1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,200 Hi everyone and welcome back to the logical Bible study podcast, 2 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,700 we're going to take a look at the reading from today's mass 3 00:00:17,700 --> 00:00:21,500 and we'll try and provide an exegesis of the literal sense. 4 00:00:21,500 --> 00:00:24,800 What was Mark trying to communicate to his original 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,600 audience? So today, we look at Mark 6 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:32,900 chapter 3 verses 22 to 30 and it's quite a well-known passage 7 00:00:32,900 --> 00:00:37,000 in quite a controversial one. So, here's the passage from Mark 8 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,700 chapter 3. The scribes who come down from 9 00:00:40,700 --> 00:00:46,400 Jerusalem, we're saying be eligible is in him, and it is 10 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,500 through the prince of devils that he casts Devils out. 11 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:53,500 So he called them to him and spoke to them in Parables. 12 00:00:54,300 --> 00:00:59,600 How can Satan cast out Satan? if a kingdom is divided against 13 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,500 itself that Kingdom cannot last, and every household is divided 14 00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:10,100 against itself, that household can never stand Now, if Satan 15 00:01:10,100 --> 00:01:14,400 has rebelled against himself and is divided, he cannot stand 16 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,300 either. It is the end of him. 17 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,300 Boss. No one can make his way into a 18 00:01:20,300 --> 00:01:25,400 strong mans house and burgle his property, unless he has tied up 19 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,100 the strongman. First. 20 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:29,500 Only then, can he burgle his house? 21 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,800 I tell you, solemnly all men's sins will be forgiven and all 22 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,900 their blasphemies, but let anyone blaspheme against the 23 00:01:39,900 --> 00:01:43,000 Holy Spirit and he will never have forgiveness. 24 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:48,200 He is guilty of an eternal sin. This was because they were 25 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,700 saying and unclean spirit is in him. 26 00:01:54,500 --> 00:01:56,500 So, let's start by looking at the context here. 27 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,000 What's happened so far in? Mark, is all these massive 28 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,700 crowds have been coming to see him in Galilee to see Jesus. 29 00:02:04,100 --> 00:02:07,300 He's been doing all sorts of Miracles and healings, and 30 00:02:07,300 --> 00:02:10,199 particularly exorcisms. He's becoming quite well-known 31 00:02:10,199 --> 00:02:12,300 for casting demons out of people. 32 00:02:13,100 --> 00:02:18,500 So now the scribes come down from Jerusalem in verse 22. 33 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,200 So up till now he's just been doing stuff in Galilee and the 34 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,600 Galilean Pharisees don't really like Him. 35 00:02:24,700 --> 00:02:27,900 But now we have some scribes from Jerusalem, which is 36 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:29,800 actually South in the southern region. 37 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:31,500 They're coming all the way up to go away. 38 00:02:32,100 --> 00:02:37,500 So they've traveled quite a few days to hear to hear Jesus. 39 00:02:37,500 --> 00:02:40,200 There want to investigate this strange preacher that everyone's 40 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,900 talking about. So Jerusalem is sort of a 41 00:02:42,908 --> 00:02:45,900 capital of Israel, and that's down the southern area, and 42 00:02:45,900 --> 00:02:49,500 Jesus has been working in the northern area, but he's become 43 00:02:49,500 --> 00:02:52,000 so famous, that word has spread to Jerusalem. 44 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,900 So the Jerusalem leaders send These scribes in and these are 45 00:02:55,908 --> 00:02:59,000 kind of like the big guns, they are the Jerusalem. 46 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,500 Scribes were the absolute experts in the law. 47 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,900 They were considered to be more authoritative even than the ones 48 00:03:06,900 --> 00:03:13,500 in Galilee. So they accuse him or they say 49 00:03:14,100 --> 00:03:16,300 firstly though use this word be, I was a bowl. 50 00:03:16,300 --> 00:03:20,400 This is a name be eligible and it's a word that the Jews used 51 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,500 at that time for Satan. It's one of the words for Satan 52 00:03:24,500 --> 00:03:27,500 Satan had a few names and be eligible was one of them and 53 00:03:27,500 --> 00:03:31,800 it's probably derived from the Canaanite god Baal it's just 54 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:37,000 another way of saying Baal or Satan is be eligible so they say 55 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,400 be eligible is in him. So basically, they're accusing 56 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,500 Jesus of being possessed by the devil. 