DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Saint Mark 3:28-35
(9/8-9/21)
Thursday of the Thirteenth Week after Pentecost
Jesus Christ As Judge: Saint Mark 3:28-35, especially
vss. 29, 35: “...he who blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal
condemnation....whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and
mother.” In today’s Gospel, for the first time in Saint Mark,
the Lord Jesus focuses on Divine judgment.
To this point, the Evangelist reveals the Lord Jesus as the Savior of mankind, He Who casts out the minions of Satan and heals all
forms of bodily and spiritual sickness for those who come to Him for
deliverance.
Early in Saint Mark’s Gospel one perceives that men
were in the process of forming various conclusions about the Lord - some
following Him and learning from Him, others repudiating Him because of darkened
reasoning. Out of their spiritual
disorder, men judged God. At this
point in the text, to correct men, God Incarnate addressed them concerning
their ultimate judgment: there will be eternal condemnation as well as familial
affection and warmth in the kingdom of God. He Who will
judge the living and the dead now continues His pursuit of salvation for all
men, even as He reveals that men’s present actions have eternal
consequences.
In Saint Mark 3:28, the Lord discloses the scope of
God’s forgiveness - a salvation expansive and inclusive beyond human
imagination. Repentance is assumed,
even though the Lord does not mention it, for He desires that all should hasten
to the mercy of God (Ps. 33:9,10). No sin remains outside the pale of what
God will forgive - no unspeakable wickedness, not even blasphemy against God
Himself. No man is unforgivable. Listen to the Lord as He shatters the
black despair of any wretched sinner!
Though God does not remove the consequences of our wrongs,
let us note that He does assure us of His forgiveness. The good thief would die on the cross,
but also would enter Paradise because He cried out to Christ to remember
him. In the same vein, the Holy
Fathers teach that despair of forgiveness is foreign to God. Saint Peter of Damaskos
says flatly, “Even if you are not what you should be, you should not
despair. It is bad enough that you
have sinned; why in addition do you wrong God by regarding Him in your
ignorance as powerless....He will receive your repentance....”
The Lord Jesus, having stated that God’s salvation is
boundless, next reveals that God does not forbid forgiveness to those who set
themselves firmly to disdain His mercy (vs. 29). Rather, He honors human freedom. It is their choice. The Lord does ‘not’ say that
he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit ‘will never have
forgiveness,’ for such a statement would deny what He just said (vs.
28). Rather, in saying that
“he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit ‘never has’
forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation,” the Lord is
declaring that salvation is impossible for one who steadfastly maintains that
the work of the Holy Spirit is evil or satanic. Sin and evil are not of the Lord, but
may reside in or dominate us. Be
attentive!
Can you repent of blasphemy? Of course! Sadly, men bring eternal condemnation
upon themselves. The Lord chose His
wording in Mk. 3:29 as His response to the scribes’ claim that His
exorcisms were the work of unclean spirits, rather than the work of God (Mk.
3:22).
The Lord’s concluding comments about His extended
family underscore the part each of us plays in his or her own
salvation (vss. 31-35). We reveal a
true membership in His family by cooperating with Divine salvation and striving
to do ‘the will of God’ (vs. 35). The Lord’s initiative is the
essential grace that enables us to do ‘...the will of God...’ as
the example of the Theotokos illustrates. As we do God’s will, then we have a basis for saying, “Our Father.”
Help us; save us; have mercy upon us; and keep us, O God by
Thy grace.
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