Rev. Arturo Mendez

Sermon: “Blasphemy to the Holy Spirit”

Sunday June 6 2021 Serie B

 

 May the peace and grace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with all of you Amen!

^{Mark 3:14} And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach ¹⁵ and have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶ He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); ¹⁷ James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); ¹⁸ Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 

²⁰ Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹ And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” ^[i]

Having chosen the twelve who would form his circle of co-workers, Jesus heads from the mountain to a house whose location is not indicated. It is likely that it was in Nazareth, because Mark affirms that the news of Jesus' presence reaches the ears of his own, who then appear on the scene. Since the expression does not refer to his disciples, who are already with him, his own  certainly alludes to the relatives of Jesus. In addition, v. 31 mentions Jesus' mother and brothers as those who intended to take him with them. Some authors believe, however, that the house is that of Simon and Andrew in Capernaum (cf. 1:29), the only one mentioned so far in Mark, which would lead to think that the family of Jesus moved from Nazareth to rescue him because he was out of him In particular, the expression used to describe the intention of the family points to an action of force, to turn him on, which sometimes translates to arrest^[ii](kratéo^2902). Hold or control

Mark relates that the crowd crowds around Jesus and his apostles with such intensity that they leave them no time to eat, in what could be defined as a positive search for their power. On the other hand, Jesus' family looks for him to take him home, which has a negative connotation because they suppose he has lost his mind. The passage does not justify what leads them to think this way. Perhaps they interpret his popularity as a product of his madness. ^[iii]

 

Who was this Jesus of Nazareth?

First of all we know that Jesus it is the Messiah the chosen one the one who was appointed to took our place for our sinfulness, and live eternally in Heaven with Him by Faith, here in this text we hear that Jesus  wasn’t eating anything, so here we see clearly his Humanity, human people needs to eat something to survive and to have all the energy we need to do our daily necessities, in this text give us the human side of Him, Jesus the Promised Messiah has to be a human, for the saving sacrifice of all human kind, and took our place and given us his life and forgiveness for the wrath of God the Father to His Sinful Creation, Him Jesus is the only one who has all the authority to take his life upon the cross and give his life, but also to took his life and resurrected on the third day as it was written, 

²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³ And he called them to him and said to them in parables^[iv]

The Religious Teachers didn’t like his popularity. 

so here it is when, The scribes make an appearance on the scene accusing Jesus of being possessed by demons, for in ancient times madness was attributed to some kind of demonic possession. Furthermore, a criterion for recognizing whether a miracle came from God or was a demonic manifestation was whether it led to the fulfillment and correct observance of the law or not. In Jesus' case, previous conflicts over observance of the Sabbath day (2:23–28; 3:1–6) or fasting (2:18–22) made him suspected of violating the precepts of the law. It is interesting that the scribes, like the demons he casts out in his exorcisms, implicitly recognize the power of Jesus to work wonders, because what is questioned here is the provenance of that power.^[v]

Mark already hinted that the popularity of Jesus had already reached Jerusalem (cf. 3:8), so it is not entirely surprising that scribes from that city appear in this story, a situation that will be repeated later, accompanied by some Pharisees^[vi]

The accusation, then, against Jesus is that he works his miracles under the influence of the power of Beelzebul, of Satan. The meaning of that name for Satan, according to its etymology and veterotestamentary use, would be "lord of the house", with the implication here that Satan is lord of the world (cf. 3:25, 27; Matt. 10:25). The evangelist John, for example, calls him prince of this world (John 12:31). The logic, then, of the scribes is that Jesus acts under the power of Satan to perform his miracles.^[vii]

So, was Jesus ever league with Satan?

 Not a chance! Jesus healed people. He gave people back their lives – freeing the demon-possessed; healing the sick; cur- ing the diseased . . . and all the while preaching the powerful Word of God’s free forgiveness from all our sins. That was not the destroying activity of Satan, but the rebuilding activity of the only God who truly loves us and cares for us. 

