Blaspheming Against the Spirit

Mark 3 from Bible Art

Mark 3:20-35

June 9, 2024

 

This is a confusing scripture.

A lot of the lines in this story are 

taken out of their context

and have developed lives of their own.

So it’s hard to figure out what’s 

actually happening and

of course, Jesus speaks 

in metaphors which doesn’t help.

I think there are two parts in it that particularly throw things off.

First, I think Jesus relationship with this family is confusing.

We might have this idyllic idea of how Jesus got along

with his family and especially his mother.

 

Those images are mostly from Jesus birth stories in

Matthew and Luke and some later things in John.

But remember Mark was the first gospel that was written down,

and Mark doesn’t say anything about Jesus birth or much

at all to say about Jesus family.

 

Actually, this story is the most that we hear

about Jesus family in this gospel and it’s not very favorable.

They don’t seem supportive of him, they don’t understand him,

they actually seem a little embarrassed by him.

And, you know what, there’s no way to explain it away.

 

Mark’s gospel does not have high regard for Jesus birth family,

including Mary, who only gets named in passing elsewhere.

And this story shows that Jesus doesn’t seem to have

a warm fuzzy feeling for them too much either.

If we can handle that and not get hung up on trying

try to twist it around so that Jesus does get on well with his family,

like so preachers have tried to do,

it’s easier to decipher the rest of it.

 

And the other thing is right in the middle there’s

that  whole concerning piece about  the

“unforgivable sin” of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

 

As a pastor, I have had people come to me worrying

about this one specific passage.

Just recently, I had someone talk to me at length about it on Social Media.

They were worried because when they were younger

they said they didn’t believe in God and they said something

crude about Jesus.

 

They were worried that, even though they believed

now and were concerned enough to ask a pastor

about it, that God wouldn’t forgive them for that.

They were worried that they were going to hell.

Other people have worried because their children or grandchildren

are atheists  or reject God or Jesus or the church

and they worry about their salvation because of this verse.

 

For the record, I think the short answer is “no”

in spite of this one passage, I think that more of the gospels tell us

that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

And not blasphemy or any of those other things

that some people think are unforgiveable,

and especially an something we said years ago.

 

Nothing can separate us, or anyone, from God’s love

and I think that this story actually supports just that,

if you understand it in context and don’t just pluck it out of the story

like most people do. I’ll explain that now.

 

So like we heard last week,

Jesus had a public protest when he  healed

someone in the synagogue on the Sabbath,

and the Pharisees decided for the first time

that they wanted to destroy him.

This is important context to remember.

 

After that, Jesus  appointed his apostles

and he they were traveling around the area

preaching and healing and he’s getting well known

among the people, and he stops back in his home town.

Jesus is home for the first time since he’s become someone.

 

And while he’s here in his hometown,

things don’t sound like they’re going too well.

It’s so crowded the disciples and Jesus can’t even eat.

So lots of people want to see and hear Jesus,

but it’s not a good reception, the people of Nazareth

are actually saying that Jesus is out of his mind.

And the scribes, the other religious leaders, have followed him there,

harassing him there and trying undermine him.

They say that he must consorting with demons.

 

And so Jesus’ family are trying to get him back in the house.

Basically, they’re like

“Jesus, stop attracting attention, stop  making the neighbors talk,

stop embarrassing us, you’ll  get us all in trouble,

I’ll  make you your favorite meal if you come inside.”

 

His family can see the pattern already in process,

Jesus is being labeled as crazy or bad or evil,

he’ll probably be rejected by the community

or even cast out of the community,

and his family would be rejected

for being associated with him.

 

It had been done many times before,

so they knew what it looked like.

It happened then and it happens now.

That’s what humans do to one another.

 

We love to put people into categories of good and bad,

holy and unholy, with us and against us,

we all do it in our heads, we all don’t all act on it, but we all do it.

We do it with other drivers on the road,

we do it with people we see on the news,

we do it with people of other races and cultures,

we do it with people who have different “lifestyles” than us,

we do it with celebrities, and

we do it with politicians – a lot.

  

Political campaigns know this human tendency to divide and hate

and the capitalize on it.

You notice, they never just say that a candidate doesn’t have good

policies, or they don’t share the same priorities.

They have to be evil, horrible, the worst ever,

they hate America, they want to destroy it,

and if you support THEM, you’re the worst too.

