Mark 3:28-30

Post Reply New Topic

Hi, DarthMetaKnight.

I'm sorry you are struggling with this passage-- even though I'm a follower of Christ, I've had many times when I struggled with something Jesus said that was troubling or scary. I'd like to share some of what I've learned about this passage, if that's all right.

Mark 3 talks about how Jesus was going around healing people from sickness and casting out demons, and great crowds were gathering around him. But the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the time, didn't like that, because they were in the habit of inventing huge lists of rules that only they could keep, so that they could see themselves as better than the common people around them.

But Jesus wasn't following the rules. He healed a man from his illness on the Sabbath day (Saturday), and it was against the rules to do any work on the Sabbath. Healing people was sort of Jesus' "job," so technically he was "working" by doing it, wasn't he? Jesus asked them,

"Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

But they said nothing, and instead reached out to another powerful group, the Herodians-- people who they didn't get along with ordinarily-- and began trying to figure out how the could kill Jesus.

Jesus was making a couple points by healing the man on the Sabbath. One was that God cares more about loving others (healing the man's sickness) than he cares about keeping the letter of the law (which was just a means for the Pharisees to feel more righteous than others). The other was that Jesus did not consider himself to be bound by their rules. And that message came through loud and clear, and it made the Pharisees furious. Seeing more and more people come to Jesus every day made them afraid.

The passage you quoted happens with that as the background. Now so many people are coming to see Jesus that the house he's staying in is packed, and there isn't even any room for his disciples to sit down and eat. Jesus' own family confronts him (his mother Mary, and his younger brothers)-- they don't understand why he is doing any of this, and the only conclusion they can come to is that he is insane.

I want to point that out, because Jesus' brothers included James and Jude, who both eventually became Christians and even wrote books of the Bible. So clearly they were not beyond salvation, even though they called Jesus insane! So whatever blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is, it cannot merely be doubt or insulting Jesus or saying something wrong.

Then, what is it? Well, some religious leaders came up from Jerusalem (where they had been plotting together about how to kill him), and they came out with a new accusation: Jesus was only casting out demons because he was in league with Satan himself.

What was so serious about this attack that Jesus would warn about an unforgivable sin? I believe it's because of what the religious leaders knew. These were men who studied the Scriptures carefully; they knew all the passages that talked about God sending a Messiah to save Israel, and they recognized the signs of that Messiah-- he would heal the blind, deaf, and sick, cast out demons, raise the dead. He would teach with authority that comes straight from God rather than relying on manmade rules. They recognized who he was.

And they hated him. They didn't care. He messed up their neat and ordered world in which they were the most righteous, the most respected. He exposed their rule-keeping as just a way to make themselves look and feel better. He offered forgiveness to even the most "disgusting" sinners if they just came to him.

Do you see? They weren't in a state of doubt about who he was-- they didn't come to Jesus saying "I'm not sure who you are"; they recognized that he had to have come from God. But they hated him so much that they preferred to say he was from Satan. Because not only did they want him gone, they didn't want anyone else to listen to him either. He was too dangerous.

So I want to assure you, no matter what you believe about Jesus, no matter how many doubts you may have, even if you think he sounds like a lunatic, *you have not committed the unforgivable sin* Jesus talked about in this passage.

If everything Jesus said was true, then he was God's gift to the world, providing the only way that sinners could be saved-- whether their sin was one that people like the Pharisees looked down on, or if it was like the Pharisees' own sin of self-righteous pride. He will never turn away anyone who comes to him. (And a few Pharisees did end up laying aside their pride and coming to him, like in John 3.) He was talking about a specific sort of hardheartedness that says "I don't care if you are the only way; I don't want you." A final slamming of the door, so to speak.



------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for my long post, and it is fine if you don't agree with everything I said. (I'm sure I didn't explain everything the best way possible). But I hope and pray that it will be helpful to someone.

^Another word-wall.

