Gospel Reflection for The 22nd day of January in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
Mark 3:22-30
22 And the scribes who were come down from Jerusalem, said: He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils he casteth out devils. 23 And after he had called them together, he said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan be risen up against himself, he is divided, and cannot stand, but hath an end. 27 No man can enter into the house of a strong man and rob him of his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then shall he plunder his house. 28 Amen I say to you, that all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and the blasphemies wherewith they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin. 30 Because they said: He hath an unclean spirit.
Today’s Gospel should serve as a grave warning, but few understand it. Why would this “sin against the Holy Spirit,” be unforgivable? Well, the religious Jews had been awaiting the Messiah for thousands of years. Now, He stood in their midst. He performed every sign that the prophets had told would signify the Christ. God, Himself was before them. Yet, they were unwilling to believe and attributed His power to Satan. The Bible tells us that salvation comes through Jesus. Before His incarnation, the Jews had Him in the Word of God. Now, they were rejecting both the Holy Scriptures and God, Himself. They knew the Commandment, “Thou shall have no Gods before me.” But, they were making gods of their own opinions, their judgments and their interpretation of the Law. What is most surprising is that it is believed that many who did so knew that Jesus was the Christ and knowingly committed this unforgivable sin because He threatened their power and position.
That seems almost unfathomable, doesn’t it? Yet, when Martin Luther rejected the Church instituted by God, he admitted to doing the same. He wrote that Jesus appeared to him in a dream and told him that He had given His authority to Saint Peter and that that authority remained in the Catholic Church. He also admitted that his denial of the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist and his vehement attacks against the Eucharist were inspired by Satan. Further he changed the very words of Jesus in the Bible to suit his doctrine and when asked by what authority he did so, he said the only authority he recognized was his own. Luther set himself up as his own god and committed the same sin against the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, millions of Protestants do not know the truth about Luther and have been taught to hate the Catholic Church.
That said, this passage is also a warning for us. Any time we reject Catholic teaching and hold our own beliefs as superior, we commit the same sin, that is indeed unforgivable unless we reject our opinions and submit to the Truth. That Truth is guaranteed by our Lord in the teachings and doctrine of His Church. Jesus went so far as to say, “those who hear you hear me and those who reject you reject Him who sent me.” This should be impetus for an examination of conscience…. Do I fully accept the Church’s teachings on marriage, contraception, homosexuality, abortion, greed, gossip, etc., etc. If we sin through our own ignorance and weakness, forgiveness is easy because contrition is natural. If we maintain that a sin is okay because we place our opinions as a higher authority than God and His Church, that is a mortal sin that if not corrected will kill the soul.
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.