57 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,900 And this is the thinking, so the scribes have come to see him and 58 00:03:46,900 --> 00:03:48,400 they're like, how is this guy doing this? 59 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,900 How is he casting out? The demons and their reasoning 60 00:03:50,900 --> 00:03:54,700 goes something like this. His casting out so many demons, 61 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,000 and the only person who has that much control over demons is the 62 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,700 Devil Himself. Therefore, Jesus must be 63 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:03,700 possessed by the devil that seems to be their thinking. 64 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,100 Obviously, they've missed a key Point here being that God has 65 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:13,500 power over those demons as well. So this the saying, aye, he's 66 00:04:13,500 --> 00:04:16,800 possessed by the devil. So verse 23, he called them to 67 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,300 him. So Jesus actually calls over the 68 00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:22,600 Pharisees and he wants to teach them in particular. 69 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,300 He speaks to them in Parables so he's going to give them a couple 70 00:04:26,300 --> 00:04:28,700 of short analogies, not like the longer Parables. 71 00:04:28,700 --> 00:04:31,300 We're used to, it's still a parable load. 72 00:04:31,300 --> 00:04:34,600 So it's a short analogy. He's going to teach them a 73 00:04:34,608 --> 00:04:38,000 couple of things about exorcism and what it's all about. 74 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:43,000 He says to them first, how can Satan cast out Satan? 75 00:04:43,300 --> 00:04:44,800 And that's a rhetorical question. 76 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,700 He doesn't expect him to answer because the answer is obvious. 77 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,400 The answer is he can't. Verse 24, Jesus says to the 78 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:56,600 scribes if a kingdom is divided against itself that Kingdom 79 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,900 cannot last. So if you've got this kingdom 80 00:05:00,300 --> 00:05:03,000 and there's internal fighting going on, the kingdom is not 81 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:08,500 going to last long. And so, Jesus Point here is if 82 00:05:08,500 --> 00:05:12,600 Satan was being forced to get rid of his own demons, his 83 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,200 fighting against his own demons, then it would not be a very 84 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,600 strong Kingdom. But the scribes knew very well 85 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,600 that Satan's kingdom is strong so that can't be right. 86 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,000 It can't be this. Satan is fighting against his 87 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,000 own demons. That doesn't make sense verse 88 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:29,800 25. Jesus gives another similar 89 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,100 analogy and if a household is divided against itself that 90 00:05:34,100 --> 00:05:38,500 household can never stand. So, same basic idea if there's 91 00:05:38,500 --> 00:05:41,000 fighting within the family, it will be a week, family. 92 00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:44,400 Now, verse 26, Jesus tells us the point. 93 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:46,800 He was trying to make. Now, whenever you're looking at 94 00:05:46,808 --> 00:05:52,200 parables, You want to work out? What's, what was Jesus point? 95 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:54,400 He usually makes a couple of little analogies. 96 00:05:54,900 --> 00:05:58,100 Sometimes he then tells his readers and this is the point 97 00:05:58,100 --> 00:06:00,000 that I'm trying to make and that's what he does here. 98 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,900 Thankfully sometimes he doesn't tell the meaning of the parable 99 00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:07,200 and that's when the disciple sort of scratch their heads, but 100 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,200 when he tells us the meaning of the parable, we should pay 101 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,900 attention because that can help us get some principles for 102 00:06:12,900 --> 00:06:16,100 interpreting the other Parables. And here, he tells us what he 103 00:06:16,100 --> 00:06:17,600 means. Verse 26. 104 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:22,000 So If Satan has rebelled against himself and his divided, he 105 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,500 cannot stand either. It is the end of him. 106 00:06:26,100 --> 00:06:29,700 So, that's Jesus point. Scribes you're wrong. 