Word to the Wise
Monday, January 23, 2023 - Monday in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 9:15, 24-28 and Mark 3:22-30]Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But, whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin." For they had said, "He has an unclean spirit." [Mark]
This statement about the "unforgivable sin" occasionally shows up in questions people ask me about the gospel. It comes at the end of a story of the scribes accusing Jesus of being possessed by a demon (unclean spirit) because he was not keeping the Law of Moses. It is important to understand that this is not a matter of God refusing to forgive, but rather of persons (scribes in this case) refusing to believe in the mercy and forgiveness of God's Holy Spirit. So there is an irony in the story. Those accusing Jesus of blasphemy are the ones who are really blaspheming.
The Gospel According to Mark is one in which confrontation and rejection play a prominent role. In this same chapter, we learn that Jesus' own family thought he was possessed. The scribes and Pharisees, who were the religious authorities of the day (in addition to the more aristocratic Sadducees in Jerusalem), rejected Jesus as well. The ones who accepted Jesus were the ordinary Palestinian farmers and fishermen and others of the poor and categories that Pharisees considered "unclean." Jesus definitely "rocked the boat" of many lives. What is our reaction to him? AMEN