Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Jas 4:13-17; Mk 9:38-40
Today’s Gospel highlights who is not or who cannot be Christians’ adversaries or enemies.
Jesus absorbs the statement of John and proceeds to define our friends in three ways.
One Who Acts in Jesus’ Name: How come someone is wrong when the person acts in Jesus’ name? A sincere and faithful heart cannot exploit Jesus’ name. So transformative and powerful is Jesus’ name that a person can only radiate Jesus, with or without him/her realizing it.
One Who Does Something Good: The inspiration to be good and do good comes from the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit in us. In essence, a person responds to the prodding of the Spirit to spread goodness. One who listens to the echoes of the Spirit always acts in Jesus’ name, reflecting his goodness.
One Who is a Fellow in Faith: If someone functions in Jesus’ name and does something good, s/he is a natural ally of Christians. If friends of Christ cannot be our enemies, we are to embrace them as our partners in faith.
Let the insightful words of Jesus inspire us to distinguish between friends and enemies of the Lord!
Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar
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