107 00:06:29,700 --> 00:06:32,400 Satan is not casting out. These demons that doesn't make 108 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,000 sense so he's firstly he's ruled out there. 109 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:36,900 Hypothesis, he says you're wrong. 110 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:42,500 Now in verse 27, having ruled out that idea about a kingdom 111 00:06:42,500 --> 00:06:45,500 divided his, now going to tell them what's really going on, 112 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:47,600 what's really happening in these exorcisms. 113 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,600 No one can make his way into a strong mans house and burgle his 114 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,900 property, unless he is tied up the strong man first. 115 00:06:57,900 --> 00:07:00,000 Now, some people have a problem with this because it's implying 116 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,000 that God is a burglar. If you take it too, literally. 117 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,000 But remember Parables and not supposed to be identical to 118 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,600 Jesus or identical to God. In every aspect. 119 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,900 You can't map every aspect on exactly that will be over 120 00:07:12,900 --> 00:07:14,100 stretching. The parable. 121 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:17,600 He's just trying to make one Central Point that they will be 122 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:19,800 familiar with. And then applying that to God, 123 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:25,100 So the idea here is if someone's planning to rob a house but 124 00:07:25,100 --> 00:07:27,500 they're planning to do it. They know who lives there and 125 00:07:27,500 --> 00:07:29,600 they know the homeowner is a strong man. 126 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,700 Then the burglar is obviously going to make a plan to tie up 127 00:07:32,700 --> 00:07:35,700 the strongman first before he tries to steal his property 128 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:38,200 otherwise is not going to get very far. 129 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,000 The strongman's just going to kick him out. 130 00:07:40,700 --> 00:07:45,400 So Jesus here is saying that Satan is like the strongman. 131 00:07:45,500 --> 00:07:48,800 Satan is like the strong man guarding his possessions. 132 00:07:50,500 --> 00:07:54,200 What's Satan guarding? He's guarding humans in this 133 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:58,200 particular period of Salvation history, he has possession over 134 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,800 humans and in particular, the ones that he has that he's 135 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,200 possessed through the demons. They are his property. 136 00:08:06,100 --> 00:08:09,300 So Satan is the strong man and Jesus is saying that by 137 00:08:09,300 --> 00:08:15,400 performing these exorcisms He is weakening the power of Satan. 138 00:08:16,300 --> 00:08:19,200 The power of the strongman over the world. 139 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:23,700 So Jesus is weakening the strongman Satan by casting out. 140 00:08:23,700 --> 00:08:28,000 These exorcisms is slowly weakening Satan's influence in 141 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,299 the world. So this probably implies because 142 00:08:32,299 --> 00:08:35,200 remember, what Jesus says here is first you weak and the strong 143 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,500 man and then you plunder his Goods. 144 00:08:37,700 --> 00:08:41,299 So probably what Jesus is saying here is that these exorcisms 145 00:08:41,299 --> 00:08:45,300 that he's doing currently a phase, one of plundering Satan's 146 00:08:45,300 --> 00:08:46,900 house. So he's currently binding. 147 00:08:46,900 --> 00:08:51,800 Satan weakening his power over the world and probably Jesus is 148 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,500 implying, that soon, there will be a phase 2, where Jesus steal 149 00:08:55,500 --> 00:08:59,700 Satan's goods, and that would mean that's where he Takes some 150 00:08:59,700 --> 00:09:02,100 of the people from the kingdom of Satan and brings them into 151 00:09:02,100 --> 00:09:05,300 the kingdom of God. So here, I think is one of the 152 00:09:05,300 --> 00:09:09,400 clearest teachings about what Jesus mission is, we don't often 153 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,500 like to talk about Satan and him having power in the world, but 154 00:09:13,500 --> 00:09:15,600 that was the whole context of the kingdom of God. 155 00:09:15,700 --> 00:09:20,400 If you read the gospels carefully, Jesus clearly is 156 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,200 teaching that the world is largely under the power of Satan 157 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:26,700 and the point of the kingdom of God is to give people a 158 00:09:26,708 --> 00:09:29,600 different Kingdom to be a part of if they want to. 159 00:09:32,100 --> 00:09:35,900 So that's all the stuff about exorcisms there, that he's done. 160 00:09:35,900 --> 00:09:39,800 A couple of little analogies, verse 28, we get to the hard or 161 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:45,400 controversial part to interpret. Jesus says to them in verse 28, 162 00:09:45,500 --> 00:09:48,900 I tell you solemnly. Now whenever you say that you 163 00:09:48,900 --> 00:09:52,400 want to pay attention, this is where Jesus says, well basically 164 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,800 means, I'm about to tell you something very important. 