November 8 - Mark 3:7-35 - "Unforgiveable"

MPC 8th November 2020.

Doug Wannenburgh

What's the most scary verse in Scripture?

One verse which, as a young Christian, made me worried was Mark chapter 3 verse 29. Where Jesus says, verse 28-29:

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're] guilty of an eternal sin.

That verse kept me up at night worrying. Had I committed the unforgivable sin? What could 'blasphemy against the Holy Spirit' mean? And through 30 years as a pastor I've listened to many others who're concerned they might have committed the unforgivable sin.

So what exactly is it? Well, to understand we need to look at the verse in context. What's going on? What question is being answered?

1. Old and New

At this point in Mark's gospel things are really heating up. There's conflict between Jesus and others. And it's leading to a case of out with the old, in with the new.

a. Rejected by Israel's Leaders

Jesus has got up the nose of the religious leaders. By not being very PC, or I should say, RC: religiously correct. The new kid on the block is breaking the rules of the Pharisees, and claiming to be God. The crowds may be growing. But so is the hatred and hostility of the religious. So much so that the Pharisees want Him dead. Verse 6. That's where we left off last week.

Verse 6 "the Pharisees began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill jesus "

b. Anger at Israel's Leaders

They're not happy with Jesus. And Jesus isn't happy with them.

Verse 5 "[Jesus looks] around at them in anger and, [is] deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts "

Indignant at their hard hearts. Refusing to believe. So how does Jesus respond to their rejection? Verse 7: "[He] withdrew with his disciples to the lake "

c. Gathering All Israel

Jesus gets away but it's short-lived. 'Cos, verse 7, a large crowd follows. Jesus is somewhat of a celebrity. His fame has spread - people come from all over. Verse 8. From "Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea" - in the south. "The regions across the Jordan" - that's the east. And from "around Tyre and Sidon" - the North.

Which is significant. People from all over Israel. The places mentioned map out the original extent of Israel's territory. Not any more though. Not for a long time. But here's Jesus. The promised Messiah, King of Israel? The one to unite all Israel?

Here's israel, the Jewish people of God, coming to Jesus.

d. Miracle Hysteria of Israel

But why do they come? Because of His teaching, His message? Sadly not. The reasons given in verse 8: "When they heard all He was doing " They've come for the miracles. Healings. They're seekers of the sensational. Of what's in it for them.

Not far off from some churches today. Who attract people with sensation. thrills and spills. Who promise healings, miracles, and breakthroughs. They hype things up, sell a feel good factor.

Sadly, often the Bible is subtly pushed aside in the desire to be "relevant".

Jesus may be sold as your personal success coach. The gospel side-lined, while success, health, wealth, are all peddled and promised. As now, so somewhat back then.

These crowds are coming for the miracles. These aren't all sincere seekers, respectfully eager to learn. Which is evidenced in that they actually crush Jesus. Verse 9. Jesus' disciples organise a little boat "to keep the people from crowding him."

Literally the word crushing. You see, this isn't respectful polite interest. This is pushing and shoving, mass hysteria. But Jesus' priority remains teaching, not healing. So He hops into a little boat from which His able to teach.

e. Demonic Identification

Israel, God's people, don't recognise Jesus. But guess who does? Verse 11. "Whenever the impure spirits [see] Him, they [fall] down before Him and [cry] out, 'you are the son of God.'"

Israel may not recognise Him, but evil spirits do! Jesus orders them 'be quiet', so they don't stir up the crowd any more than they already are. The evil spirits are right though. Jesus is the son of God. The Messiah, God's promised and Israel's long awaited king.

f. Gathering the New Israel

But 'God's people', the people of Israel - Jewish leaders and Jewish crowds - reject Jesus. They're either plotting to kill Him, or crushing Him with expectations of healings and miracles. They're not hearing, nor heeding. They fail to recognise that the time is here. the king is here.

What we have is Jewish leaders angry at Jesus, Jesus angry at Jewish leaders, Jewish crowd crushing him looking for miracles, demon recognises Jesus, and, and, now what?

Jesus rejected. So what's He do? In with the new. He chooses some others. He calls to Himself a new 'Israel' - a new 'people of God'. "Jesus [verse 13] went up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted, and they came to Him."

He calls. They come.

Now, Mark steeps these verses in OT imagery. He shows us that Jesus rejects old Israel, and then re-enacts ot history in choosing a new Israel.

There's at least five ot allusions.