Fellow believers, PLEASE SIMPLIFY AND CONDENSE your beliefs before posting them. Remember that you are not witnessing to other Biblical scholars who are indwelt with the Holy Spirit and who have spent their entire lives marinating in the Word, but to ordinary people who have likely mis-heard and mis-read the Gospels, if they have ever heard or read them at all!

Keep it simple.

I'm an Aspie; for me, that *was* the simplified version!

Not funny. You can do better.

I actually found what BicentennialMan said rather interesting, and not complicated.

It doesn’t mean I believe in Jesus as the Son of God, though.

Yes ... the more complex and philosophical the sermon, the less likely it is to inspire a conversion in ordinary people.

I Think/Feel A Key here obvious in 'the Book' is Jesus didn't play by the rules; hehe, in other
Words even if he did exist, he would not likely exist here for Long on the 'Wrong Planet' either
now; not without very clever methods of coming and going and such as that. There are Folks
Who Play by the Rules and Stay in the Cave with the Same Cave Art or folks who get out and do something
totally
new in Art and or Science
Like Snoopy if that Brings up a truly
Free Image of a Dog like God (Free Just Loving Free).

From the Gospel of Thomas Censored out of Course as it Takes the Power away from 'Trumps'
And Gives God Nature Control to Each and Every Person alive now/then and sure the Rest of Nature too.

"37) His disciples said to him, "When will you be visible to us,
and when shall we behold you?"
He said, "When you strip naked without being ashamed, and
take your garments and put them under your feet like little
children and tread upon them, then you will see the child of the
Living, and you will not be afraid."

Ha! Jesus, in These Words at Least, is the first proponent of Male Stripping taking us/them back to the Beginning
Now Then Before 'the Apple' of too Much Mechanical Systemizing Clothes With all the Tools of Culture;
Born Free is Better at least to me, or reborn as such like that now, too. Again if you will, Have a Nice Now.

^^ Case in point. ^^

Ditto; this isn't Kindergarten; It is Philosophy/Religion/Politics without Closed in Walls (PriSon), at best,
at least to me.

You would be Fun to meet in Person. It would be interesting if you were even brave enough to show your real face..

In other Words, get off my butt 'Smart Man'.

I like it that he conveyed the history of Jesus’ time. And the religious/philosophical conflicts thereof.

It was Jesus against the Temple establishment, plus the “fundamentalism” of the Pharisees.

Jesus was seen as being a weirdo, in some sense like some of us autistics vis-a-vis the general society.

Thank you for the kind words, and for reading my post.

But you weren't convinced by the overly-detailed explanation.

This is why church enrollment is declining -- preachers preach complex 'messages' to the people who are already convinced, instead of providing simple answers to the unconvinced. Then they are satisfied with the "kind words" they receive, and turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to those who thirst for the Truth.

The End Times are surely upon us.

I really enjoyed what you wrote too; I do believe you captured most of what
the Writers of the Story of Jesus were trying to get through to others;

Namely;

Just Love.

That's A Message That Truth In Light Will Not Be Beat For Those Who Just Do It Without Fail Now.

Ditto again; that's what I like Most about the Jesus Story too; Unconditional Fearless Love For All; such a Wonderful
Art to Just do too..

It left me convinced that the times were tough in Jesus’ day, and that he offered a counterpoint.

As far as making me a convert to Christianity: not unless Jesus himself presented Himself to me.

It is true that Jesus’ message was conveyed by a man in touch with all the people of his time and place. His message was conveyed in simple language with some poetic symbolism and aphoristic folk wisdom.

I do believe “the medium is the message.” It’s how you present the message.

Bicentennial presented his message in historical, not hysterical terms. People with no knowledge of the Pharisees should ask Bicentennial about them. And, if they so desire, conduct research pertaining to them.

I would say that an objective inquiry would reveal that the Jews didn’t rat on Jesus. It was the Temple establishment and their allies.