165 00:09:56,100 --> 00:09:59,700 Other translations would have this as truly truly, or amen. 166 00:09:59,700 --> 00:10:05,600 Amen, or he who has an ear, let him hear verily, verily is the 167 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,400 old English way of saying it. Whenever you see those flag 168 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,400 words, you want to pay attention because Jesus is about to teach 169 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:13,500 something. And it's probably going to be 170 00:10:13,500 --> 00:10:16,400 something that's binding forever. 171 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,900 It's probably some general theological principle that he 172 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:23,600 wants people to know about. So it's a signal that Jesus is 173 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,500 about to conclude is make a conclusion, bring everything he 174 00:10:27,500 --> 00:10:32,200 said, To ahead and to make the point that he wants to make, so 175 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:34,900 he's dealt with the little things that the Pharisees have 176 00:10:34,900 --> 00:10:36,500 said. And now he wants to make his 177 00:10:36,500 --> 00:10:42,000 deeper more profound point. It's a textual indicator to us 178 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,000 as the readers that he's about to say, is about to teach 179 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,500 something in his capacity as Messiah. 180 00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:51,000 He's about to teach something theological and it's going to 181 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:54,500 wrap up. The things is just said, here's 182 00:10:54,500 --> 00:10:58,400 what he says. All men's sins will be forgiven 183 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,100 and their blasphemies, that's part one of the sentence. 184 00:11:02,700 --> 00:11:05,700 So what's he said so far? He said that if a person turns 185 00:11:05,700 --> 00:11:09,300 to God and enters the kingdom, then all of their past sins will 186 00:11:09,300 --> 00:11:12,300 be forgiven. Yeah. 187 00:11:12,300 --> 00:11:15,300 Jesus is saying there's no limit to God's forgiveness. 188 00:11:15,300 --> 00:11:19,800 All sins will be forgiven, even blasphemies and blasphemy is, 189 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,900 were some of the worst crimes. According to the Jews, the worst 190 00:11:22,900 --> 00:11:25,600 sins because that's when you abuse God directly. 191 00:11:25,900 --> 00:11:29,000 It's a direct offense against God, but Jesus, he says even 192 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,700 blasphemy, is will be forgiven. But then the second half. 193 00:11:34,100 --> 00:11:36,300 Sorry, I won't say the second half yet, let's just talk about 194 00:11:36,308 --> 00:11:40,800 the word holy spirit because it's the first time that Jesus 195 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:46,000 uses it here in Mark the Holy Spirit, we sometimes think of is 196 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,800 like it's not in the Old Testament at all of the New 197 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,400 Testament idea. It is in the Old Testament but 198 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,500 it's in the later books of the Old Testament and a lot of those 199 00:11:55,500 --> 00:11:57,200 books are not in Protestant Bibles. 200 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:01,200 So in the book of wisdom and the Book of sirach, there's a couple 201 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:05,100 of descriptions about the spirit or of God or the holy spirit. 202 00:12:05,100 --> 00:12:08,600 It's even called in one place. So the Jews were familiar with 203 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:10,600 and they did believe in the holy spirit. 204 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:13,800 It's just, they didn't connect it with the Trinity. 205 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,200 They didn't believe in the Trinity and Jesus is not 206 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,600 referring to her in a trinitarian way here either. 207 00:12:19,300 --> 00:12:21,700 So, what was their idea of the holy spirit? 