Many years ago, a dear friend and second-Mother asked me an intriguing question. That question comes to my mind multiple times each year even to this moment. Paraphrased, the question would be something like:
"If you could hold a dinner party to talk with any ten people, living or dead, other than the obviously invited guests of Jesus and the disciples, who would you invite and why?"
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Dinner Guest #2: The Unnamed Miracle Worker
The Introduction
John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For the one who is not against us is for us."
(Mark 9:38-40)
John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him, because he does not follow along with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for the one who is not against you is for you.”
(Luke 9:49-50)
The History
Luke begins his this gospel letter, addressed to the individual he calls Theophilus, by stating that the events he was relaying are carefully researched and written in an orderly sequence - ie: a chronological order.
At the start of the 9th chapter of Luke, Jesus has gathered the Twelve together, gave them power over demons and disease, and sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and heal the sick. They were so marvelously used by God that reports of their deeds were making it even to Herod.
Verse 12 says that they returned to Jesus who had apparently been teaching a crowd of over five-thousand people. You know the story of the boy with the five loaves and two fish, and how Jesus miraculously fed the crowd with what that boy provided.
Sometime after this event, we see the wonderful passages where Jesus asks the disciples who the people say He is, and then pointedly asks them who they say He is. One of Peter's shining moments during Jesus' earthly ministry was his answer, "The Christ of God." In this passage, Jesus foretells of His death and resurrection, and the disciples don't grasp it.
We then see Jesus' transfiguration on the mountain where Moses and Elijah appeared with Him and was witnessed by Peter, James, and John. Upon descending from the mountain, Jesus casts a demon out of a man's son that the disciples has been unable to cast out. Again, Jesus tells his disciples of His coming death and resurrection, and again they don't grasp it and are too afraid to ask what He means.
At some point afterwards, there arises the argument between the disciples of which one is the greatest among them. Immediately after the passages of this argument, in both Luke's account and in Mark's, John points out some unnamed man they had seen casting out demon's in Jesus' name. The disciples had tried ordering the man to desist.
Why would they try to stop this man? Perhaps, as the previous passage had been about their bickering among themselves who was the greatest, they may have been feeling a little too self-important since this man wasn't one of the Twelve who had been specifically given direction and the power over demons and disease by Jesus Himself. As John said, "...he does not follow along with us."
The Person
There is no information of this person in scripture other than the disciples saw him casting out demons in Jesus' name. We aren't given or even hinted at the man's identity, his age, or his status. The authors only provide that he was "some guy" that was "doing things".
It is evidently true that he was casting out demons in Jesus' name as Jesus forbade the disciples from hindering the man. "For the one who is not against you is for you." Contrast that response to the one that Jesus would give those claiming He was casting out demons by the power of the ruler of demons (Matthew 12:24-25, Mark 3:22-26, Luke 11:15-20) where he says that "a house divided against itself falls."
His success in casting out demons in the name of Jesus is also at apparent contrast to others mentioned who were attempting to employ Jesus' name in their own exorcism attempts.
But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I order you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches!" Now there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, doing this. But the evil spirit responded and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know of Paul, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit, pounced on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
(Acts 19:13-16)
In this life-battle we are all in there are only two options: light or darkness; good or evil; life or death; or more to the point, redemption through Christ or rejection of Christ. You are either for Jesus or you are not.
Jesus' earthly ministry at this point had been about two and a half years. In another six months or so He would be facing Gethsemane; the betrayal by Judas Iscariot; the trials before Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin, Herod, and Pontius Pilate; the scourging; the crucifixion; and then the death and resurrection that He was forewarning the disciples of.
At some point in that two and a half years, this man had heard, accepted, believed, and was all-in for what Jesus was teaching.
The Conversation
This is one of the most mysterious people I've come across in scripture. Here are some of the things I would love to hear him talk about:
+ Who was he? Where was he from? What was his occupation?
+ Had he a family? Had he been able to influence them for Christ?
+ What events or teachings ultimately convinced him of Jesus' claims?
+ Was he one of the 70 (or 72) disciples Jesus later sent out (in Luke 10) to proclaim the kingdom of God after having sent the Twelve out?
+ Did he witness Jesus' crucifixion? Was he disheartened by it as the Twelve were?
+ Was he one of the many people that Jesus appeared to after His resurrection?
+ What were the remainder of his days like?
The Why
This man had so accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah that he was casting out demons in Christ's name. That is not a small thing, as seen by the incident with the seven sons of Sceva. Another example would be when the disciples tried casting a demon out of a man's son while Jesus and His "inner Three" were on the Mount of Transfiguration. They were unable to cast the demon out, and Jesus cast it out upon His descent. Jesus was asked why they failed. According to Mark's account, Jesus answered "This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer."
The disciples failed to cast the demon out of the man's son because they were not yet fully prepared and equipped. The Jewish exorcists were also apparently unsuccessful when they "attempted" because they were not properly equipped. The sons of Sceva failed to cast the demon out of the man because they were not properly equipped, and they paid quite a price for their failure.
But this unnamed man was already in a position spiritually to cast out demons in the name of Jesus at the time Jesus gave the power and authority to the Twelve to cast out demons and heal the sick.
In Luke 7, Jesus observed that the centurion whose servant was ill and accepted that Jesus could heal him from afar with just a word displayed faith like no one He'd yet seen among the Jews. Certainly, this unnamed man was also displaying an incredible amount of faith in the power of Christ.
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