Inclusion

"He that is not against you is for you," Luke 9:50.

But then, later, Jesus says: He who is not with me is against me. We like this later one especially when we're drawing lines between the truly righteous versus the less so. Who's in and who's out. You know, like, who's on our team, the vertical striped shirts, our clan, our people, the belongers, the good guys. And who's on the other side, the competition, the horizontal striped shirts, the outsiders, the not-belongers, the bad guys. Not with us? then against us! Jesus' distinction between the phrases shows his distinguishing mark. When people (whatever their stripe) speak admirably of Jesus they're not against us. They're for us. When people attribute to Jesus the work of the devil, they're not with him, they are against him. So, do those folks see Jesus empowered by God, or, by Satan? If the former, then they're with (him, us). If the latter, then they're against. So says Jesus, Lord and Christ.

As we reflect for a few moments now on who's with him and who's not, we give thanks for his inclusion of us. Share good news with a brother or sister today that Jesus includes them, too.