208 00:12:21,700 --> 00:12:25,500 It's basically the power of God on Earth, that's what they saw. 209 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:30,100 The holy spirit is The power of God on Earth and that's fine. 210 00:12:30,100 --> 00:12:32,000 We as Christians, we believe that too. 211 00:12:33,900 --> 00:12:36,600 With that in mind. And so the Jews know what, the 212 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:38,400 holy spirit is all the basics of it. 213 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:43,700 Jesus now says, whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit or 214 00:12:43,700 --> 00:12:47,500 another translation, whoever speaks a word against the Holy 215 00:12:47,500 --> 00:12:51,100 Spirit. Why does he say that here? 216 00:12:51,100 --> 00:12:54,000 Well, the scribes were in fact, just doing this. 217 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:58,300 They were blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. 218 00:12:58,300 --> 00:13:00,900 If you think about it they were blaspheming against God's work 219 00:13:00,900 --> 00:13:03,300 on Earth. There are watching Jesus cast 220 00:13:03,300 --> 00:13:07,900 out demons with the power of God and they were attributing it to 221 00:13:07,900 --> 00:13:11,600 Satan. Their blasphemy against the work 222 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,400 of God on Earth are blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. 223 00:13:16,700 --> 00:13:17,900 Now they didn't know that though. 224 00:13:17,900 --> 00:13:20,200 So if we're going to analyze this in terms of, you know, 225 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,300 mortal sin and things like that, they didn't have full knowledge, 226 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,600 they actually didn't realize that God was working through 227 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,000 Jesus. So if we want to pass it out 228 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,900 that way, they weren't fully culpable of it. 229 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,200 So Jesus actually just giving them a warning. 230 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:36,600 He's not saying they're going to hell. 231 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:38,500 He's just saying all you need to be careful here. 232 00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:44,000 Okay, so whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, Jesus 233 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:48,800 says, he will never have forgiveness, or he is guilty of 234 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:54,700 an eternal sin and eternal sin. This is something that people 235 00:13:54,700 --> 00:13:57,800 really find really hard to accept. 236 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,600 And sometimes called the unforgivable sin, How can there 237 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,200 be a thing such as an unforgivable sin? 238 00:14:06,300 --> 00:14:13,000 So, let's think about it. Jesus is not saying that if you 239 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,700 personally offend God or you personally offend the Holy 240 00:14:16,700 --> 00:14:22,100 Spirit by saying bad things about him, you'll be damned. 241 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:24,700 That's not the point. He's making, he's saying 242 00:14:24,700 --> 00:14:27,300 something more General. He's using this idea of 243 00:14:27,300 --> 00:14:30,400 blasphemy, which they've just done, but he's now making a more 244 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,700 General point about General way that we can blaspheme against 245 00:14:33,700 --> 00:14:36,400 God. And it's this. 246 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:40,300 What Jesus is saying is this if a person dies having seen the 247 00:14:40,300 --> 00:14:44,100 work of God in their life, but they deny that, it's the work of 248 00:14:44,100 --> 00:14:48,200 God, although refused to accept his promptings, then they cut 249 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,800 themselves off from God. Now that's basically the 250 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:54,500 Catholic teaching on salvation. So it's not, it's not that 251 00:14:54,500 --> 00:14:57,500 there's one. How can we put? 252 00:14:57,500 --> 00:14:59,400 It's not that there's one specific thing. 253 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,400 You do one specific sin that you commit in your life and you're 254 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:03,000 done. That's it. 255 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,500 You can never be forgiven. That's not what Jesus is saying. 256 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,100 He's saying there's only one thing that would stop you from 257 00:15:11,300 --> 00:15:13,500 you from entering. The mercy of God from entering 258 00:15:13,500 --> 00:15:17,100 the kingdom of heaven and that is refusing to accept the work 259 00:15:17,100 --> 00:15:19,600 of God. If you refuse to accept the work 260 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,900 of God, then there is no forgiveness to you. 261 00:15:22,900 --> 00:15:25,200 There's no forgiveness available and you can't make it into the 262 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:26,600 kingdom of heaven. So it's a teaching. 