Sunday Reflection: For us? Against us?

In John 9 we find this story:

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

Elsewhere (Matthew 12:30) Jesus says the opposite-- that "those who are not for us are against us."  

Ministers worldwide have worked hard to either harmonize these two things or to avoid the subject altogether. I'm not sure I can do better than either group. Good thing I am not a minister!

I've always understood both of these to be about people who are in the squishy middle. After all, it isn't those who are "for us" or "against us"-- it's people who aren't really in either. 

Maybe we could think of that group as sadly unfocused-- pick a side already!-- but it could be that they just haven't engaged with the question. And in that way, they are both for AND against us.

For example, think about people who really have no opinion about climate change. They either don't care one way or the other, or have never really thought about it. To people seeking to address climate change, those people (seen as not being against us) are for us in the sense that they are not resisting the changes sought. They also (seen as not being for us) are against us in that they are not pro-actively a part of the solution.

But mostly, here is how I think of those neither for- or against- people: as an audience. They are the ones we can persuade, and then real things, accomplishments of the spirit, can happen.

[Note: the illustration is supposed to be Mitch McConnell driving out demons]