The Unforgivable Sin

The New Revised Standard Version (Jesus and Beelzebul)

Then he went home; 20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23 And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.28 “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”The True Kindred of Jesus(Mt 12:46–50; Lk 8:19–21)31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” 33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Introduction: Working against myself.

One of the nice things about the pandemic life is that we have actually spent a fair amount of money and energy in setting up our technology here in the sanctuary.

One of the horrible things about the pandemic life is that we have spent a LARGE amount of energy in setting up our technology which never seems to want to work as well as it’s supposed to in this room, does it?

Case in point: the other day I was up here setting up for church as I often do.

I try to come in and make sure that the cameras are all working, that my notes are all laid out the way I want them, and, critically, all the microphones have batteries in them.

So this week, I was up here trying to get this microphone tested and ready to go, and this stupid thing just would not make sound.

I changed the batteries.

I flicked the on and off switch back and forth a few times.

I plugged and unplugged and plugged and unplugged the cable.

And then when I though I was really losing my mind, I started to walk around the room to see if there were spots that I was getter better signal than others.

I was just at the breaking point, like very much ready to just throw the microphone through the window back there in frustration, when I noticed that I hadn’t yet turned the sound system on in the back of the room...

Sometimes, and easily the most frustrating times, are when I’m working against myself.

There’s progress that I want to make with something, and very much the only thing that is standing in my way is me myself and I.

I hate when I’m working against myself.

And, it turns out, so does Jesus.

Bible Breakdown

Setting:

Jesus went to a house somewhere.

And apparently everyone is so pumped to meet with Jesus that there’s such a big crowd that no one can eat.

As a Presbyterian, I find this offensive.

You should always make sure that everyone has time to eat.

Jesus family thinks he’s crazy.

Jesus family shows up, and starts to think that he’s going crazy.

He’s healing all kinds of people, he’s talking about the kingdom of God a lot, he’s dealing with demons.

He must be nuts.

In the Greek, the phrase here is literally “He’s outside his mind.”

Hold that thought.

Jealous Scribes?

The Scribes are also there.

These are people who’s whole job is to keep the law of Moses in order, and to make sure people are following it.

Think of them as some kind of cross between a pastor like me, a lawyer, and a cop.

And somehow, these scribes are aware that Jesus has been casting out demons.

And what follows is this interesting reaction from some supposed religious leaders in the day:

They know that there are people in their world that have been possessed by demons.

We’ve talked about this before, about whether these were literal demons or whether it was some sort of mental health affliction, or something in between.

Whatever it is, it’s pretty easy to say that these people who are possessed are legitimately hurting.

They are suffering.

And they also know that somehow, in some miraculous way, Jesus has brought healing to these people who are suffering.

People who weren’t in their right mind are repaired.

People who have been having seizures are steady and stable.

God is at work through Jesus Christ, fixing people who are hurting and restoring them to wholeness.

And the reaction of these scribes?

Jesus has a demon.

That’s the only thing that makes sense to them.

They are the ones who are spiritual and religious and the church leaders of their days.

If anyone should be doing the healing, it should be them.

And since Jesus isn’t one of them, surely he’s doing this work by having a devil in him himself, right?

What a silly reaction to the work of God!

Parables

So Jesus speaks to these scribes first in a couple of parables, some of which will sound familiar to anyone who’s a student of history:

A kingdom and a house divided

Just before he accepted the nomination to be a Senator, Abraham Lincoln borrowed these lines in his speech.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Lincoln’s point was that the nation couldn’t survive if it was half slave and half free.

He said it would either fall apart and go to war, or become fully one thing or the other.

Look how right he was.

Jesus is using this in terms of spiritual warfare.

If the Devil is working against the devil, then the devil isn’t very powerful is he?

In a way, this logic kind of makes the scribes concerns moot.

If Jesus is working on the side of God, then his ability to cast out demons shows he is more powerful than they are, and we win.

If Jesus is working on the side of the devil to cast out demons, then the devil is divided and isn’t going to last very long anyway, and we win.

It’s a strange kind of circular logic, but it totally checks out.

