Bad Theology

Text for today: Mark 9 xxxviii-xli

The apostle John informs Jesus that someone has been casting out demons in His name, and that the disciples tried to stop him in order to protect the franchise. Jesus replies that anyone who performs miracles in His name will be in no hurry to speak evil of Him, and that whoever is not against His cult is for it. He proclaims that whoever gives a drink of water to the disciples because they are His disciples will be rewarded.

Here Jesus magnanimously implies that those who show charity will be spared the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, provided that their charity is shown to the right sort of people. He is also generous enough to recognise the value of good publicity, and to restrain His disciples from persecuting those for whose good works Jesus may one day receive credit.

Few tyrants regard themselves as bound by covenant to their own word, and it did not take long for the kingdom of Heaven to declare this particular bargain null and void. As recounted in Acts 19 xiii-xvii, during the ministry of Paul in Ephesus some exorcists attempted to expel a demon in the name of Jesus, only to be attacked and humiliated by the unfortunate possessee. Evidently God had decided by then that those who performed mighty works in the name of Jesus were expendable after all, since the name of Jesus was being duly magnified in any case.

Significantly, the Ephesus demon claims to recognise the name of Paul, founder of the Roman church, as well as that of Jesus; and the unsuccessful exorcists are Jewish. This foreshadows the approaching transference of God's favour away from the Jews and towards the Roman Empire, whose unfortunate symptoms of religious tolerance the name of Jesus would do so much to heal.