263 00:15:26,700 --> 00:15:32,600 On salvation. So notice the language here 264 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,500 talks about all men and eternal life, it doesn't say Pharisees, 265 00:15:36,500 --> 00:15:40,700 you need to know this. It says all all manner of sins 266 00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:42,900 will be forgiven of men. So we're talking about men in 267 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:45,200 general and he mentions the eternal life. 268 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,700 So this is something that's binding permanently. 269 00:15:48,700 --> 00:15:53,000 Jesus is teaching General Christian, theology hear about 270 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:57,500 salvation, And the church, the Catholic church has confirmed 271 00:15:57,500 --> 00:16:00,800 that the principal Jesus lazy out here is still binding today, 272 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:05,400 this is a permanent principal so let me reiterate what that is. 273 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,900 Again, the unforgivable sin is not that if you do one specific 274 00:16:08,900 --> 00:16:12,700 sin that you can never be forgiven in your stuffed up for 275 00:16:12,700 --> 00:16:14,800 the rest of your life, regardless of the good you do, 276 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,400 that's not what Jesus saying. He's saying that there's one 277 00:16:18,700 --> 00:16:23,800 thing that will always be a barrier to you having 278 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:27,600 forgiveness and eternal life. And that one thing is rejecting, 279 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:32,200 the work of God on Earth. so if we have it with that, we keep 280 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,300 that perspective in mind, which is the perspective of the 281 00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:37,500 Catholic church that fits nicely with everything else, we know 282 00:16:37,500 --> 00:16:41,600 about salvation and everything we know about Catholic teaching 283 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,100 in general Verse 30, the last verse here. 284 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,000 Mark tells the readers. This is because they were saying 285 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,200 and unclean spirit is in him. So we need to keep that in mind. 286 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,600 Jesus has given us this teaching in response to the claim of the 287 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,700 scribes that Jesus is possessed by the devil. 288 00:17:00,700 --> 00:17:04,500 So Jesus here. Remember, when Jesus, sort of 289 00:17:04,500 --> 00:17:08,500 response to critics what he generally does is he sort of 290 00:17:08,500 --> 00:17:12,099 disabuse them of their false Notions first, but then he goes 291 00:17:12,099 --> 00:17:17,099 on to make a more serious point. So he's disabuse them of this 292 00:17:17,099 --> 00:17:19,200 false idea that he's possessed by the devil. 293 00:17:19,300 --> 00:17:21,800 But now he's going to make a more serious theological point, 294 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,700 which is and it's this, imagine he's saying this to the fairest 295 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:30,800 to the scribes You need to be careful if you don't change your 296 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,700 mind about this. If you continue to reject the 297 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:36,600 work of God that you've just seen, your will be damned. 298 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:38,500 That's what he's saying. It's a warning. 299 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,700 Okay, it's a warning. Jesus is not saying, since you 300 00:17:41,700 --> 00:17:45,200 have said this, you are damned, he's not saying that he's saying 301 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:50,000 that you need to be careful. You need to re-evaluate this if 302 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,700 you continue to see these things and reject them as the work of 303 00:17:53,700 --> 00:17:56,800 God and you say that were the work of Satan, then you're 304 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,800 blocked from the kingdom of God, because he will not accept the 305 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:03,800 work of God. This General principle applies 306 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,300 to all Humanity today. This is what we as Catholics 307 00:18:06,300 --> 00:18:10,100 would say, who goes to heaven. It's the people who accept the 308 00:18:10,100 --> 00:18:13,200 work of God in their life and they cooperate with it who goes 309 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:15,500 to hell. It's those who reject the work 310 00:18:15,500 --> 00:18:17,800 of God on Earth and in their life. 311 00:18:17,900 --> 00:18:20,600 Life. Now, that will be me 312 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,200 paraphrasing complex, Catholic theology, but I think it's a 313 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:27,800 fair summary. Now, let's have a look at the 314 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,200 catechism passages here. There's a few really interesting 315 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:34,500 ones paragraph 548. There's a description about how 316 00:18:34,500 --> 00:18:39,000 Jesus is accused of being possessed by Satan paragraph. 