I love to think of the scripture passage in Luke (9:49-50) where John says to Jesus "We saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company." And Jesus said to him, "Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you." This gospel is interesting because Matthew gives us the same words, but twisted around to what we probably would rather hear: "He who is not with me is against me."
Back in the 1960s a group in France started an ecumenical community they called Taize. Recently a blog called Monks and Mermaids reminisced about his experience visiting Taize back in 1962, and he wrote:
What Taize gave me was a vision which has never left me, a perspective in which I could discern the Holy Spirit at work in all kinds of situations, indeed in all situations in which he is not excluded...Brother Roger held out to all the possibility of being orthodox without being sectarian, of adhering to the Truth while remaining humble in the presence of those who doubt or deny it, because Christ works in and through them...God does not have favourites...We are all equally sons and daughters of God.
I love this attitude, for it steps out of our defined institutions and looks for the spirit of God within each person. Luke's gospel says that Jesus himself said, Whoever is not against you is with you. I think we like to think more like Matthew...having our lines drawn, and putting others on the right or on the left. And yet Luke gives us a Jesus who sought to unite, not divide. He often bends rules and pushes the envelope in favor of compassion, understanding, and forgiveness.
And that Jesus is the one I'd like to follow.
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