CHRISTIAN TOLERANCE In today’s Gospel the disciples of Jesus refuse to recognize the authority of an exorcist who doesn’t belong to their company. John appeals to Jesus: ‘’Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us, we tried to stop him.’’ The exorcist has been successful in his ministry, and that success clearly worries the disciples.
Earlier in the chapter Mark has told us of a man who appealed to Jesus’ disciples to free his son from a spirit of dumbness. This anxious father told Jesus: ‘’I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were unable to.’’ The disciples, who have been noted as unsuccessful exorcists, now see an outsider successfully exorcising in Jesus’ name. They don’t want this man to function as an exorcist, so they hope Jesus will refuse to recognize him. If this happens the man’s whole identity will be suspect.
The disciples are obviously threatened by the outsider’s success. Are they apprehensive about being displaced? Are they fearful of being supplanted? Do they see ministry in terms of rivalry? Seeing a man’s success, the disciples seem to feel diminished, reduced, lessened as disciples. It’s as if their own self-esteem will be reinforced if the outsider is rejected. But Jesus refuses to do this. Instead, he invites his fragile company to a larger vision of God’s goodness; he commands his followers to leave the outsider in peace: ‘’Anyone who is not against us is for us.’’ Thus, Jesus recognizes and confirms the exorcist in his identity, and tells his followers that all who welcome them because they belong to Christ will not lose their reward.
The interesting thing to remember is that the disciples are themselves outsiders in their own society. In a world where they hope to be recognized and accepted in Jesus’ name, Jesus asks them to extend the same favor to others. Why should the disciples hope for tolerance and hospitality while meeting with intolerance everyone not of their company? Jesus is not threatened by goodness outside of his own chosen circle. If he his passion is for the good of others that passion will be served by anyone who does God’s work. In that sense Jesus is indiscriminate when it comes to goodness-anyone will do.
Jesus’ lesson is instructive for ourselves. The cause of Catholicism is not served by the rejection of other ways of Christian discipleship. The case for Christianity is not reinforced by those who claim that no real good can happen beyond the boundaries of faith. We can all take pride in the community to which we belong without insulting the good work of those who are not ‘’one of us.’’
Jesus calls on each of us to be tolerant. Christian tolerance is not weakness, or a lazy acceptance of whatever movement happens to be in vogue. Christian tolerance is a reverence for the truth that is always larger than ourselves; it is recognition of the charity that flourishes beyond the reaches of our borders; it is a profound respect for the freedom of God to move in his chosen ways. It is a humility before the greatness of God. After all, if God risks hoping in us, why should we deny his hope in others?