A strong man.

This one too is an odd metaphor from Jesus, the idea of plundering someone’s property.

You kind of get the image of Jesus with a parrot and an eye patch or something.

But the suggestion is to these scribes that if you see the devil’s work being plundered, if you see that suffering and pain and hurt suddenly being healed and made right, then maybe it’s because the strong man, the devil himself, has been restrained and dealt with by an even stronger man.

Maybe, just maybe, Jesus is suggesting that he’s on the side of the angels.

Pause: A Chiasm

Mark, it should be said, is a brilliant writer.

This story is what is called a chiasm.

It starts somewhere, works its way to a main point, and then goes back out the exact same way that it came in.

So after these parables, Jesus responds again to the accusation that he has an unclean spirit.

The Unforgivable Sin

Jesus says that people will find forgiveness.

For whatever they do!

Sins that you commit.

Words that you say

But…whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.

This passage has been really confusing, and truthfully kind of scary to a whole lot of people.

What is blaspheming?

What does it mean to blaspheme the holy spirit?

What if I do that by accident, without knowing it?

Does that mean I can never get to heaven?

But this is why I brought up the chiasm, and why it’s so important to see what Mark is doing here.

That line is directed right at these scribes:

Who have known that people were suffering from whatever demons existed in their day, and did nothing about it.

Who have witnessed Jesus bringing about their healing and their redemption, and decided to turn Jesus in to the bad guy.

Who have been witnessing the work of a healing, forgiving, and loving God, and doing everything they can to stand in the way either out of ego, or jealousy, or something...

The person who blasphemes against the work of the Holy Spirit is the person who willingly, intentionally sees the good that God is doing, and tries to get in the way.

And the reason that it is unforgiveable is because the main work that God is doing is offering people forgiveness for their sins.

So the person who is willingly and intentionally getting in the way of forgiveness can’t taste or experience forgiveness in themselves, can they?

It’s like God says to Samuel in our first reading this morning: They haven’t rejected the people of God. They’ve rejected God himself.

Who’s on the outside now?

Mark wraps up the chiasm in a pretty interesting way.

Remember that this story started with Jesus family literally thinking that he’s outside his mind?

This story ends with Jesus family again, but now they’re the ones standing outside.

All of a sudden Jesus seems a bit more sane doesn’t he, and it’s his family who’s on the outside.

They’re still trying to get into the house to get Jesus out.

They want to be the ones standing in the way of God’s work.

So what he says sounds kind of harsh.

Who are my mother and my brothers?

Anyone who does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

But essentially in this answer, Jesus is asking a question to everyone who has just witnessed this exchange with the scribes.

Are you on board, or do you want to keep working against God and God’s healing?

I think it’s the same question that Jesus is asking today.

Application

On first glance, we might start to think that this passage doesn’t have much to say to us, right?

I’m here, aren’t I?

There’s no way that I could ever stand in the way of God’s work and God’s healing through the Spirit!

I’m a proper Christian!

But I think there are some sneaky ways that this might play out in our lives, that we ought to keep an eye on.

Don’t speak ill of the work of God in other places.

You know, hard as it is to believe, but there are Christians out there who see the world differently than we do!

Every now and again I’ll be sitting down with a group of religious leaders, and another congregation will come up.

And either because they are, in the speaker’s mind, too liberal, or two conservative, or too traditional, or too contemporary, or whatever the problem might be, the speaker will say “Don’t have anything to do with that church up the road!”

But there’s a problem here, isn’t there?

What if God is, in spite of our theological differences, at work bringing about healing and restoration at those churches up the road?

What if Jesus is taking the preaching and teaching of those folks up the road and bringing new life to the members of their congregation, bringing them to a place of healing and love and redemption?

What if the Holy Spirit is hard at work winning the hearts of the believers up there?

Don’t have anything to do with that?

What if we’re getting in the way of the work that God is doing by speaking ill of other places and houses of worship?

What if, by doing so, we’re getting in the way of the healing work that God wants to do?

So what should we do instead?

