This coming Sunday is the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time. After having reduced the scribal accusations to empty words and without waiting for a response from the Scribes, Jesus takes the argument to its logical next step. Having argued that the source of his irresistible power is not of Satan, one should only be able conclude that the source is from God – and this brings the scribes and others to a pivot point: it is time to decide and declare from whence comes the power Jesus is using in the world. Jesus simply tells them the consequences for choosing wrongly: 28 Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.29 But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”30 For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Lane points out an interesting aspect of the use of the word “Amen.” He notes:

“Verse 28 provides the first instance of the recurring formula of introduction, ‘Amen, I say unto you …’, which in the NT is strictly limited to the sayings of Jesus. His use of ‘Amen’ to introduce and endorse his own words is without analogy in the whole of Jewish literature and in the remainder of the NT. According to idiomatic Jewish usage ‘Amen’ was regularly used to affirm, approve, or appropriate the words of another person, even in those few instances where it occurs at the head of a phrase (1 Kings 1:36; Jer. 11:5; 28:6; M. Soṭah II. 5). Jesus’ practice of prefacing his words with an ‘Amen’ to strengthen the solemn affirmation which follows introduced a completely new manner of speaking. ‘Amen’ denotes that his words are reliable and true because he is totally committed to do and speak the will of God. As such, the Amen-formulation is not only a highly significant characteristic of Jesus’ speech, but a Christological affirmation: Jesus is the true witness of God.”

What follows this “Amen” is a verse that is fraught with uncertainty about the nature of the “unforgivable sin” – blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. One only needs to query the internet to see that there are over 1.5 million instances of efforts to explain what Jesus meant. Underlying the search is a person’s desire to know if they have committed the one sin for which there is no possibility of forgiveness. William Lane offers what I found to be the most thoughtful and complete discussion of these three verses:

Jesus affirms that all the sins of men are open to forgiveness, with one fearful exception. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit forever removes a man beyond the sphere where forgiveness is possible. This solemn warning must be interpreted in the light of the specific situation in which it was uttered. Blasphemy is an expression of defiant hostility toward God. The scribes were thoroughly familiar with this concept under the rubric “the profanation of the Name,” which generally denoted speech which defies God’s power and majesty. The scribal tradition considered blasphemy no less seriously than did Jesus. “The Holy One, blessed be he, pardons everything else, but on profanation of the Name [i.e. blasphemy] he takes vengeance immediately.” This is the danger to which the scribes exposed themselves when they attributed to the agency of Satan the redemption brought by Jesus. The expulsion of demons was a sign of the intrusion of the Kingdom of God. Yet the scribal accusations against Jesus amount to a denial of the power and greatness of the Spirit of God. By assigning the action of God to a demonic origin the scribes betray a perversion of spirit which, in defiance of the truth, chooses to call light darkness. In this historical context, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit denotes the conscious and deliberate rejection of the saving power and grace of God released through Jesus’ word and act. Jesus’ action in releasing men from demonic possession was a revelation of the Kingdom of God which called for decision. Yet his true dignity remained veiled, and the failure of the scribes to recognize him as the Bearer of the Spirit and the Conqueror of Satan could be forgiven. The considered judgment that his power was demonic, however, betrayed a defiant resistance to the Holy Spirit. This severe warning was not addressed to laymen but to carefully trained legal specialists whose task was to interpret the biblical Law to the people. It was their responsibility to be aware of God’s redemptive action. Their insensitivity to the Spirit through whom Jesus was qualified for his mission exposed them to grave peril. Their own tradition condemned their gross callousness as sharply as Jesus’ word. The admonition concerning blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not to be divorced from this historical context and applied generally. Mark emphasizes this by terminating the incident with a reference to the specific accusation that Jesus was possessed by an unclean spirit. The use of the imperfect tense of the verb in the explanatory note, “because they were saying that he is possessed,” implies repetition and a fixed attitude of mind, the tokens of callousness which brought the scribes to the brink of unforgivable blasphemy.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, as part of the words of absolution, the priest says: “God, the Father of Mercy, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has poured the Holy Spirit into the world for the forgiveness of sin…”  It seems to me that the Scribes, willfully blind, have refused the only way of forgiveness that God has provided. So, how can there be forgiveness? The blasphemy is to hold that the Spirit (and thus the Power of God in the world) cannot forgive sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church offers a succinct view on this passage:

“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss (CCC 1864).

Image credit: “Mocking of Christ” by Ciambue | 1280 |Louvre, Paris | PD-US