Whose Side Are You On?

If he's for us, he can't be against us!

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The quote has been described as an Arabic proverb, but it most likely comes from advice given in India by a leader who died under mysterious circumstances.

This attitude that my enemy’s enemy is my ally has been used countless times in politics and warfare to justify the “strange bedfellows” that specific alliances have created to pursue political and military goals. Of course, the ideology behind this old saying reveals an old sickness among us humans. It shows the notion that we can identify people as enemies or friends. It also reduces our reality to merely the social or political maneuverings of our short-sighted circumstances.

But is there any spiritual benefit to this attitude and political tool?

In our Gospel Lesson today, the Lord’s disciples come to Jesus to report on their good work and seek His approval for their actions. They encounter a man who isn’t part of their group casting out demons in the name of Jesus. The disciples tell him to stop since he isn’t part of the company of the disciples.

They are surprised at the Lord’s response!

Look how the Lord responds in our Gospel Lesson in Luke 9:49-56:

At that time, one of Jesus’ disciples came to him and said, “Master, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you.” When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them as Elijah did?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.

So, the Lord turns this old saying on its head to teach the disciples a valuable lesson in humility and the extent of God’s grace given to the whole world.

The disciples are encouraged to break the small mentality of “our group” in favor of the more cosmic understanding of the grace of God given to all who sincerely seek to know God. What a powerful lesson for us today to overcome the temptation to “cliques” and our spiritual ghettos that do little more than shrink our vision of God and our love for others. Jesus applies loving wisdom to the natural tendency in the disciples and all of us to forget how caring, giving, and humble our God is. He is so gracious that He embraces anyone who seeks to embrace Him.

And that means whomever He embraces should never be slandered as an enemy!

God’s grace is always bigger than our vision! God’s kindness and love are always bigger than the shallow “differences” between us humans.

God knows us by name and not by our race, education, or our desires.

WE name ourselves these labels that make it easy to reduce the people we see and don’t see to too small “identities” that tell a lie about people. Those labels we use, even for ourselves, are filled with the danger of dismissing someone and ourselves and making them “the enemy.”

Now, be careful here!

When we see God’s amazing grace, we are also challenged to understand that God’s mercy and grace are possible because He has a Church in the world.

Far from this cosmic truth suggesting that there is some “universalism” at work here where it is irrelevant what you believe as long as you have “nice thoughts” and kind actions, the very reason there is grace in the world that works throughout the world is that Jesus is still Present in His world through His Church. Anyone who gives you a cup of water in Christ’s name will not lose his reward because Christ is still in His world through His Church!

Extend the same grace and love to others as God has extended you! That TRANSFORMATIVE journey is what Normal Orthodoxy is all about.

The story of the great Prophet and Saint, Hosea, perfectly illustrates the transformed life. St. Hosea is the most ancient of the 12 Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. He was a tribal leader in Israel when the 10 Northern Tribes of Israel separated from the 2 Southern Tribes. This time of divide was never healed in the Nation of Israel, and God called Hosea to display His love for His wayward children powerfully. In the book of Hosea, God calls Hosea to marry a prostitute. What?!? A prostitute? Are you sure, God?

Of course, St. Hosea didn’t ask any of those questions. He obeyed God, and he married this woman. And the woman was unfaithful to Hosea. We see Hosea's powerful devotion and faithfulness as he goes out at night seeking his wife to bring her home. All of this was to illustrate why the Northern Kingdom was being Unfaithful as they abandoned the true worship of the God of Abraham to worshipping the pagan gods of the people around them. The Southern Kingdom wasn’t committing spiritual “adultery” by all the proper worship practices and a valid priesthood, but they had hearts that didn’t love God. They were going through the motions! Hosea’s life and the paradox of his ministry was a powerful invitation from God for His people to WAKE UP to the spiritual sickness that was killing them!

Today, instead of maneuvering this or that person in your life to maximize your benefit, ask the Lord to release you to bring His presence to every situation. Watch as His Presence draws out of others a kindness, a service, righteousness that they may not have realized they possessed. Instead of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” let’s transform by grace our relationships, our acquaintances, and our surroundings into humble opportunities for the Presence of Jesus in His Church to transfigure even those who don’t realize they are on the Lord’s side into companions on this spiritual journey toward Him Who loves us even more than we, ourselves, know how to love. That’s when we will discover a genuinely Normal Orthodox Life!

P.S. Initiated by divine illumination, you were deemed worthy of the lofty gift of prophecy and foretold of the promise of grace, O Prophet. O Hosea, since you dwell in God's glory now, do rescue from all manner of adversity us who cry to you: Rejoice, you vessel of grace divine.

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Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV