Dangerous Blasphemy: A Meditation on Mark 3 for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost

And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said,

He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables,

How can Satan cast out Satan?

And if a kingdom be divided against itself,

that kingdom cannot stand.

And if a house be divided against itself,

that house cannot stand.

And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided,

he cannot stand, but hath an end.

No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods,

except he will first bind the strong man;

and then he will spoil his house.

Verily I say unto you,

All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men,

and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:

But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness,

but is in danger of eternal damnation.

Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

 

As western culture has become more vulgar both in its thoughts and its words, the concept of blasphemy can almost seem quaint.  Epithets that would have earned a slap in the face or expulsion from polite society only 20 years ago are now common place in everything from social media, to entertainment, and academia.  Sometimes lost in this sea of vulgarity is a casual disregard for the name of God or specifically Jesus Christ, and a growing secular disdain for all things traditional, authentically virtuous, or biblically Christian.  A short stroll through Netflix, news outlets, Twitter, your local college campus or neighborhood pub, will reveal just how cavalier many people have become with their use of language toward anything holy, and how quickly rage rises for impugning anything unholy.  While certainly not a universal trait of modern western culture, it is an increasingly common example of how appreciation has flipped in the minds of many regarding the value of what is good, and what is evil… and perhaps of the generally degrading aptitude of individual linguistic skill.

 

It is important, however, to distinguish garden variety vulgarity from blasphemy.  Going blue, as they used to say in the 1970’s and 80’s, was a comic’s way of shocking the audience with frequent use of vulgarity to accentuate their routines, and it was often effective to get laughs (assuming they haven’t been “canceled” from the internet yet, a short survey of early stand up routines from Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and George Carlin will suffice for the early progenitors of the modern blue comedy scene.)  However, when the general use of four letter words shifts to insults or depravity aimed at God, this is where blasphemy comes in.  Specifically, accusing God of unfaithfulness, deceit, ineptitude, or evil, refusing to believe Him in what He says and ascribing to Him fruits of evil which alone are the responsibilities of sinful men and wicked demons, is the heart of blasphemy.  Ours is not the first generation to become salty tongued and bawdy in our common language, but it’s been a very long time since the West has seen such a prevalence of outright blasphemy so commonly directed at the Almighty.

 

In the story above, St. Mark recounts an event where the religious leaders of Jerusalem surrounded Jesus after He had cast out numerous demons from oppressed people, and in order to persuade the people to ignore such profound divine deliverance, they accused Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebub (another name for Satan) and using demonic power to cast out demons.  After refuting the rank stupidity of their argument, Jesus went on to tell them that all blasphemies and sins against Him would be forgiven men, but a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has no forgiveness in either the present time, or the eternal age to come.  Specific to this text, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which Jesus denounced among the Pharisees and Sadducees was publicly trying to lead people away from the deliverance of God by ascribing to Him and His grace the works of the devil.  This rejection of God and His grace, publicly attributing to the Holy Spirit of the Living God the spirit of darkness so as to lead people away from the salvation of Jesus Christ, is a blasphemy which Jesus tells us has eternal consequences.

 

Jesus was not telling those around Him that generally vulgarity was damnable, nor that otherwise obscene blasphemy couldn’t be forgiven by grace through repentance and faith in Him.  But the heart so hardened against God that it would publicly accuse God of evil so as to lead others away from saving grace, is a heart in mortal peril.  To be frank, these kinds of hardened hearts seem to appear less often in the general populace, and much more often amongst the educated and affluent set—particularly among college professors, politicians, and professional theologians.  Like the religious leaders of Jerusalem, those who have attained power and control over people rarely like to give it up, and many have achieved this power through dark and dubious means.  When the light and life of Christ breaks into the world and calls lost sinners to forgiveness, life, and salvation, it casts out the works of darkness upon which so many elite leaders have made their living and enforced their power.  Such wickedness in high places is threatened by the Eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for sinners, so they lean on the only dark resources they have to try to push away the light, resulting in the kind of blasphemy described above.

 

This reality should give us both pause and hope.  Pause, because we should always be careful in our thoughts and our speech, regardless of vain norms which prevail in our day.  Our tongues should not be used to speak evil, but rather to echo the words of life and grace which saved us from the darkness of this fallen world.  If we find we have spoken poorly, or even blasphemously, we have the testimony of the Holy Spirit within us, working through the proclamation of the Word of God to convict us of our sin, and lead us back to the font of forgiveness in our Savior which can always and only be received by grace through faith.  And hope, that even those in places of power and authority who have eternally rejected God and work feverishly in their dark minds with a demonic energy to lead people away from Jesus, can no more resist the Light of Christ than the demons to whom they cling.  Jesus Christ is victor not only over the grave, but over every power of darkness that assails His people, no matter the time or the place.  There is no blasphemy uttered by reprobate souls which can snatch us out of His pierced hands, nor take from us the blessings of grace and forgiveness in Him.  The world will rage on for the time the Lord has appointed to it, yet the Lord God Almighty will abide with His people always, and unto the end of the age will He bring the healing balm of His Word and grace to all who repent and believe.  The blasphemers of Jesus’ day did not stop His Kingdom come, and nor have they stopped the proclamation of Jesus and His Word in any day since.  The faithful need not fear the rage of the blasphemer who shows his own condemnation through his rejection of all that might save him, but rather with compassion and boldness, we bear witness to Him who is the light and life of all who put their trust in Him.  Amen.