When Jesus says, “Anyone not against us is for us,” He is including His apostles in this “us.” It’s not just me, Jesus, against the world. It’s me, Jesus and my apostles. That’s important to realize, because Jesus doesn’t want you and me to think that He, Jesus, alone is doing all the heavy lifting. Redemption is Our Lord’s mission. He is the Savior. But we need to see our cooperation in His mission. 

In Frank Sheed’s book, Theology and Sanity, we gain this key insight. In Protestant thinking, the apostles only have a minor role. Their function is only to be the Dr Watsons to their master Sherlock Holmes. Or we might say, the apostles were to Jesus what Ed McMahon was to Johnny Carson. We all knew Ed was the “set up man.” Johnny was the star. So, as Jesus includes the apostles in this teaching, “anyone not against us is for us,” Jesus is teaching the apostles to realize they are not just “sidekicks.” They couldn’t possibly know it then, but eventually they will take the role of “star.” The Lord’s mission is their mission. They will be principal players in salvation history. By saying “us” in this situation, Jesus is, in a way, already commissioning them to be the first bishops, to go out into the world, just as He, Jesus, came into the world. 

Jesus, of course knew they weren’t perfect. He knew they had a long way to go before they grew from being His “sidekicks” to being the early teachers, bishops, martyrs and Popes of the Church. Sheed says beautifully, “For these were men who knew Christ before they knew He was God.” Jesus knew they had to fall in love with Him so that they would see His difficult teachings as part of His love, not as arbitrary rules to deprive them of their happiness. Our Lord knew as long as they stayed with Him, they were on the right track. They were heading in the right direction. Even Judas was heading in the right direction, until he abandoned ship. 

Let us make a connection between this attitude that Jesus had regarding His apostles and a major moral issue of our day. The issue of the right to life is one of the most divisive issues around. At times those who defend a nation’s right to defend the unborn criticize a statesman (or woman) if they are not 100% prolife. They often say, “How can a prolife person back someone who isn’t 100% prolife? If one is not 100% prolife, it doesn’t matter who you support.” But let us recall what the apostles said. “We saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils...” Then Jesus says, “No one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me.” Let’s translate this to apply to the life issue. “We, the pro-life community, are often faced with supporting “the lesser of two evils. So and so isn’t 100% prolife so we tried to stop him.” I imagine Jesus could easily say, “No one who has done some good in this matter should be dismissed. If he isn’t against us, he’s with us”. Being moderately pro-life as opposed to being radically pro-abortion is heading in the right direction. The old saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”