“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward. Mark 9:38-41

In the days following the September 11 terror attacks President George W. Bush announced the War on Terror to a joint session of congress. “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make.” He famously said, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” He invoked the logic of “you are either with me or against me” which is the logic of war, of politics, of strife and conflict.

Jesus, astonishingly, refuses the logic of “with us or against us.” When John tells him that someone is casting out demons in his name without his permission, and seeks to jealously protect Jesus’ name, Jesus tells him to let it be. “For whoever is not against us is for us.”

We too easily see through the lens of us versus them, but that is not the lens Jesus asks John to use. Certainly there are people who make themselves enemies of Christ, enemies of the Church, enemies of the poor, and those Jesus calls brothers and sisters. Jesus told us how to deal with such people. But for everyone else, Jesus says, we are to understand that they are on our side.

I worry at the defensive footing I see so many Christians take. Worrying about secularization, or decline, or new mores. Jesus never counsels a defensive footing. The Church that circles the wagons is the Church in its death throes. He tells us not to worry about tomorrow, and to love our enemies. “Take heart,” he says, “I have overcome the world.”