There is a series of books that have long been used by military and political strategist to gain an understand of what it takes to achieve success when confronted by a hostile force. Three of the more notable books in the series are; The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and The Arthashastra by Kautilya. They are interesting reads – nerdy reading to be sure but interesting. The first one I read was The Prince. There are some great Machiavellian one liners in the Prince. (One that I like to use when dealing with my children is “it is better to be feared than loved”-Just kidding.) One of my favorite Machiavellian quotes is, “A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of it.” In other words, do what successful people do and you are likely to be at least somewhat successful. Sun Tzu’s Art of War was the next volume I read. Sun Tzu might be even more quotable than Machiavelli. One of his classics is “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” In other words, you better know what you are getting yourself into. I must confess that I have not yet consumed the ancient Sanskrit text that is the Arthashastra. I tried to download it as an audio book and listen to it while I ran yesterday, but apparently there are not a lot of people interested in recording a 3,000-year-old obscure treatise on military strategy. There is however, a Kautilian quote that you have likely heard before. “A king whose territory has a common boundary with that of an antagonist is an ally.” or as it has been summarized here in the west "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” That quote popped into my mind as I read our text for today. When I read Mark 9:38-41 I can’t help but seeing Jesus as a military strategist trying to instruct us in the art of war. I know we don’t often think of Jesus as a military strategist. I think part of the reason we don’t tend to see Him that way is because we don’t often think of ourselves as a people who are at war. But we are at war. In his letter to the Ephesians[1], general Paul commands us to “11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Our war is a spiritual war and every day it is being fought all around us. The spiritual forces of evil are plotting and planning ways in which they might make you a spiritual casualty. Make no mistake, Christian soldiers, we are at war. We can benefit from a little instruction from a military strategist like Jesus.
The disciples were beginning to understand that they were at war, but they still needed some clarification concerning who the enemy really was. Since the Roman army became the occupying force in Jerusalem many Jews viewed the Roman government as their enemy. In fact, some even taught that when the Messiah would come, He would overthrow the Romans. Jesus spent a considerable amount of time correcting that mistaken view. For the disciples, the confusion seems to exist on a less political level. Last week we read about their argument concerning who was the greatest among them. Jesus had to remind them they were on the same side; they were not enemies, they were allies. That brought a question to mind for John, exactly who was an ally and who was an enemy?
38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” We know almost nothing about the anonymous individual in question. He was not one of the 12 disciples or a known follower of Jesus, like say a Lazarus or Barnabas. Why exactly this guy did not identify himself as a follower of Jesus we do not know. Perhaps he was struggling with a certain teaching, perhaps he didn’t know any better, perhaps he had identified with the Jewish faith his entire life and didn’t know how to be anything else? We don’t know why this guy did not follow Jesus as the disciples followed Jesus. What we do know is the guy was driving out demons. That is plural by the way, more than one demon on more than one occasion. And how the man was driving out those demons is also known. He was driving out demons not according to the Jewish recommended rituals for exorcising demons, rather, he was driving them out in the name of Jesus. Now, where did this guy get the idea from? Well no doubt he had seen Jesus do this very thing on numerous occasions. In the first chapter of Mark’s gospel we are told Jesus “drove out many demons.”[2] So we may not know that much about this guy, but what we do know is he was pro Jesus and anti-demon.
But because the guy was not one of the them, John told him to stop. John’s actions are reminiscent of Joshua’s in our Old Testament reading for today. Joshua thought it was inappropriate for Eldad and Medad to be allowed to prophesy because they had not accepted Moses’ invitation to join him in the tent of meeting. It appears John was as zealous for Jesus’ honor as Joshua was for the honor of Moses. However, I can’t help wondering if there wasn’t someone else’s honor John was concerned about. I say that because John and the disciples had recently failed to do what this guy was doing. Earlier in this same chapter we read, “17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”[3] I don’t mean to project my own sinful insecurities upon John, but I know how easy it is to criticize others for success that we ourselves fail to attain.
Like the disciples, I think we get confused about who our enemy really is. I’m really glad that this Gospel lesson is the appointed text for this Sunday. Next Sunday we will begin our Reformation celebration. Throughout the month of October, we will be commemorating our Lutheran heritage. On October 28th we will applaud the Revelation angel who defiantly proclaimed the everlasting gospel before emperor and pope. We will celebrate being Lutheran. But before we do, I am glad we have this opportunity to be reminded who our enemy really is.
You see, like the disciples, I think we tend to think of our enemy as everyone who is not “one of us”, that is everyone who is not a member of our church body or does not identify as “Lutheran”. They are people who identify themselves as Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or nondenominational. We know these organizations are infested with false teachings and as long as those false teachings persist they will not be one of us, but we cannot read the hearts of the individual members. Why exactly they do not join our church we do not know. Perhaps they are struggling with a teaching, perhaps they have been falsely taught and do not know any better, perhaps their entire family belongs to a certain church and they don’t know how to be Lutheran? We may never know why they do not follow Jesus as we follow Jesus. What we do know is, despite the errors that exists among them, Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins is preached. Sin is discouraged, and Satan is denounced. They may not be one of us, but they are pro Jesus and anti-demon.
But because they are not one of us, we tend to believe they should be stopped. Our concerns are reminiscent of the brothers and sisters in Philippi from our second lesson for today. Those Christians were concerned about the motivation of selfishly ambitious preachers who seemed to want to stir up trouble for Paul while he was in prison. However, I can’t help wondering about our motivations. Is it really the integrity of the gospel we are concerned about, or is it the acknowledgement of our accomplishments? Are we jealous for Jesus, or are we just plain jealous; jealous that our preacher is not as popular as someone else’s, jealous that our church is not as big, jealous that we are not the only instruments God would use to make disciples of the nations? I don’t mean to project my own sinful insecurities upon you, but again, I know how easy it is to criticize others for success that we ourselves fail to attain.
It is easy for us to forget who our real enemy is. Like John we often assume that anyone who is not one of us should be stopped. Like John, we need to hear what Jesus has to say. 39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us.” This guy that John was so worried about was not his enemy. First, he was doing the work of the Lord in the name of the Lord. The use of the Lord’s name implies a trust in that name; a trust that “at the name of the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth”[4]. The use of the Lord’s name shows a desire to give praise, honor, and glory to Jesus. Additionally, Jesus points out, there is no such thing as a spiritual Switzerland; there is no neutral ground when it comes to Jesus. Either a person is for Jesus or they are against Jesus. Here Jesus says, “whoever is not against us is for us.” In Matthew 12:30 Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me.” This guy may not have had the privilege of sitting at Jesus’ feet as John and the disciples had, he may not have seen as many miracles, heard as many sermons, or even fully understood the mission of the Messiah, but this guy was not their enemy. Jesus does not instruct His disciples to set their differences aside and join together in some sort of Christian coalition. He simply says, this guy is not your enemy, “Do not stop him.”
Just because someone is not “one of us”. Does not mean they are against us. It is not our mission to go into all nations and put a stop to all those who do not identify themselves as Lutheran. Now, I’m not saying that we should overlook, accept, or agree to false teaching. I am not saying there is a single doctrine that is to be considered optional, unimportant, or irrelevant. I am not saying we should not fight to preserve the pure teachings of scripture by condemning falsehood wherever it might be found. I’m just saying, my enemy is not Andy Stanley and your enemy is not your Catholic cousin, Baptist babysitter, Methodist mechanic, or nondenominational neighbor. Our enemy is the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, our enemy is the one who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, our enemy is the great dragon, that ancient serpent who seeks to lead the whole world astray. We are at war my friends but let us not forget who our true enemy is. Our enemy is the devil and the enemy of our enemy is our friend.
I would like to conclude this morning with one more quote from the masters of military strategy. In the Art of War, Sun Tzu observed, “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win”. Praise God! We are what Sun Tzu would call “victorious warriors”. My fellow Christian soldiers, the decisive battle has already been fought. When, upon the cross, Jesus said, “it is finished” He was proclaiming victory over sin, death, and the devil. Our enemy, the devil has been defeated. We are “victorious warriors”. May Jesus our military master, keep us ever equipped for the battle until, at last, we have eternal peace. Amen
[1] Ephesians 6:11-12
[2] Mark 1:34
[3] Mark 9:17
[4] Philippians 2:10