317 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,200 574 to same thing. It says, Jesus is suspected of 318 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,400 demonic possession. Paragraph 539, I'll read out 319 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,600 this one. It's about Jesus Temptations. 320 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,100 The evangelists indicate. The cell River. 321 00:18:52,100 --> 00:18:54,200 Can meaning of this mysterious event? 322 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:59,000 Jesus is the new Adam, who, Faithful just where the first 323 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,500 Adam had given in to Temptation. Jesus, fulfills, Israel's 324 00:19:03,500 --> 00:19:07,200 vocation perfectly in contrast to those, who would once 325 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,800 provoked, God during 40 years in the desert Christ reveals 326 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,400 himself as God's servant, totally obedient to the Divine 327 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,100 will in this Jesus is the devil's conqueror. 328 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,900 He binds the strong man to take back his plunder. 329 00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:25,400 Jesus victory over the tempter in the desert, anticipates 330 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,700 victory at the passion, the Supreme Act of obedience to his 331 00:19:28,700 --> 00:19:31,200 filial filial. Love for the father. 332 00:19:33,300 --> 00:19:35,200 So, you'll hear that Echo is about binding. 333 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:40,000 The strongman paragraph. 1864 is the one we want to spend the 334 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,800 most time on. This is in the section about 335 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,200 different kinds of sin, mortal and venial sin. 336 00:19:45,900 --> 00:19:48,900 And this paragraph is about the unforgivable sin. 337 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,800 Therefore, I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven 338 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:57,100 men, but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. 339 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,000 There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who 340 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,600 deliberately refuses to accept his Mercy by repenting rejects 341 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,600 the Forgiveness of his sins and the Salvation offered by the 342 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:13,700 Holy Spirit such Hardness of Heart can lead to final 343 00:20:13,700 --> 00:20:19,300 impenitence and eternal loss. So really clear Catholic 344 00:20:19,300 --> 00:20:22,900 teaching their about anyone who deliberately refuses to accept 345 00:20:22,900 --> 00:20:26,500 his Mercy by repenting rejects the Forgiveness of his sins and 346 00:20:26,500 --> 00:20:28,600 the Salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. 347 00:20:31,100 --> 00:20:34,200 Now I want to read out a bit of an extended chord here because 348 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,300 this paragraph that we just write out 1864. 349 00:20:37,300 --> 00:20:40,500 The catechism is largely informed by an encyclical 350 00:20:40,900 --> 00:20:44,000 written by Pope John Paul. The second called a problem that 351 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,200 probably not going to pronounce this right Domina mitzvah. 352 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:49,400 Vivek antem. That's the Latin. 353 00:20:49,500 --> 00:20:51,100 And it's the English title of that. 354 00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:55,600 Encyclical is on the holy spirit in the life of the church and 355 00:20:55,600 --> 00:21:00,000 the world. Now, I want to read you a 356 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,500 paragraph 46 because this is where the teaching of the 357 00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:05,800 Catholic Church on what the unforgivable sin is, is 358 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:07,400 explained here in this encyclical. 359 00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:10,200 So, if what I've said so far hasn't made sense. 360 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,000 Hopefully this will help clarify it and certainly, you know, I 361 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:18,700 don't have any authority to Proclaim Catholic teaching, but 362 00:21:18,700 --> 00:21:20,700 the pope does. And so I think it's well worth 363 00:21:20,700 --> 00:21:24,300 listening to him. Describe how we should 364 00:21:24,300 --> 00:21:28,900 understand the unforgivable sin. So this is paragraph 46 from 365 00:21:28,900 --> 00:21:30,600 Pope John Paul. The second in the cyclical. 