Mark 9:38-50
There’s a T-shirt that I saw in a photo one day that made me laugh. (And after I talked about it, one of my creative friends made me one. I just have to be careful where I wear it.) The T-shirt reads, “Jesus loves you, but I’m his favorite”. We know that Jesus loves us, but sometimes we get a little stingy with sharing God’s love in Jesus with everyone.
There’s a story like that in the gospels (Mark 9:38-50). The folks who sat down to create the Spark Story Bible for children included that story in their New Testament section, and they recounted it like this:
The disciples were huffing and puffing with anger. John said, “Jesus, you won’t believe this! I’m so angry! We saw someone who was teaching people about you, and he wasn’t one of us! Can you believe that? We tried to stop him!”
Jesus said, “Wait a minute! Don’t stop someone who teaches in my name. Anyone who teaches about God’s love helps us, whether we know that person or not.”
Jesus explained things to the confused disciples. “It is important to help people who believe in me, no matter who they are. It is not a good thing to stop someone from believing in me. All of God’s children can help each other have faith. Be at peace with other people!”
Then the disciples understood that everyone could know and share God’s love.
Just like the love we often feel from our parents, when we know Jesus’ love we sometimes feel like we are favored (and we are.) How can we invite others into that wonderful relationship with Jesus, so they too feel favored?
Prayer
God, let Your love flow from me today so that the people whom I meet will see sense love so strongly that they too will want to be a follower of my Lord and Savior Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.