Whoever is not against us is for us
A sermon at St Mary's North Melbourne 30 September 2018 Text: Mark 9:38-50 It is probably one of the most mis-quoted texts in the new Testament – “Whoever is not against us is for us.” How often have I heard instead, “Whoever is not for us is against us.” The grammarians amongst you will understand that this is one of those occasions in English where word order matters. Let’s start with a secular example. Let us say, for argument’s sake, that I am an indigenous politician, and I am arguing for a change in the law to improve the health outcomes for members of my community. I lobby, I give speeches, I get the matter in the public eye and on the national agenda. I discover that the people with a parliamentary vote on this question fall into a number of categories in response: 1) Those who stand to benefit directly from the success of such a policy are in favour. They are “for us.” There are two of them. 2) Those who have nothing to gain personally, but who a