MARK 9,38-41, AND THE VALIDITY OF PROTESTANT AND OTHER UNAUTHORIZED EXORCISMS
In the Gospel of Mark (9,38-41) we read [in my translation from the Greek]:
9,38 John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw someone who was trashing demons in
your name, and we were hindering him because he was not accompanying us."
39 But Jesus said, "Do no hinder him. For no one who will work a deed of
great power in my name will immediately be able to speak evil of me; 40
for he who is not against us is for us. 41 For whoever gives you a cup of
water to drink because you are Christ's, 'Amen,' I say to you, that he
will certainly not be without his recompense."
If we were to read back into this Gospel the present state of the Mystical
Body of Christ, what with Catholic and non- Catholic Christians, it would
then seem that Jesus intended any and all who sincerely invoked His name
to be able to cast out demons, those who were and are duly authorized by
Catholic ecclesiastical authority and those who were and are not so
deputed.
However, at the time of this event Jesus had not yet even given the
command to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Who was a Christian and who was not was much more loosely
defined. Those who were disciples of Jesus could express this by being
"for" Jesus and not "against" Him, demonstrating this by invoking His name
when relieving the suffering of the besieged or simply by giving a drink
of water to a disciple because he was a disciple of Christ. It was not
necessary to follow Jesus and the disciples everywhere.
Within a few years however, in order to be "for" Jesus, to be a disciple,
to do anything in His name, one would also have to be baptized into His
name. Those who would be so sincere as to give a cup of water to a
disciple of Jesus because he was a disciple of Jesus would certainly not
have a problem in receiving the watery sacrament. Those who were insincere
in using Jesus' name to cast out demons were soon to be exposed and
crushed for not being disciples of Jesus, and this by the demon himself,
as we see with the sons of Sceve: "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who
are you?" (Acts 19,15ff). These itinerant exorcists certainly knew by the
time this happened that it was insincere to use Jesus' name but not belong
to the family of faith in the way He wanted people to belong to it -- by
baptism. And at that time it was only baptism into Catholic, that is,
"universal" Christianity.
Note that the passage in question is 9,38-41, and that the apostles had
been given the authority to cast out demons, and only they, back in 6,7.
This, however, does not demean the authority of Jesus and His ability to
delegate this authority the way in which he wants. We have to understand
that Jesus was able then, just as He is able now, to discern when someone
was doing something in His name. He had the freedom to permit the action
to be carried out in His name or to let it be carried out without the
benefit of the action having the power of His name behind it. Jesus
Himself grants the power behind His name. No one can just use His power
without His permission, as if using His name was some sort of magical
formula enabling one to tap into the power of Jesus without Him knowing
anything about it.
Jesus accepted the sincerity of the lone exorcist, but not that of the
sons of Sceve. They were miserably unsuccessful. The lone exorcist
obviously did not know of Jesus' restrictions ("he was not accompanying
us"). It was a good thing for Jesus to enable the man to cast out demons
and demonstrate the tremendous power of Jesus, that He is able to work
through others by the authority that He gives to them (not something
anyone else can do). This was a valuable lesson in a Christology which had
direct consequences for a proper understanding of ecclesiology: Jesus
instructs the disciples that He has direct contact with all, something
which does not undermine their authoirty, but which rather reminds them
where that authority comes from, not themselves, but from Him alone.
The authority needed for exorcism is not essential to the proper
management of the Church, although it is extremely useful. Jesus can give
this authority to anyone as He sees fit. However, in the normal course of
affairs, it is the prudence of Jesus at this time, as expressed by the
Church which He founded upon Peter, that only those who are delegated by
hierarchical authority are able to have this authority to cast out demons.
This is not necessarily prejudicial to the case of someone who, in not
knowing the need for such authority, simply goes ahead and does an
exorcism. It is not guaranteed that Jesus will grant the authority of His
name to such a person, although there is that possibility. And those who
would otherwise try to use Jesus' authority against His will, as expressed
by the Church, are in for an unpleasant surprise.
Counselor
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