Franchise?

(From my journal on May 9, 2013). Does it seem a little unusual that the person known as "the one Jesus loved" was the one so critical of this other exorcist? When you love someone so completely or are loved by someone so much you might tend to be jealous, or merely protective. John was also guarding the brand. The band of brothers had a brand exclusive to them. They had Jesus in their circle, not just His name. But like an NFL vendor some serious lawsuit can result if someone prints an official NFL logo without getting permission or sanction from the owner. The apostles had exclusive rights to Jesus, so John thought. He was the manager protecting his clients rights. All acts of casting out demons had to go through them now because Jesus is the great "demon-caster-outer." Denominations do not own the name of Jesus. They are not Jesus' franchise agent on earth. Jesus does His own work of sanctifying His people, both individually and collectively.

Note: "he was not following us"(Mark) or "not follow along with us."(Luke)  Just like the Pharisees who did not deny that Jesus was casting out demons and doing miracles, they did not accept the legitimacy of these because they were not under their control or management. If they could have put Jesus under contract, got some money out of it, or recognition, and have tied their work and purposes to Him, there would have never been a problem. But just as Jesus was God's free agent to use God's power when and where He liked as long as His Father was happy it didn't matter if anyone else was.

John revealed that he  was not acting alone. He was merely the spokesman on this one. "We saw someone" and "we tried to stop him." No doubt another person casting out demons would draw attention and these disciples would be curious. In this case either the demons were coming out or not. If it were healing, either someone was healed or not. If they were, then the disciples had three choices: 1) try to stop them; 2) ask the person to join them; 3) ignore them. It is also clear that the person must have not agreed to stop. This is why John is telling on him. Did Jesus demand the man be brought to Him so He could command him to stop, strip him of his powers, and reprimand him? Jesus did not act as expected. I guess He was not as protective of His name as they were, or perhaps he knew that the demons would take care of anyone who was not sincere in the use of that name.(See Acts 19) You shall not take the name of God in vain. If God were supplying the power to actually get rid of the demon then He must have been okay with what the man was doing.

This story certainly shows our tendency to want to manage Jesus instead of being managed by Him. Why do we feel the need to be gate keepers instead of simply those who pass through the gate ourselves and invite everyone we know to join us? We are the guides, not the ticket takers. God can and will use whoever He wishes to do His work and He does not ask our permission to do so.