366 00:21:31,500 --> 00:21:34,800 Why is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit unforgivable? 367 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,200 How should this blasphemy? Be understood st. 368 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,400 Thomas Aquinas replies. That it is a question of a sin 369 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:46,100 that is unforgivable by its very nature, insofar as it excludes 370 00:21:46,100 --> 00:21:49,300 the elements, through which the forgiveness of sin takes place. 371 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,700 According to such an exegesis blasphemy, does not properly 372 00:21:53,700 --> 00:21:56,300 consists in offending against the Holy Spirit. 373 00:21:56,500 --> 00:22:00,500 In words, it consists rather in the refusal, to accept the 374 00:22:00,500 --> 00:22:03,800 Salvation, which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, 375 00:22:04,100 --> 00:22:05,900 working through the power of the cross. 376 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,400 If man rejects the convincing concerning sin, which comes from 377 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,100 the Holy Spirit and which has the power to save, he also 378 00:22:14,100 --> 00:22:17,500 rejects the coming of the counselor that coming which was 379 00:22:17,500 --> 00:22:21,000 accomplished in the Paschal mystery in Union, with a 380 00:22:21,008 --> 00:22:24,600 Redemptive power of Christ's blood the blood, which purifies 381 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:29,100 the conscience from dead works. We know that the result of such 382 00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:31,500 a purification is the Forgiveness of sins. 383 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,900 Therefore, whoever rejects the spirit and the blood remains in 384 00:22:35,900 --> 00:22:36,600 dead. Works. 385 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,100 In sin and the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit consists 386 00:22:41,100 --> 00:22:44,000 precisely in the radical refusal, to accept this 387 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,500 forgiveness of which he is the intimate giver and which 388 00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:50,900 presupposes the genuine conversion which he brings about 389 00:22:50,900 --> 00:22:54,200 in the conscience. If Jesus says that blasphemy 390 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,100 against the Holy Spirit, cannot be forgiven, either in this life 391 00:22:57,100 --> 00:23:01,200 or in the next, it is, because this non forgiveness is linked 392 00:23:01,300 --> 00:23:04,000 as to its cause to non repentance. 393 00:23:04,700 --> 00:23:07,800 In other words to the radical refuse, To be converted. 394 00:23:08,700 --> 00:23:11,500 Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then is the sin 395 00:23:11,500 --> 00:23:15,000 committed by the person who claims to have a right to 396 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,500 persist in evil in any sin at all and who thus rejects 397 00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:25,200 Redemption, one closes oneself up in sin thus making impossible 398 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:29,500 ones conversion and consequently the remission of sins which one 399 00:23:29,500 --> 00:23:33,200 considers not essential or not important for one's life. 400 00:23:34,300 --> 00:23:37,600 This is a state of spiritual ruin because blasphemy against 401 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,900 the Holy Spirit does not allow one to escape. 402 00:23:40,900 --> 00:23:44,800 From one self-imposed imprisonment, an open oneself to 403 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:48,800 the Divine sources of the purification of consciences and 404 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:53,400 of the remission of sins. so, that's the end of the Court 405 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:58,100 there, from Pope John Paul the second So I'll put all these 406 00:23:58,900 --> 00:24:01,700 paragraphs or catechism courts and the Pope John Paul, the 407 00:24:01,700 --> 00:24:06,000 second Court in the show notes, and this is one of those 408 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,700 passages that needs to be read a few times and perhaps analyzed a 409 00:24:09,700 --> 00:24:13,100 few times. So, if you think you got the 410 00:24:13,100 --> 00:24:15,900 basics of what I've said but you want to listen to it again, 411 00:24:15,900 --> 00:24:17,500 that's probably not a bad thing to do. 412 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:20,400 Thanks for listening. Hope you learned something new 413 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,200 about demon possession and the unforgivable sin. 414 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,700 And if you think others will benefit from hearing this 415 00:24:27,700 --> 00:24:30,600 podcast as well, others who might wonder about the 416 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:34,300 unforgivable sin, then please consider sharing this podcast 417 00:24:34,300 --> 00:24:36,400 with them. Thanks for listening.