Luke 11:23 "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."

"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters" (Luke 11:23).

Question:

This verse has a "companion verse" in Luke 9:50: "...whoever is not against you is for you." This verse has Jesus telling John not to worry about "competing" healers. It serves as a working parable for me on Jesus' inclusive view of all who do God's work and follow a faithful pathway. By contrast, Luke 11:23 seems a bit more enigmatic in its context. After a mini-parable of a "strong person with many weapons" (sound familiar?) being conquered by an even stronger one, Jesus says "Anyone who is not with me is against me ..." The seeming inclusive message of 9:50 now seems strangely exclusionary. Are these two verses a yin and yang, opposite sides of the same coin? Do they both transcend cultural and faith-tradition identification? Luke 11 has Jesus warning against a "house divided." What is the power of this verse in our culturally and politically polarized times?

Comment:

I think these two statements are, indeed, a yin/yang, in that each is true in and of itself, and together they affirm an even clearer truth. At Luke 9:50 Jesus is reacting to news that there are others doing healing work, independent of his own ministry. The disciples are indignant, but Jesus knows that what matters is the result—the healing—not the process. "Whoever is not against you is for you" suggests that all paths are valid if their product is good—healing, abundance, love. This is certainly a perception that the Christian church has often ignored. Even today—especially today—the world would be an infinitely more peaceful place if people of every faith realized that all paths are valid and good if they produce positive, loving results. At Luke 11:23, on the other hand, Jesus is responding to “the other side of the coin”—those who were murmuring that his healing power must come from Satan. That would be impossible, he states, because what his work accomplishes is the very antithesis of the intentions of Satan. It is the negative consciousness he calls Satan that produces disease, lack, fear and division. The same power cannot also be healing those same afflictions. "Whoever is not with me is against me" suggests that it is those who accuse him of being of Satan who are indeed locked in that negative consciousness, since they perceive his work with suspicion and opposition.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed