Others who were not sent

[jmcclane]

I am at work, on lunch break, and do not have my bible but in the Gospels there was scripture shows the Apostles telling Jesus about “others” who where healing and teaching but were not connected to the Apostles (I wish I could remember the exact verse). I have always been troubled by this, can you tell me why Jesus said to leave them be (basically)? Was this a foreshadowing to Protestants? Are we to infer, from this scripture, that groups, who do not have apostolic succession, are just as valid? Thanks your help.

Joe M

New Hampshire

 

[Fortiterinre]

I think this would be more of a foreshadowing of what we would now call lay ministry or apostolate. When Jesus healed the Gerasene demoniac, the restored man wanted to get into the boat and accompany the Apostles but was told no. We then read that on his own he went and preached Jesus throughout the Decapolis, the ten cities of the plain. Lay ministry is separate from ordained or sacramental ministry, but still scriptural and still part of the work of Jesus.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Mark 9:38-41 and Luke 9:49-50.

 

[Fidelis]

The Navarre Study Bible on Mark’s Gospel answers thusly:

**From: Mark 9:38-40

Being the Servant of All
------------------------**[38] John said to Him (Jesus), “Teacher, we saw a man casting out
demons in Your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following
us.” [39] But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a
mighty work in My name will be able soon after to speak evil of Me.
[40] For he that is not against us is for us.”

---

Commentary:

38-40.** Our Lord warns the Apostles, and through them all Christians,
against exclusivism in the apostolate–the notion that “good is not
good unless I am the one who does it.” We must assimilate this
teaching of Christ’s: good is good, even if it is not I who do it.
Cf. note on Luke 9:49-50.

**[The note on Luke 9:49-50 states:

49-50.** Our Lord corrects the exclusivist and intolerant attitude of
the Apostles. St Paul later learned this lesson, as we can see from
what he wrote during his imprisonment in Rome: “Some indeed preach
Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will …]. What
then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ
is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice” (Philippians 1:15, 18).
“Rejoice, when you see others working in good apostolic activities.
And ask God to grant them abundant grace and that they may respond to
that grace. Then, you, on your way: convince yourself that it’s the
only way for you” (St J. Escriva, “The Way”, 965).]**The Haydock Commentary on the DRV says:

Ver. 49. We forbade him. St. John having the most love for his Lord, and being particularly beloved by him, thought all were to be excluded from these gifts, who were not obedient to his divine Master. (St. Augustine) — But we must remember, that not the minister is the author of these miracles, but the grace which is in him, who performs these wonders by virtue of the power of Christ. (St. Cyril) — How wonderful is the power of Christ, who by his grace works miracles in the persons of the unworthy, and those that are not disciples; as men are sanctified by the priest, though the priest should not be in the state of grace! (Theophylactus)

Ver. 50. Forbid him not. Our Lord is not moved by this event, to teach us that perfect virtue entertains no thoughts of revenge, and that anger cannot be found where the fulness of charity reigns. The weak must not be driven away, but assisted. Let the breast of the religious man be ever unmoved by passion, and the mind of the generous undisturbed by desires of revenge. (St. Ambrose)