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, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 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.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Today's Lesson is sometimes called "the Unpardonable Sin". That is absolutely a very poor and damaging misinterpretation; for there is nothing that cannot be pardoned by God. "For nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ" (Romans 8)!
What Jesus says is that the son does not have "forgiveness" -- forgiveness meaning to be in a state of having given up or let go of one's sin. But the sin is held on to. As Jesus says it is an "eternal sin", meaning it is a sin that goes on and on and on from one generation to the next throughout history.
And what is the sin? It is blasphemy agains the Holy Spirit -- naming good evil; calling what is holy unholy.
We can look back throughout history and see this is indeed an eternal and ageless sin. The work of the Holy Spirit moves to bring freedom and agency and deliverance from all manner of oppression and abuse and again and again what is good and holy is called evil and unholy and even demonic.
Fair warning for those intent on seeing good done in this world: if they did this to Jesus they will do it to us also. And this is why Jesus began his ministry by saying, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. For they did the same to the prophets who came before you."
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