Message
Mark 3:20-35
“You Can Commit The Unforgivable Sin”
We all know that Jesus had a mother. But did you also know that Jesus was raised in a family. Matthew 13:54-56 tells us a little about this family.
Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"
4 brothers. At least 2 sisters.
At least 7 siblings … with Jesus the oldest.
It would not have been easy.
We know Jesus was very intelligent - at age 12 temple rabbis with His wisdom. A discussion around the table creates debate. Then Jesus gives the answer and everyone knows He is right.
Jesus also had a perfect character - Mary would be talking to Simon, “Are you lying to me?” I will know - I’ll just ask Jesus.
Jesus always obeyed His parents. Mary walks into the girl’s bedroom - “Why can’t you keep your room more tidy, like Jesus”.
Imagine what happened when Mary started talking about when they were born … “a star came out, Magi from 1000’s of km away came with expensive gifts.” Any other birth story is kind of … well boring.
We get some hints at the impact of the difficulty in John 7:5 which tells us that, when it came to the ministry of Jesus, “not even his brothers believed in him”. The first time in the Bible where it is mentioned that the brothers of Jesus believed is after the ascension in Acts 1:14.
As a quick aside … the fact that even the family of Jesus didn’t believe is encouraging to us isn’t it.
Because even when you speak the Gospel perfectly … that doesn’t guarantee a response.
Ultimately it is the grace of God that works in God’s timing. So never give up on not-yet-believing family.
Jesus family didn’t always appreciate what Jesus was on about. In fact there was a time when they thought He was insane.
Read Mark 3:20-30
Even His own family think He is crazy.
A little religion can be a good thing, but Jesus had become a fanatic.
He wasn’t following the traditions of the elders.
He was suffering from delusions of grandeur.
If there were insane asylums in Jesus’ day, He would have been taken away by men in a straight-jacket. And the ones who would do the committing would be His own family.
Why is the family so concerned? What would lead them to the conclusion that He has gone over the edge? Well think about some of the facts.
Jesus had thrown away personal security. He’s left a good home and a good business and became a wandering preacher. There are times when He has had no place to sleep except outside. He has very few worldly possessions.
Jesus had also thrown away personal safety. Here is Jesus in the early part of His ministry and already He is on a collision course with the religious establishment.
Jesus was throwing away His reputation. He is no longer an unknown from Nazareth. He is becoming a celebrity … and all sorts of people where making judgements about Him.
Now, if it was just Jesus being affected by these issues that would be OK. However these decisions of Jesus were also affecting the reputation of His family.
In recent times there has been a growing desire to force parents to pay for the damage caused by their delinquent children. Part of the reason behind this approach is the subtle message that these children act a certain way because they are reflecting the values of their home.
Now it doesn’t apply in all cases.
But the perception is certainly there.
There is a sense where people believe that the apple does not fall far from the tree.
When the fanaticism of Jesus becomes so intense that He and His disciples are not eating anymore … well that shows how bad it has become. And people are starting to say things which reflect on the family. And now the family has decided that enough is enough. They try and distance themselves from Jesus by declaring that He is out of His mind.
These experiences happened to Jesus. And He calls us to do the same.
35 For I have come to turn “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”
(Matthew 10:35-36)
Following Jesus gives you ultimate purpose in life. Following Jesus is the only road to eternity. But following Jesus is not a walk in the park.
It may cost you the respect of your family.
It may cost you the respect of your peers and workmates.
It may cost you money and time.
It may cost you prestige and reputation.
In fact there are going to be times when people look at you, even people who are close to you and love you, and they are going to say, “You’re out of your mind”.
Why would you want to ruin a perfectly good Sunday by sitting in church?
Why would you give away your money to the church when it could be used on yourself?
Why would you commit yourself to a life with so many boundaries and limitations?
Sometimes being a friend of Jesus doesn’t make sense … and even Jesus’ family didn’t understand.
So why do we commit ourselves to the cause of Jesus even if it means that people are going to think we are out of our minds? The next part of this passage answers that question.
You see it may be true that the family of Jesus thinks that He is going mad … but the general population doesn’t see it that way.
Jesus is attracting large crowds.
His ministry is having such an impact that news of it has reached Jerusalem.
No other leader at the time was enjoying such popularity.
Which was creating a huge amount of jealously among the religious professionals.
For the Scribes and Pharisees the issue is simple – Jesus needs to be stopped.
Now notice the approach they take.
Never before had they seen someone so aggressively destroy Satan’s work. When Jesus had come upon demon possessed individuals, the demons could not keep quiet, but had to make themselves known. And when they did, Jesus dealt with them. He delivered those who were demon oppressed and cast the demons out.
The religious leaders had never seen anything like it … and none of them had done it themselves. But they do not like what is happening because Jesus is more popular then they are. So they deal with it.
Notice that our text doesn’t say, “The teachers of the law came from Jerusalem and interviewed those who were being healed so that they could make an informed decision”.