And so, our Lord Jesus rebukes those scribes in the strongest possible way: “How can Satan cast out Satan? It is so simple, Jesus reefer a parable here to explain this quotation? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.” 

From a very basic view of logic, Jesus tells those scribes that they totally missed the boat. Wars cannot be won if kingdoms or houses are divided against themselves. If there is infighting going on, the war is already lost; the kingdom would fall. How many times those situations cause divisions in our family because someone believed differently than the other one, and also with our friends even though those divisions it is always in the church of God, because some wants to do as they please or thought that it is the way to run, just because some disagree of something  or because don’t like this or that etc. just think about it why, why in church , were supposably everyone is a brother and sister in Christ, and specially,  when it has to be whit money or has to be uncharged of something,  just think about it to whom is the church? The church is Mine? What role I Play in the Church? The church is mine or to God’s Church ? if we as a brothers start causing division in the same house could not stand. That’s exactly what Satan wants causing division against God’s Church, the only role we play in church is to be a sinners, who wants to be given the grace of God through the means of grace, confession and absolution, word, baptism, and Lords Supper, God is the Prime Mover we only are the recipients, of course Satan wants that to causing division in the God’s Church, because of course Satan don’t want  that the church keep working and proclaiming the word of God, Satan is not a stupid enemy. He is cunning, smart, and very deceitful. He wrested control over the earth through slick lies, he lies to our first parents – the crown of the Father’s creation; and ever since has ruled this earth with lies and half-truths that lead to death. And death is Satan’s ultimate weapon. 

So all the sins will be forgiven the children of Men. 

But Satan, however, is not all-powerful. Jesus is! And God the Father has the autorithy over him to take control over, just remember the account of Job, And there was no way that Jesus was in league with this prince of lies, deceit, and death. Jesus had come, after all, to bring life and light to the world. And He was fighting Satan as only the Son of God could. He had come to take on the strong man for us, and win that battle for us, He has Conquer the victory of death in the Cross. By resurrecting in the third day, and for all who has believed in Him has Eternal Life in Heaven

While no other man born of woman could ever face Satan and his offspring of sin and death and win; Jesus was no ordinary man. He was and is the God-Man. And this is what Jesus still had to teach the people. Born of Mary, Jesus was rather non- descript in his humanity, having “no form or majesty that we should look at him,” as the prophet Isaiah said. Yet, he showed in Word and deed that he wasn’t like the rest of us. His miracles pointed to his divinity. 

For Jesus was about to crush Satan’s head once and for all on the cross. There he would end Satan’s rule and authority over us by taking away the one thing that God the Father could not just dismiss – sin. And Jesus came to pay our debt of sin. All our errors of judgment, all our selfish obsessions, all our cancerous lusts of heart and mind and soul, our inbuilt cancer of a capital ‘S’ – Sin . . . Jesus would pay for it all as he extended his arms on that tree for you and for me. His blood would be holy enough, pure enough, divine enough to pay the debt we owe and bring us eternal life. 

Those scribes should have known who Jesus was. But certainly they rejected Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. They, after all, knew the Old Tes- tament very well. They should have understood the prophecies of the Messiah well enough to see that Jesus could not be working with Satan. Satan only destroyed life; but Jesus restored life. To say that Jesus was of the devil then, was blasphemy against God’s Holy Spirit; for the Holy Spirit worked through the words of Holy Scripture to show us God’s own truth. And Jesus was trying to warn those scribes to stop their unbelief.  After all, He had come from God to seek out the lost . . . came to save them and us; came to bind up the brokenhearted, to heal the wounds of body and soul, to forgive all our trespasses and sins so that we might live with him forever.

Jesus has an unclean spirit they were saying.