First off, verse 13, Jesus went up on a mountainside. That's no coincidence or convenience. God brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, and gathered them in the wilderness at mount Sinai. And it was there at the mountain that He spoke to them. Establishing them as the people of God. Just as Jesus now speaks. And it's at the mountain that God called Israel to Himself. Just as Jesus now calls to Himself those He wants. And verse 14. Just as there were twelve tribes of Israel, Jesus appoints twelve apostles. And what's more, Jesus renames some. Verse 16-19:

These are the twelve He appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder) Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew

Renamed! Which may ring bells 'cos God renamed Jacob, renamed him Israel. Just as God did then, so Jesus does now.

And one final OT allusion. Verse 14. Note the purpose of their appointment.

He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that He might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.

Just as Israel was chosen to be with God and make God known through proclamation and witness, so too Jesus' apostles. To be with him, and to preach and bear witness to God's power. All these OT allusions. They point to this being the new people of Israel, the new people of God.

2. Teachers of the Law and Jesus' Family

Jesus rejected by Jewish establishment. So Jesus calls to Himself a new Israel. Out with the old, in with the new. And so, how does that go? How do the Bible teachers react? And how do Jesus' family react?

a. God's People / Jewish Leaders

Well, the religious leaders are furious. The Pharisees are already plotting to kill Jesus. And now, in verse 22, the teachers of the law, OT Bible teachers, they start a smear campaign to discredit Jesus. But Jesus takes them head on again.

Now this encounter is couched between two brief incidents involving Jesus' family. It's a sandwich. You've got the family stuff in verses 20 to 21, and in verses 31 to 35. And in between, there's the stuff with the teachers of the law. These incidents mirror one another. And show us who Jesus rejects, as well as who He accepts as His new people, who He welcomes into His new family.

We'll come back to the family stuff. But first let's look at the encounter between Jesus and these other teachers. Verse 22.

The Teachers of the Law, that's Old Testament law. These are Bible experts, professional theologians. The academic scholars of the day. Who travel down from Jerusalem, the capital, the seat of religious power.

Now there's always a lot of mud throwing in politics. Trump's made it a crude art form. Labelling others as crooked Hillary or sleepy Joe. These guys don't brand Jesus with such niceties. They label him demonic.

Verse 22. They say, verse 22b "[Jesus] is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons He is driving out demons."

They're not just throwing mud, not even just the kitchen sink. They throw the whole house. Jesus! Possessed by Satan. Working by Satan's power! They don't deny Jesus' power. They question the source of it. Demonic. Satanic. So how does Jesus answer? With some short punchy parables. And his argument is two-fold.

Firstly, their argument is stupid. illogical. Verse 23. Jesus asks, Verse 23b "How can Satan drive out Satan?" It makes no sense. Verse 24:

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

If Satan's at war with himself, his kingdom will collapse, and it'll be the end of him. Illogical nonsense! Laughable. The smear campaign hasn't got an ounce of credibility. Then Jesus tells another parable. With another point. To show them, that not only is His power not evil, but that He has power over evil. Which points to who he is. Verse 27. Jesus argues,

No one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up. Then He can plunder the strong man's house.

If you're going to rob someone, you've got to have more firepower than them. Discounting weapons for a second. If you're going to rob Dwayne Johnson or Mike Tyson, you better be bigger and stronger. You got to be able to over-power them.

Now, the fact that Jesus is delivering people from evil, casting out demons, is clear evidence Jesus has tied up Satan. And is robbing him blind.

Join the dots. Whose stronger than Satan? God alone! So then, who is Jesus? It's clear and conclusive. Jesus is God. Which means our destiny - yours, mine, everyone - will be determined by our reaction to him.

And that's now Jesus' warning. Verse 28. If you ignore the evidence you're in eternal trouble. Here's the warning to those who accuse Jesus of evil. Jesus rejects people who refuse to repent.

So, look again at verse 28:

Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven ll their sins and every slander [or blasphemy] they utter. But whoever blasphemes against [or slanders] the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven

That's a serious warning. Not to those who follow Jesus. But to those who reject Him.

Note the tense of the word "blasphemy". In verse 28, the "sins and blasphemies/slanders" are in the past tense. If you sin, if you reject God, but then repent, you'll be forgiven, everything. Which is great news. Very reassuring. I used to reject God. Then I repented. And Jesus tells me I'm forgiven.

But then there's the flip side. That's the side the Teachers of the Law are on. In verse 29, the word "blasphemes" is in the aorist subjunctive tense. Which means that if they would blaspheme in the future, 'cos that's their stance now, then they reject Jesus.

