers from traditions other than our own? The church denominations have not got the greatest record of working together, often being suspicious of one another, or worried about 'stealing' each other's members. I know, right?

Today, wherever you are, perhaps think about how you can increase your circles to include others. Perhaps it is inviting someone to join in with a conversation, or taking the time to chat with someone who others ignore? Perhaps it is as simple as stopping in a school corridor and asking someone their name.

Holy God
Thank you that you welcomed and included me.
Forgive me when I have
looked down upon or excluded others.
Help me have a spirit of generosity
that I might widen my circles
and let others know they too
are included and loved by you.