No. They came from Jerusalem with their minds made up. He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.
It doesn’t take much effort on Jesus’ part to expose the poor logic of their accusation. And he does that by telling a little story.
If a king woke up one day and said, “Hey, I’m bored so I think I might go war with myself today” then his kingdom will be destroyed. Satan is smarter than any earthly king and he would never act that way.
The Scribes think that what is happening is a civil war in the Satanic realm.
Jesus’ response is that Satan’s kingdom is crumbling, not from civil war, but rather from full scale invasion.
The accusations of the Pharisees just does not make any sense.
But there is more to it. Because the message being taught here by Jesus has staggering implications.
There is a book by Jack Handey called “Fuzzy Memories”. In that book the author recounts this event:-
There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate lesson guy said I had to start paying him five dollars a lesson. So I just went back to paying the bully.
There are plenty of people in this would who find it easier to pay the bully than to learn how to defeat him. But not Jesus. Jesus has power over the biggest bully of all time.
Jesus is the One who has entered the house of the strong man in order to disposes that strong man of his possessions. In this case the “strong man” is Satan … and the souls of people are his possessions. Let’s just stop for a moment and think about this concept of binding the strong man because an important picture is developing here. And think about it in these terms.
I don’t think that my physic is such that I would be classified as a “strong man”. Even so I would be pretty confident that none of the “strong men” in our congregation would be able to single-handedly tie me up. For someone to single-handedly tie up another person there would have to be a very uneven match.
In this passage Jesus has identified Satan as the “strong man”. Yet Jesus is making it very clear that He has much greater authority and power than the strong man.
We are not talking here about two strong men, one of whom has slightly more strength, and so a slight advantage.
Rather this is a picture where there is no contest.
Jesus has full power and full authority, therefore He is able to completely hold Satan down and evict him from demon-tormented souls.
And from what they observed of the work of Jesus the Pharisees and teachers of the law should have recognised this.
They should know that evil does not stand against itself.
They should know that civil war in the Satanic world is impossible
They should have recognised Jesus for what He was doing, but they do not want to recognise.
So, as an alternative, they accuse Jesus of being the ruler of the demons.
In response to their accusations Jesus says,
28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
(Mark 3:28-29)
In many ways this is a hard verse which continues to raise all sorts of questions.
Can you lose your salvation.
What does blasphemy of the Spirit look like.
Why can you blasphemy against Jesus and receive forgiveness, but if it is against the Spirit there is no forgiveness.
Lots of questions - which actually are not necessarily important to answer.
Because, in the middle of all the hard questions, there is a simple message.
You can respond to the work of the Spirit in such a way that it is possible to put yourself in a situation where no forgiveness is available to you.
It is possible to be a witness to the greatest source of light only to intentionally and deliberately turn from that light towards the ultimate source of darkness.
It is possible to get to a point where you move from believing that Jesus is motivated by God, to accusing Jesus of being motivated by evil.
It is easy. It doesn’t happen all the time.
If you are worried that you have committed this sin then you have not … otherwise you wouldn’t even be worried.
No true Christian can commit the unforgiveable sin.
But it is possible for people to put themselves into a situation where this sin is committed.
That is the clear and simple warning.
Every single one of us has to hear this warning - and know that such an outcome is possible.
And we have to hear this warning because it is spoken in a very specific context.
You see, we often only look at this verse in terms of what the Jewish leaders were doing.
We conclude that we are not like them … so we would never blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
But have a closer look at what Mark is doing in the context.
In verses 20-22 the focus is on Jesus family who are coming to take charge of him because He is out of His mind.
Then in verses 23-30 we see Jesus dealing with those who accuse Him of being possessed by Beelzebub and the danger of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Then in verses 31-34 Jesus’ mother and brothers arrive on the scene.
In response Jesus teaches that the true family of God comprises of those who do the will of God.
So, on each side of the teaching on blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, is a two part story involving the family of Jesus.
Which is really significant.
Because, to be honest, when people are being obnoxious and blatantly accusatory and derogatory about your faith it is relatively easy to just ignore it and get on with life.
Isn’t that true.
And isn’t it also true that the biggest danger to our faith can actually come from those closest to us.
The mother who keeps organising to turn up at her son’s family on Sunday mornings so that he feels he can’t go to church.
The teenager who huffs and sighs whenever her parents pull out the Bible at the dinner table.
The Christian in the marriage who is led astray by their not-yet-believing marriage partner.
The young Christian who faces to silent treatment of disapproving atheist parents.
The friends who joke about you now being a religious goody-two-shoes.
The pressure to conform can be overwhelming.
So we always need to be on our guard.
Standing firm in Jesus. Identifying with Christ. Being willing to be labelled as out of our mind.
Because there are people … people who were in the church … people who said they would never blaspheme against the Holy Spirit … and now they do.
Prayer