I will confess a few things to you now, starting with this:

I don’t really like country music.

I know that might be an offensive statement to some in the room.

But it’s just not my cup of tea!

I’m a Dave Matthews fan, I’m a Ska and punk fan, I’m a jazz fan.

But every now and again, I come across someone in the country music genre that can really, really play!

And they’ll always stop me in my tracks. I’ll perk up and appreciate the artistry in what they’re doing.

I was in a Catholic church a few years ago for a friends wedding.

And I’ll confess it here before you my brothers and sisters: It’s not at all my cup of tea.

So I was a little bit cranky and bored out of my mind.

But a little bit of the way through, I stopped and really paid attention to the way the service was coming together.

And I realized that just like country music, while this catholic service wasn’t at all my cup of tea, I really started to appreciate the artistry in what they were doing.

It’s like we’re all singing the same story, but we have different ways to sing the song.

So maybe that church up the street isn’t your cup of tea, or maybe you don’t appreciate that style of worship, or maybe you disagree with that theology.

But try to take a minute and listen to the song they’re singing, and see what there is to appreciate about what God is doing in their midst.

I suspect that speaking ill of particular places of worship is an affliction most reserved for pastors like me.

So let’s make it a bit more personal:

Don’t speak ill of those who God is healing right in front of our eyes.

A couple of months ago as we were getting ready to welcome on NA brothers and sisters to meet here at LPC, I was calling around to a few pastor friends I have that had welcomed the fellowship in to their church just to see what to expect.

I was both shocked and not at all surprised to hear how many pastors offered me the same warning: we had a lot of people in our church who didn’t want them here.

There was some sort of perception floating around that the real Christians are those who have their lives all figured out, who don’t need help, who are prim and proper, and these addicts with their struggles don’t belong here.

First of all, who in the world actually has their lives all figured out, who doesn’t need help? We all do!

Secondly, how are folks like addicts, or divorcees, or thieves, or (insert your favorite sinner here) ever supposed to get to the healing grace of Jesus Christ if we won’t let them in the door?

Not only that, but as I have gotten to know our friends in NA over the last few months, I’ve come to know a real truth: they have much to teach me about my own faith, and about my own healing.

Brennan Manning puts it this way:

It remains a startling story to those who never understand that the men and women who are truly filled with light are those who have gazed deeply into the darkness of their imperfect existence. Perhaps it was after meditating on this that Morton Kelsey wrote ‘The church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners.’

Those who have gazed deeply into the darkness are those who are truly filled with light.

So a gut level question for all of us this morning might be to ask: who is it that isn’t welcome here?

So many churches, ours included, say that everyone is welcomed.

And I hope we can live in to that.

But we all might know someone, some group of people, some kind of notorious sinner, who we wouldn’t welcome in to share a pew with us.

The work ahead of us is to pray for those folks, and in so doing allow our hearts to be even more and more welcoming.

And then, be open to learn from their experience gazing deeply into the darkness so that we may be filled with their light.

So we ought not to speak ill of the work God is doing in other communities, or in the lives of other individuals.

But there’s one more place we ought to tread lightly, isn’t there?

Don’t speak ill of the work God is doing in your own life.

For as much as we might hold God at a distance from other people, I have known so many who have a hard time accepting the work that God is doing in their own lives.

Forgiveness? That’s for other people.

Spirituality? That’s just sighing at sunsets.

Religion? I don’t need that.

Healing? Not here thank you very much.

In fact, I have known so many people who have had legitimate and incredible stories of God at work in their lives, and they almost always start the same way when they tell me what happened:

You’re going to think I’m out of my mind...

My friends, if I say nothing else to you today:

Whether you are battling the demons of addiction, or loneliness, or grief, or lust, or greed,

Whether you have been coming here all your life or this is your first Sunday

Whether you think you’re on the outside or the inside

Jesus Christ has one thing to offer each of us today:

Love.

Love in the form of forgiveness.

Love in the form of acceptance.

Love in the form of healing.

Love.

So maybe we ought not to get in our own way, but just humbly, graciously, and lovingly accept the great love of our savior.