Wednesday 26 February 2025
Ecclesiasticus 4:12-22. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law – Psalm 118(119):165, 168, 171-172, 174-175. Mark 9:38-40.
Diversity is strength
Mark’s Gospel today has Jesus defending the man who is casting out demons in his name. This man is not a follower of Jesus, but his actions are inspired for right reason. The caution is clear for John and the disciples who want to send the fellow on his way because he’s not one of ‘them’. The early Christians wrestled with who’s in and who’s out. Christians battle the same thing today, often overlooking that to be Christian is a way of inhabiting life – of embracing one’s baptism by being Christ-like. It is a way of life that asks us to open rather than close doors. To go beyond our comfortable closed-off members-only status and reach towards people who are ‘the stranger in our midst’. We all go about this differently, with our individual gifts and skills. After all, it is possible to live a life of faith without losing one’s individuality entirely. Diversity is strength. As it says in Ecclesiasticus today: ‘Do not be ashamed to be yourself.’
Email this Print This Page
