At that time, John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”
Jesus reminds us: “For whoever is not against us, is for us.” Why is it so hard for us to remember this? There are many good souls in the world that love God and seek to do His will. Whether they are protestant christians, or budhists, or jews, etc., there are many people, that while confused about who God really is are still, nevertheless, loving and worshiping the same God as we are. Pope St. John Paul II made this point in His encyclical “Fides et Ratio” that many (but not all), of the worlds religions are seeking the same god as we are, and this fact makes them our brothers and sisters in Christ. Vatican II taught this same concept in its document “Lumen Gentium,” calling it the “many lights” that lead to the lord.
But this teaching does seem to contradict Jesus’ own teachings when He said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” So how do we reconcile this…? The answer is evangelization. There are many people out there that may have not ever heard the name of Jesus, and there are even many more out there that have heard His name, but do not know who he is. And thus God’s grace is big enough to make room for them in His Kingdom, regardless of whether they have grown up as a christian or not.Our task is to spread the word about Him, teach others who He is, and help them to convert and be His disciple.
But until that happens, we are not to prevent them from doing good deeds in the name of God, but as they do God’s will in this world, we are also required to teach them about who Jesus really is… The point is that if you live a good life, if you seek to do good and resist evil that God will not punish you for never knowing who Jesus is, and worshiping other gods. But the other side of that coin is that once you do know that those other gods are not the real God and you know who Jesus really is, then you will be held accountable for either choosing to accept or reject Him.
St. Paul made a similar point when he was in a greek city…, there he found that they had a shrine setup for the “unknonwn god.” He recognized that they did not have the full picture of god but that they understood that there was more to learn about who God really is. St. Paul used that knowledge to evangelize them about the true nature and name of the one true God in heaven. This is our task too, to find those that are following different paths (other lights), and show them the one true light, Jesus Christ, and guide them to living in a state grace as a christain.
But despite our efforts, some will never come to accept the truth of Jesus Christ, but if they follow those other lights for their entire life, and die in the ignorance of their faith. If they die in friendship and love of God, they can find their way to the throne of Jesus Christ, and He will inform them of their error. If they then accept that Jesus Christ is Lord, and convert their heart, mind and soul to christianity, then they too will ultimately be saved. Jesus said nothing unclean can enter heaven, and so even if you are not a christian in this world, if you want to be with God for eternity, then you must accept Jesus Christ as king and lord of the universe and then you too will be a christian in heaven.
St James in the last sentence of his letter wrote: “My brothers, if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” So this is our task, find good people wherever they are and however they believe, and introduce them to Jesus. Do not prevent them from doing good in Jesus’ name, but use their goodness to bring them out of the darkness of their false faith, and show them to true light of Jesus.
