Unforgiveable: Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit

(a homily)

There are perhaps no words for me that ring as mysterious, humbling, and troubling than Christ's words heard today. "Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemes that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin." Such a pronouncement weighs heavily on my heart. It arouses a great flurry of questions and things to contemplate. What exactly is this blaspheming against the Holy Spirit? Is it a denial of the Spirit's power? Is it primarily related to the work of Christ as might be gleaned from the wider context of the passage in which he is said to drive out demons? Is it something that post-Enlightenment Christianity is guilty of by default? After all, it seems that the Spirit has been ignored by much of the Western Church, even though at times we can see with the eyes of faith that the Holy Spirit has moved in various movements in recent centuries.

Something leads me to think that perhaps one of the central issues here is the greater matter of authority. Jesus chides his misguided critics because they are unwilling or unable to recognize the source of his authority, and in so doing they deny God. Jesus was "offended" by their rumors because they sought to make him look to be one who conjured an evil spirit in order to mislead people by by crooked power, that is Beelzebub was a power-hungry spirit. However, the source of Jesus' strength was his humble submission to the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life who is sent by the Father. The scribes in saying Jesus' ability to exercise demons was given by the prince of demons did violence to the understanding of the very essence of the Triune God, the One God in Three Persons who continually and perfectly love and submit to one another.

We to do violence to God and ourselves when we deny the life giving Spirit. Perhaps we are tempted to do so because we observe various church movements that certainly abuse the mystery of the Holy Spirit for their own attempts at gaining and maintaining power and wealth. Or perhaps we ignore the call to wait and pray in silence for God. But let us be thankful, for here as we worship together, God invites us to be touched by the Holy Spirit, even to enter into the mysteries of the Godhead as we eat bread and drink wine that is blessed and transformed by the very Spirit, that is God, to be the Body and Blood of Christ. See, here we are able to focus on the source of any authority, in earth and in heaven, that may be enjoined to us, that is, love and submission to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let us wait and pray for the manifestation of that loving power of the Holy Spirit among us and in so waiting and receiving the blessed sacrament we can go and with Christ continue to the Gospel ministry in service to the Father. Amen.

(2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10; Psalm 89; Mark 3:22-30)