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The Good News of Jesus

12/07/2008 - The One Sin That Can't Be Forgiven, Mark 3:20-35

Well we just finished Thanksgiving and in a few weeks we'll be celebrating Christmas. This is the holiday season and it's a time for families to gather together. We had a big family gathering at our house on Thanksgiving Day with over twenty people for dinner and almost thirty by the time we had dessert. They just kept coming.

And in the midst of it all we celebrated my mother's 88^th birthday. I gave her a bright red Phillies pillow which she absolutely loved and my brother gave her a big sign to stick in her front yard that says, "Go Flyers!" She maybe 88, but she's not old. She's an avid Phillies fan and a fanatical Flyers fan. Get out of her way when it comes to those two teams. She's not real big on the Eagles and the Sixers though, but we're working on her!

It was a good time, but there were also some family members who weren't there for various reasons. And some of those situations have caused a lot of heartache and pain over the years and still do to this day. The holidays can be a tough time for families because they put a spotlight on the things that aren't right and the relationships that we wish were better. There are no perfect families out there. At least, I haven't found any. Most of the families I know are carrying around some degree of relational and emotional pain.

Jesus was a perfect person but he came from an imperfect family. We don't often think about Jesus' family except at Christmas time when we think of Jesus as a baby lying in a manger with his parents Joseph and Mary.

And the reason we don't think much about his family is probably because the New Testament doesn't have a lot to say about his family. But it does tell us some things and today we come to a passage in the gospel of Mark where Jesus' family gets involved in his ministry, but not in the way we might think. They don't come to help him. They come to stop him. They come to attempt an intervention because they think he's lost his mind.

This morning we continue following Jesus with a look at Mark 3:20-35 (p.686). So if you have a Bible meet me at Mark 3:20, Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

The beat goes on for Jesus. Day after day, night after night he's mobbed by people. The crowds won't go away. They keep him up late at night. They wake him up early in the morning. And now he can't even get a bit to eat without being thronged. Jesus mania is in high gear right now. Everybody wants to see Jesus. And his family thinks he's gone mad. They think he's nuts.

Jesus, the Bible tells us, was the oldest of at least seven children. There's a passage in Matthew's gospel that actually gives us the names of some of his siblings. After hearing him teach and seeing his miraculous powers the people in Nazareth, his hometown say in Matthew 13:55-56, Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?

Jesus had four younger brothers and at least two sisters, maybe more, because it says all his sisters. He came from a big family, certainly by today's standards. Nine people living in the small house of a poor carpenter who may have been dead by now.

This passage doesn't mention Joseph by name and many scholars believe that Joseph may have passed away by this point and Jesus, as the oldest son, had taken over the carpentry business until he began his full-time ministry as a rabbi at the age of 30.

But it makes you wonder what his family thought about all this. They heard the stories. Nazareth is only about 25 miles west of Capernaum. That's a two day's walk. Maybe they went to hear Jesus teach or watched him do miracles over the past year. But they didn't know what to make of it all and for good reason. Jesus was calling himself the Lord of the Sabbath. He was claiming to forgive sins. The religious leaders whom they feared were angry with him. There were people that wanted to kill him. He was causing chaos in an occupied Roman territory. He picked a dozen unlikely apostles. He was working day and night, not even stopping to eat. There were lots of reasons why they thought he had gone over the edge.

And his brothers, it says in John 7, didn't believe in him. They teased him. In fact, it wouldn't be until after Jesus' resurrection that his brothers would realize that they had grown up with the Son of God as their big brother.

Judas, the youngest brother, would later go on and write the letter called Jude at the end of the New Testament. And James would write the book of James. He became a leader in the early church but was most famous for his prayer life. It's said that he spent eight hours a day in prayer talking to his big brother Jesus. He prayed so much at the end of his life that he had the nickname "Old Camel Knees" because his knees were calloused. And when he was stoned to death for his faith history tells us that they could barely straighten his knees to put him in a coffin.

But that was then and this now. And right now his brothers don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Instead, they believe that Jesus has lost it. And they're concerned that Jesus mania has gotten totally out of control.

And so one night at the dinner table James or Judas or one of the others says, "I think we need to go to Capernaum and get him. This is nuts. He's disgracing the family. If he keeps this pace up he's going to kill himself or get killed or get us killed!" So they come down from Nazareth to do an intervention, to bring Jesus back home, back to the family business, back to the days when things were nice and calm and predictable.

Let me stop right here and say Jesus knows what it feels like to have a family that thinks you're crazy. Anybody here have a family who thinks you're crazy because you follow Jesus? Maybe that's what your family thinks of you especially if you didn't grow up in a Christian home or in a family that went to church or a church like this one. Maybe all this is new to you and there are times that you feel all alone. Let me assure that Jesus understands. He's been there. He's felt the pain of being completely misunderstood by those he loves the most. And that's not a good feeling. He understands family dynamics.

But his family wasn't the only ones that misunderstood Jesus because just at the same time that they're leaving Nazareth to come to Capernaum for an intervention, a delegation of high powered religious leaders is coming down from Jerusalem to make an official pronouncement over what's really driving Jesus and his ministry. They think they know. And these are the experts that everybody listens to. And what they're about to say is inexcusable and, Jesus says, downright unforgivable. In fact, what they are about to do is commit the one sin that can't be forgiven.

Look at verse 22, And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."

The religious leaders who came down from Jerusalem were so threatened by Jesus that they had to come up with an explanation for Jesus mania. They couldn't deny the power behind his preaching and teaching. They couldn't deny the power that was coming out of him and healing thousands of people. Evidence of it was everywhere. But what they did question was the source of his power. Where's his power coming from? They couldn't say it was from God because Jesus was undermining their religious position and prestige. And they didn't want to give up their place of privilege to Jesus.

