Unforgivable?
Readings: Mark 3. 20-35
Christians often talk about forgiveness, it’s a central theme of the Gospel and yet here Jesus speaks of a sin which is unforgivable, where forgiveness, it seems, is impossible. What’s going on here, and how might even this be good news?
We have in our Gospel today one of Mark’s characteristic sandwiches. Where he begins an encounter, pauses it to address some other aspect, and then the original encounter concludes. Once you start noticing them you’ll see Mark does it quite a bit in his Gospel account. And they always shed light on the other, these pairings.
And so we start with Jesus’ family coming to bring him home, to get him out of the spotlight, because they think he’s lost it, he’s gone out of his mind. So we have his family coming in opposition to what he’s doing. And then we read that the Pharisees too are there in opposition, except they don’t just think he’s gone mad, they think there’s something more sinister at work, something demonic. It’s interesting isn’t it how the two groups who should most easily be able to recognise who Jesus is; his family, those closest to him, and the religious leaders, those who should know the Scriptures and about the coming Messiah best, these are the two who fail to recognise who he is. Neither proximity to Jesus, nor great religious learning are sure fire ways to faith it seems.
But this latter group, they come and accuse Jesus of being not from God, but from Beelzebul, or Satan. It’s a serious accusation, one which points to the depths of their blindness to who this is. The long awaited Messiah has come, here is God the Son, stood before them, in the flesh, and they cannot see it, to the point that they think he’s as far from God as possible, that he’s in some way demonic.
And Jesus begins by pointing out the absurdity of what they’re saying. If Satan is casting out Satan, if his kingdom and house is divided against itself, its end is near. If the Kingdom of darkness is rife with infighting and warring factions, their end is come, they’ll tear themselves apart.
And the implication of what he’s saying here is that the forces of evil are a united front, Satan doesn’t cast out Satan, they thrive on misery and division, not on undoing their work. Evil doesn’t cast out evil, any more than fire extinguishes fire. What they’re saying is absurd, and perhaps they realise it is, but their hearts are hardened, they seem unwilling to see who this is that is doing all of these things. And because of this Jesus issues a warning. ‘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’. And it’s this warning which has stuck in people’s minds for centuries, for some causing curiosity; what could this be? But for others panic or fear; have I done this?
And the reason I have worked so carefully through the encounter to this point is because therein lies the key. As Mark tells us after the warning ‘for they had said ‘he has an unclean spirit’’. This warning is about attributing the work of God, the work of the Spirit in Jesus, to the Devil. To see the Son of God and to reject him, to harden your heart against him. These men are seeing the amazing things Jesus is doing, they’re hearing him teach and yet have hardened their hearts, refuse to accept him. And it is they who are at risk of committing this sin, notice Jesus never says they have committed it.
Forgiveness comes through Jesus alone, the washing away of our sins and failings comes through putting our faith in him and his death on the cross, his paying of our debt, his washing away of our guilt. And so if that’s the lynch pin of forgiveness, then it’s little wonder that rejecting Jesus, hardening your heart against him will be unforgiveable, you’re not trusting him, you’re not coming to him for forgiveness, you’re rejecting him and that offer. That’s why that sin is eternal, here is the means of God’s grace and forgiveness and you’ve rejected it, you’ve trapped yourself outside of God’s mercy.
Now, none of this feels much like good news so far does it. But here’s the first bit of good news from this passage; what this means for us is that, if you’re worried you’ve committed that sin, if you’re worried you’re guilty of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, you needn’t fear, for if you’re worried about that, chances are you’re trusting in Jesus, you’re worried because you love Jesus and don’t want to reject him, and in him is found forgiveness.
But because we so easily latch onto that warning, and become curious or nervous, we easily skip over what Jesus has said immediately beforehand ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter’. And that’s the second bit of good news in this passage. Everything else can be forgiven. Isn’t that such an amazing comfort. Only one sin is unforgiveable, one, everything else can be forgiven, everything else can be washed away. There is nothing you can do to put yourself outside of God’s mercy and forgiveness except for rejecting Jesus.
Even if you feel trapped, cut off, you’re not beyond his reach. As he’s rebuking the Pharisees what does he say about the forces of evil? ‘No-one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man’.
The strong man here isn’t Jesus, he’s talking about Satan, about the forces of evil. How they bind us and constrict us. But who is it who can tie up this strong man? It’s not us, in many ways we are weak before him. Not us, but Jesus can. As Jesus casts out demons, as he rescues those trapped in sin and addiction and suffering, what we’re seeing is Jesus plundering the house of the evil one. Jesus come to ransom, rescue and restore. No matter how far gone people may be, Jesus will break down the walls of our prisons and steal us away from captivity. We cannot rescue ourselves, but thanks be to God, for he has come to rescue, to plunder the Kingdom of this world, to set us free to live in his kingdom.
What an amazing comfort that is, no matter what you’ve done, who you are, if you turn to Jesus, if you put your faith and trust in him, if you turn from going your way to go his way, you can come back to God. And not just come back to God, but come home.
For here Jesus widens the concept of family. His biological family are stood outside, and in many ways it seems they have become outsiders. When asked about his family Jesus gestures to those around him, crammed into this house, ‘here is my family’ he says, ‘the ones who do the will of God, they are my family’.
Jesus has come so that our sins can be forgiven, come to rescue us from the dominion of darkness, come to set us free. Not so that we can become subjects or servants, but to become his family. Ransomed and redeemed through his blood, forgiven and washed clean of our sins, we become part of his family. And once we are part of his family there is nothing we can do to put ourselves outside of him again, to get ourselves kicked out of his family.
Whilst we may fear we have done what is unforgiveable, if we fix our eyes on Jesus we find that in him is forgiveness for everything, and if our eyes are fixed on him we cannot do what is unforgiveable. In fixing our eyes on him we see the one who is stronger than our fears, stronger than evil, come to rescue and save. Come to bring us home.
Amen.