Mark 9: 38-40 He drives out demons in your name

Do you recall Charles Colton's famous quote, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery"?  In today's Gospel the Apostles are appalled that someone who was not in their eyes 'authorized' is driving out demons in Jesus' name. 

It calls to mind an image of one who is trying to become Christ-like, and therefore has radically changed their life to be as much as they can like Him.  It is what we are all called to strive to do.  It is difficult, but Jesus reminds us, that these people who do this, who try to imitate him, they cannot be against him:  if they were against him, they would not be trying to imitate him.  How do we start to try to imitate Christ, and why should we?

St. Paul says, "Put off the old man who is corrupted according to the desire of error, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth." (Eph 4:22-24)  As Dietrich von Hildebrand explains we must desire to be this new man or woman in Christ.  It has been interesting speaking with young adults recently who attest how easy it is to become complacent in their faith and with the things of life, that they are suddenly realizing that they need to keep challenging themselves to grow spiritually and to become better people--this challenging the way they think, pushing themselves to help others by taking their own selves out of their comfort zones, by working to be more forgiving and compassionate, these are the ways to put on their new selves, to live in imitation of Christ, to be Christ-like. 

John 14:7-14 Whomever has seen me has seen the Father.

In today's Gospel, there is a line, "Show us the Father."  It reminds me of when people say, "Show me the money!"  There is so much doubt and perhaps annoyance in it.  Jesus is challenging Philip and us to look at the entire situation differently than originally perceived.  Philip followed Jesus for a long time, Jesus tells us, but still Jesus is shaking his head at him and asking how Philip could still not know him. 

We live sometimes in the moment, that words spoken seem more important than the actions or rhythmic pattern of one's life, but Jesus is arresting Philip's attention, and basically saying, hey, look deeper into what you know is true, not because I said it, but because I have said it and lived it;  You know that it isn't me, but the one who sent me who is beckoning to you to come follow me to him. 

"The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own."  Just as when we proclaim Jesus's words, we are in him and him in us because through our imitation of him, we have become an extention of him, so too are his word's the Father's and so the Father is in him and he in the Father because he is an extention of the Father.  So really, when we do good works, and proclaim the Kingdom, we are an extention of the Father through Christ, and we know the Father is with us.  This is what Jesus explains to Philip.  Jesus says that he will help Philip with anything because of that, just as he will help us.