Jesus does not state in so many words what lends such an exceptional quality to blasphemy against the Spirit. Jesus was expelling the demons, as Matthew states, “in connection with God’s Spirit,” and the scribes attributed this work to Beelzebul, “they were saying, He has an unclean spirit.” Where the Holy Spirit was active these Jews saw the devil. So close were these people to committing the unpardonable sin. The pardon of all other sins is due to repentance, contrition and faith. But when the Holy Spirit is pronounced a devil, “an unclean spirit,” repentance is no longer possible. The Spirit alone works repentance, and when he is made a demon, his work ceases, Heb. 6:4–6, “impossible to renew them again unto repentance”; there is no sacrifice for sins but only a frightful looking for judgment and fiery indignation. This explains why other blasphemies may be pardoned: they do not render repentance “impossible.”

Because of his divine powers Jesus was able to see how close the scribes were to this state. With our powers we are never able to judge thus. Hence we can never declare of any man, however blasphemous he may be, that he has committed the unpardonable sin; that verdict belongs to God alone. The words of Jesus and of Hebrews we are able to use only in warning, which is enough. Yet we may say that whoever fears that he has committed the unpardonable sin thereby furnishes evidence that he has not done so. Nor can any man commit it inadvertently or unconsciously. Its commission is possible only when the Spirit, through the Word, has come to a man and has been clearly recognized as God’s Spirit with his divine power and grace to save. When a man deliberately answers him with blasphemy he forever nullifies even the Spirit’s power to change him. His condition is then unalterable like that of the devils and the damned in hell. It constitutes his character indelebilis.^[1]

 

The Relatives want to take Jesus Home.

They want to take Jesus Home because they think that Jesus need a rest as we hear in the beginning of this Sermon Jesus wasn’t eating yet,  so they want to take him in short words they want to capture him because they thought that Jesus was losing His Mind.

The passage does not justify what leads them to think this way. Perhaps they interpret his popularity as a product of his madness. 

Who is my Mother and my Brothers?

After he had asked the question Jesus looked around on those sitting about him in a circle, And after this significant look Jesus announces: “See, my mother and my brothers!” and with the outstretched hand he points to his disciples, who included more than just the Twelve.  Jesus distinguishes the disciples from the rest of the crowd. His gesture is like his action on the last day when that same hand shall separate the disciples (believers) from all others, whoever they may be. Or the unbelievers.

But does Jesus exclude his own mother from his spiritual family? Nothing in his action or his words says so. The dramatic gesture matches the dramatic word, which reduces the answer to the fewest words: “See, my mother and my brothers!” The disciples who were sitting around Jesus were,  When Jesus calls them “my mother and my brothers” he indicates that he is speaking of something that is higher than ties of blood.

35) he explains his meaning. Jesus confesses his disciples before men as he will confess them at that day before his Father and the holy angels. But he does it in a way that opens the blessed relationship to all who may desire to enter it. What really makes us one with Jesus is stated most exactly: our doing the will of God. The futuristic subjunctive ποιήσῃis constative and sums up into one point the person’s entire life of doing God’s will.

The will of God (θέλημα) is what God wills. This will Jesus reveals, and he invites, draws, and enables us to perform it. This is the good and gracious gospel will of God, the will which itself, unlike the will that is revealed in the law, furnishes us the power whereby we may truly do it. The Scriptures are full of statements declaring this will. Read John 6:29, 40, 47; 2 Pet. 3:9;     1 Tim. 2:4. The Baptist proclaimed it, 1:4 and 7:8; Matt. 3:2; Jesus repeated the proclamation, 1:15; Matt. 4:17; the Twelve were to do the same, Matt. 10:7, and did it in Acts 2:38, etc. God’s will is that by his grace we repent and believe, turn from our sins, and by faith, his pardon in Christ Jesus. His will is our regeneration, James 1:18; John 3:3, 5; Eph. 2:1–5; our restoration, We do this will of God when we let Jesus work all this in us and bestow all this upon us.

 “he” and he alone. “He is my brother and sister and mother” welds all three into one concept, that of the most intimate spiritual relationship. As Jesus came to do his Father’s will, the will that meant our salvation, let us then rejoice in the will of God Trough the means of grace from His Son Jesus Christ, bestow in us for his Glory in Jesus Name we Pray Amen!

 

May the peace of God who trespasses all understanding keep your heart and mind in the life everlasting Amen