So back in their corporate offices in Jerusalem they hatched a plan that they thought would thin the crowds and put an end to the Jesus show. They came up with an alternative explanation. And that was to say that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul or Beelzebub as some translations say. Beelzebub was the name of ancient Canaanite god mentioned in 2 Kings 1. In Hebrew Beelzebub means "Lord of the Flies." He's possessed by the Lord of the Flies. That's what our research shows.

Jesus knew exactly what they were saying. Look at verse 23, So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man's house."

Jesus knew that they were attributing his power to the power of Satan. They were saying that he does all these things because he's driven by the devil. But that's ridiculous Jesus says. That makes no sense. Why would Satan want to fight himself? If a kingdom or a house for that matter is divided against itself it's not going to stand.

But Satan is being defeated, not because he's fighting against himself, but because somebody stronger than the strong man has come into his house and plundered it. The strong man in this parable is the evil one and the one who has tied him up is Jesus. And every time Jesus drives out a demon or forgives a sinner or heals the sick he's taking someone out of the strong man's house. He's saving them. He's rescuing them.

That's what Jesus was doing then and that's what Jesus is still doing today. He's rescuing and saving and delivering us from the strong man's domain. He's setting us free from bondage to sin. And he does that when we believe him and as we follow him. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Jesus is stronger than the strong man and he is out to plunder his domain of sin.

But now Jesus says you crossed a dangerous line when you said that. Look at verse 28,"Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven all their sins and all the blasphemies they utter. ²⁹But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin." ³⁰He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."

Over the years people have come to call this the unpardonable sin. And I've met people over the years who have wondered if they've committed the unpardonable sin. Maybe you've wondered that at some point. Well, let's take look at it. What is it? What's the one sin that Jesus says will never be forgiven? He tells us. It's the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And what's that? That's attributing the work of the Spirit of God operating in Jesus to the work of the devil. That's what was going on here.

These teachers of the law were so hardened against the person and work of Jesus that they were saying his power is coming from Satan and not from the Spirit of God. They were saying, "He has an evil spirit." And when that line is crossed Jesus says that's the point of no return. Everything else can be forgiven but not that because once a person has gone that far to write off Jesus they are beyond help.

One author I read this week put it this way, "Jesus' critics had painted him into a corner. Once you label what is in fact the work of the Holy Spirit as the work of the devil, there's no way back. It's like holding a conspiracy theory. All the evidence that you see will simply confirm your belief. You will be blind to the truth. It isn't that God gets especially angry with one sin in particular. It's that if you decide in your heart that the doctor who wants to perform life-saving surgery on you is really a sadistic killer, you will never give your consent to the operation."

That's how far Jesus' critics had gone in their attempt to discredit him.

Now can the unpardonable sin be committed today? That's a good question. Personally, I don't think so. I believe that blaspheming the Holy Spirit was unique to that time when Jesus was here on the earth doing his work and people were saying, "He's of the devil!"

We can grieve the Holy Spirit when we hold on to anger and bitterness and rage as Paul says in Ephesians 4:30. We can quench the Holy Spirit by not following his promptings as Paul writes about in 1 Thessalonians 5:19. But I believe that even if we could commit it today and we're concerned that we might have, we haven't or else we wouldn't be concerned at all because our hearts would be that hard. Every other sin we've committed or blasphemy we've uttered can be forgiven and is forgiven when we confess it to Jesus.

So while all this was going on inside the house, Jesus' family arrives outside. Look at verse 31,Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." ³³"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. ³⁴Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

Jesus' family shows up for the intervention but the place is so packed that Mary and the boys can't even get into the house. So they send word to Jesus that they're outside and want him to see him immediately. They want him to wrap it up and come home.

But Jesus floors the crowd with his response when he says, Who are my mother and my brothers? You are. All those who do God's will are my brother and sister and mother.

And when I read that this week I thought, "Oh gosh! I hope Mary didn't hear that! That's not going to make her feel very good! After all, she is his mom."

This is another reason why I believe that Jesus was more than a man. Who else but God could sit there and say you are my mother and my brothers and my sisters? Jesus isn't disrespecting his family here. Instead, what he's doing is starting a new family, a spiritual family, a family of all those who believe in him because that's God's will. God's will is that we believe in his Son and that we follow him.

Last week we saw that Jesus chose twelve apostles patterned after the twelve tribes of Israel because he was starting a new kingdom. And this week we see that Jesus is also starting a new family. And that family continues to this day.

And there are many of us here who are closer to those in the family of God then we are to those in our own biological families. There is more depth in our relationships to our brothers and sisters in Christ than to the brothers and sisters in our own families. And Jesus understands that too. He was closer to Peter and Andrew, James and John who believed in him then he was to his brother James and Joseph and Simon and Judas who didn't, at least not at this point in his life.

Thank God for the family we have in each other. And that's why it's so important to protect our relationships and to keep short accounts and to forgive one another. We need each other. We weren't to walk with Jesus alone, but with a family of brothers and sisters. And we need to be vigilant against the evil one who loves to divide and break up families, especially the family of God.

Jesus' family thought he was crazy. The religious leaders thought he was demon possessed. But he was neither. He's the only who has a completely sound mind and he was and is the Son of God. God is the source of his power.

It was this passage that prompted C. S. Lewis to say that there are only three options with Jesus and one of them is not a great moral teacher because of the outrageous things he said. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.

He put it this way, "I'm trying to prevent anyone from saying the really silly thing that people often say about Jesus. 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That's the one thing we can't say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he's a poached egg, or else he'd be a devil of hell. You must take your choice either this man was and is the Son of God or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut him up for a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But don't let us come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He hasn't left that open to us."

The choice is yours? Who do you believe Jesus was? Liar? Lunatic or Lord?

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.