They blaspheme the Holy Spirit by rejecting Jesus. The Holy Spirit's been at work in and through Jesus - delivering people from evil, and revealing Jesus as the all-powerful Son of God. The Holy Spirit's showed the Teachers of the Law that Jesus is god. And thus, to blaspheme the Spirit is to reject Jesus. They've been warned. So, what do these teachers do? They've rejected Jesus. And they now continue to reject Jesus. They even say His evil. If they'd stop blaspheming and repent, they'd be forgiven. But if they don't, they won't. And they'd be guilty of an eternal sin. Here's the point. Your attitude towards Jesus determines His attitude towards you. Accept Jesus, He'll welcome and forgive. Reject Jesus, He'll reject you.

b. God's Family / Jesus' Family

Now back to the family sandwich mentioned earlier. First piece of bread, verse 20. Jesus enters a house. A big crowd gathers. The news reaches His family. Verse 21, "When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, 'he is out of his mind'"

His lost his marbles. That's family for you. They think he is crazy. Which shows us that they just don't get it yet. They've not properly understood who Jesus is.

And then we skip to verse 31, the second piece of bread. Jesus' mother and brothers arrive to take charge of Him. But they stay outside. And send someone else in.

The crowd tells Jesus, verse 32, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." And Jesus asks, verse 33,

'Who are my mother and my brothers?' [Then Jesus looks] at those seated in a circle round Him and says, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does god's will is my brother and sister and mother.'

Jesus' has a new family. He redefines what makes one part of God's family. And it's got nothing to do with biology. It has all to do with obedience. To God's will. Which is firstly, essentially, repent and believe. Accept Jesus as king. The will of God is that we follow Jesus. And that's what defines anyone as God's family.

c. Summary

These stories are a big double whammy. A double warning. Whether family or nation, you play no part in the new Israel, God's new family, if you don't accept Jesus as King.

3. Reactions to Jesus

Okay. When you take a specific chemical, and you mix it with various other chemicals, you get different reactions. When Jesus meets different people, you get different reactions.

a. Crowds

Okay, you've got the crowds. From all over Israel. The Jewish nation. To many Jesus was sort of like Keith Urban or Nicole Kidman - a super-star. And their response was a little mass hysteria. The crowds were thrill seekers. Looking for a miracle. Wanting what they could get. So, is Jesus just a really nice bloke whose well worth meeting 'cos you'd be sure to benefit?

b. Family

The crowds. What about Jesus' family? At this moment they think Jesus is a little like Bruce. I met Bruce at an arts festival in South Africa, and we got chatting about life, hope and religion. Turns out he believed in God. But he believed he was God. That in fact he was the messiah come to earth to enlighten others!

I wasn't angry with him. I felt sorry for him. He clearly wasn't playing with a full deck of cards. So, is Jesus, like His family thought, out of his mind? Off his marbles?

c. Teachers of the Law

Crowds, family. What about the teachers of the law?

To them Jesus was plain evil. Undoing God's laws. Undoing religion. Not respecting them as leaders. Is Jesus, like they thought, an evil liar? Seeking to deceive and lead astray.

d. Evil Spirits

Crowds, family, teachers, and evil spirits.

Surprise! Surprise! The people who fall to their knees and acknowledge Jesus as God are people possessed by demons!

They get it right. Jesus is God. but though they're physically on their knees, their hearts are not bowed before Him.

e. Apostles and Disciples

Which brings us to the last group. disciples or followers of Jesus. Those whom Jesus calls to Himself. Those who do God's will, who bow their hearts and accept Jesus as King. To them Jesus says, Verse 35, "[Here] is my brother and sister and mother."'You are my family.'

Conclusion: scared or saved?

Yes, verse 29 is a scary verse. But not for those who follow Jesus, who accept Him as King. Truth is, if you're worried about having committed it, you Haven't committed it!

But it's still a scary verse, or should be, for others. 'Cos it goes to the most scary reality. It's a warning. That if one hardens one's heart and refuses to accept Jesus as King. Then you remain un-forgiven, guilty, and will face King Jesus on judgement day.

The good news? God is in the business of forgiving. God is bringing outsiders in. God is creating and gathering a new people of God in Christ Jesus. A people who know and love and follow Jesus.

So Jesus invites you and me to repent and believe. He invites you to accept him, follow him as king.

Table of Contents

1. Old and New

2. Teachers of the Law and Jesus' Family

3. Reactions to Jesus

Conclusion: scared or saved?