Mark 3:20-34
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd
gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his
family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is
out of his mind.”
And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem
said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out
demons.”
So Jesus called them over to him and began to
speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is
divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided
against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is
divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong
man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s
house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every
slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never
be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were
saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.
Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around
him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my
mother and my brothers!
I wonder how you picture a typical day in the life of Jesus.
Do you see fierce sunlight? Robes and sandals? Perhaps, in your mind’s eye, you
can see that little troop of followers sitting out on a hillside listening raptly
to Jesus’ voice. Or watching in amazement as the blind are made to see and the
lame to walk. It’s so easy to wish ourselves into one of those idyllic scenes,
isn’t it? That is, as long as we don’t have to stick around for what came
later: the arrest, the trial, the torture, the gruesome death, and the
witch-hunt for his disciples that followed.
We all know that Jesus’ life got very tough towards the end,
but Mark’s Gospel sets out to show us just how tough his life was - not just
towards the end of his ministry but right from the outset. And in our Gospel reading
this morning, we heard Mark’s account of a day very early on in Jesus’ ministry
– in fact, the day he chose the Twelve, the inner circle of followers. And the dominant
theme of this day in Jesus’ life was… Pressure.
Firstly, there was pressure from the ruling classes – the religious
dictatorship the Romans relied on to
keep order in the province. They saw Jesus as an agitator, a Che Guevara or a
Bin Laden who would stir up unrest, undermine their power base, and bring the
Roman army down on their heads. Jesus’s response? Defiantly to break the law by
healing a withered hand on the Sabbath. This was what provoked the official
conspiracy to end his life, and he must have known that he was making himself a
marked man. Pressure.
Secondly, there was pressure from all the sick people, those
who had heard of Jesus’ wondrous deeds and come to him for healing. Mark tells
us that a large crowd of people from all the surrounding regions was following
Jesus from place to place, clamouring for his attention. Rather than politely
waiting their turn, it is clear that they pressed in on him, struggling against
one another in their efforts to touch him. Pressure.
Eventually, Jesus and his exhausted followers took refuge in
a house, where they probably thought they would get a few hours rest. But even
there the desperate crowd caught up and besieged them, making it impossible for
them to get out for food. No break from the pressure.
And at this point we see pressure on Jesus from a third
source, the most unlikely and perhaps the cruellest one of all, namely his family.
According to Mark, they decided he must have gone mad, and came to “rescue” him.
You can imagine the embarrassing family scene that was brewing. Yet more
pressure.
Then because madness was seen as a symptom of demonic
possession, this family crisis gave the authorities an opportunity to rack up
the pressure still further: to brand Jesus publicly as an enemy of the people –
a blasphemer, a magician in league with the devil. Pressure piled upon
pressure, in a way that must have threatened Jesus’ ability to carry on his public
ministry.
It’s essential that Jesus rebuts these accusations, and he
does so at length. But some of the words he uses are so shocking that they have
been called the hardest words in the Bible. And it’s on these words that I want to
focus this morning: the point where Jesus’ defence of his ministry culminates in the warning
that there is such a thing as an unforgiveable sin.
That itself is enough of a
bombshell for most people – that any sin could be beyond forgiveness. Yet Jesus
himself says that one particular sin is eternal and can never be forgiven. And when
he clarifies what this terrible sin is, the picture just seems to get more confusing:
“Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”. What on earth does that mean? And why is
it so serious? Why should blasphemy against the Holy Spirit be so much worse
than blasphemy against God the Father, or blasphemy against Jesus himself – God
the Son?
The reason so many attempts to decode these words run
aground is that they take Jesus’ words out of the context of the day’s events. The
key to sound interpretation of the Bible is always an understanding of the
context. And that is why I’ve spent so much time setting out the events of this
momentous day in detail.
When you look at Jesus’ cryptic words from that perspective,
I believe that their meaning becomes clear.
In short, a pressured, harassed, abused Jesus is cleverly throwing a challenge
back at his accusers. Whatever Jesus means by “blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit”, he is directing at them. But what are his accusers doing to earn that charge?
And why does it stretch the power of forgiveness to the limit?
What the religious leaders (and perhaps Jesus' family) are doing is making repentance
and faith impossible. By branding the only way to forgiveness and salvation as
unclean, or insane, they are declaring the Kingdom of God a no-go area for themselves and
for others who believe their distorted perceptions. In their jealousy and
pride, they are inoculating themselves against Jesus, armouring themselves against
asking for forgiveness, and shutting the healing Spirit of God out of their
lives. Jesus himself called on all people to repent and believe in the Good
News. How can his hearers claim forgiveness in his name if they’ve
irrevocably made up their mind that he’s a fraud – a trickster in league with
the devil, or just a madman? As C. S. Lewis said, Jesus can only be one of
these things: either he mad, or he is bad, or he the Son of God.
The question in many people’s minds now will be this: Is
Jesus saying that his critics have put themselves forever beyond forgiveness,
that they are damned for eternity? Certainly not – the consistent message of
the Bible is that nothing is beyond forgiveness for those who turn to God in
repentance and faith. Jesus is not declaring a permanent exclusion for anybody.
But he is telling them where their stubborn opposition to the truth will lead. In
effect, he is challenging them to see what he is doing in a new light – one
which will leave the way open for them to embrace and be part of it.
This story is a challenge and invitation to every one of us.
We all put barriers in the way of fully experiencing God’s grace and peace.
Perhaps it’s a stubborn attitude to some aspect of Christian life, perhaps some
specific past action that we stubbornly refuse to accept was wrong, perhaps
some continuing part of our lifetyle, perhaps an obstinate refusal to forgive.
In a moment I’m going to create a few seconds’ silence – a
short time in which we can each invite God to show if there is some way we are
erecting barriers against the movement of his Spirit in our lives. That will be
followed by special prayer of repentance, to which you can add a silent amen if
you feel that would be appropriate and helpful. The only ones who need hear you
are God and yourself.
[Pause] Heavenly Father, please show each of us right now, in
the silence, if there is something in our lives that is obstructing our journey
of faith, by the power of your Holy Spirit…… [period of silence]
Father, thank you for every new insight you have given
anyone of us here today. We ask you now to give each person who has so asked
you the Spirit of true repentance, renewed faith in Jesus, and a renewed spirit
of service. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
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