 

And this has been taken all too often to scary ends, villainizing people,

dehumanizing them and attempting to destroy “them”

 – all of them, genocide in other words.

It all starts with this process of labeling and dividing people.

This process is divisive and destructive to humanity.

 

And this process of labeling and expelling people is Satan at work.

 

The word Satan in Hebrew means “accuser”.

Satan is at work when we  judge others,

When we make someone into the other and cast them out.

This is Satan’s work. To accuse.

 

So the scribes accuse Jesus of being Satan,

saying that since he has the power over demons,

that he must be the chief of demons.

They’re trying to demonize Jesus they accuse him.

 

So Jesus calls the scribes over,

Jesus invites them to join the conversation circle,

and he asks them, “How can Satan cast out Satan”?

 

Of course the accuser in all of us tries to cast out Satan all the time.

But Jesus tells them, this method of being a society cannot last long.

This is where Jesus uses one of those popular lines

A kingdom divided against itself cannot last. that kingdom cannot stand.

And Jesus is right. He’s talking about Satan’s kingdom, but still.

Jesus is saying that a nation, house, or institution

that is always trying to accuse others and weed out

the bad can not last long, Because:  

 

1. We will destroy each other if we keep up this way.

Which is just what the accuser wants. And

2. Satan’s kingdom won’t be able to stand because

Jesus is reordering the very social fabric of hate that Satan has created.

Jesus is here to make sure that Satan’s kingdom of

hate and suspicion and fear does not stand.

 

Jesus reorders things by putting himself into the position of the condemned,

God’s own son became the outcast the one who was

scapegoated, called unclean and unholy, and hung on a cross beside

two thieves, to show that no one is outside of God’s love.

 

To further this, Jesus compares himself to a thief.

He says that no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder

his property before tying the strong man up.

Satan is the strong man. Jesus intends to bind Satan

and he will take the strongman’s property – which is All of US.

Jesus is going to release the strongman’s captives using  the Holy Spirit’s tools:

love, compassion, mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

 

Which brings us to the Holy Spirit again.

Someone, I think Ann asked me a couple of weeks ago

about the title of “Advocate”. That is one of the names

that Jesus gives to himself and the Holy Spirit.

 

An Advocate is someone who pleads the cause of another.

Another name for a lawyer is Advocate, likewise in Isaiah,

the Messiah has the name “wonderful counselor”.

If Satan is the Accuser in this courtroom of the world.

then the Holy Spirit is the “advocate”, or the defense lawyer,

the one that protects us from the accuser.

And this lawyer is here to free us from this hellscape prison

that Satan has tried to hold us in,

the one of accusation and division and hate.

 

And this is where we get to the line in question:

“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and

whatever blasphemies they utter;  but whoever blasphemes 

against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”

 

Jesus is not just talking in general, to the poor guy who once

said something rude about God or Jesus the Spirit.

It says that Jesus was talking to the religious leaders

who were trying to accuse him and do Satan’s work.

Remember, Jesus has the toughest things to say to

the religious leaders to shake them out of their privilege.

 

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not just saying a bad word,

it’s about denying the power of the

Spirit and the power of God.

It’s about believing that our sins

are stronger than God’s love and mercy.

It’s about saying that some people are beyond God’s reach.

It’s about rejecting the power of God’s forgiveness.

 

The ones that are determined to accuse and condemn

when they have no right to do it,

who want to stand in God’s place,

those are the ones that stand with Satan’s world view,

those are the ones that blaspheme the

Holy Spirit and offend God.

 

But watch out!

Everyone is caught in this conundrum.

If we accuse those who we think are accusers,

and want to banish them out of our society, then who is the accuser?

A house divided cannot stand.

As long as we keep labeling people bad, or unholy, or unforgiveable,

unlovable or beyond the Spirit’s grasp, we are caught in Satan’s own trap.

 

Satan’s end game is a divided humanity.

As long as we keep dividing ourselves

into us and them, no matter who it is, Satan wins.

  

At the end of Jesus discussion with the scribes,

the story continues: “A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him,

‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’”

They were still trying to get him inside away from everyone.

 

And Jesus replied, looking at those who sat around him,

and he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!”

Including those religious scribes who Jesus had called over to him

Here is Jesus family.

 

We are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

Whether we like it or not.

Even those we disagree with most.

Even the blasphemers and the sinners

 

Jesus has come to us,

and the Strong Man will not have his way.

One day Satan will not rule this world

with his lies and accusations.

One day, God’s love will win.