Road Rage and the Unforgivable

(If you’d like to listen along…Sermon starts at 12:20)

“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin”—  for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” - Mark 3

I remember as a church kid being very puzzled by the idea that there was only one sin that was “unforgivable”…and that it was blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Let’s just say I remember asking my Sunday School teacher some follow up questions the day.  They informed me that blaspheming the holy spirit meant saying the Holy Spirit doesn’t really exist.

Apparently you could talk smack about the Father and the Son till the cows come home but the Holy Spirit is like, the super sensitive member of the trinity, or something.

Like seriously, you could commit murder and torture kittens and even say horrible things about Dolly Parton and you could be forgiven, but if you say The. Holy. Spirit. Is not real. – if you say those 6 words in that order it was like our version of the CRUCIATUS curse. Unforgivable. Eternal damnation.

Which made very little sense to me.  Also I was terrified of like, accidently saying it and spending eternity in hell.

So all week long I kept looking at our Gospel text about Jesus saying that all sins can be forgiven except blasphemy against the holy spirit which is an eternal sin and wondering what in the world to say to us today.

And as I read our passage in Mark 3, I glanced up and saw that the 6 words that come right before our reading are these: “and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him”.

I can’t say for sure that we are meant to connect the two passages, but having seen Judas’ name while thinking about what constitutes an unforgivable sin, I couldn’t unsee it and I found myself wondering not for the first time: was Judas’ betrayal of Jesus unforgivable?

I can’t imagine that’s true -  I mean, when it comes down to it, why is it that Judas who betrayed Jesus one time is unforgivable and Peter who denied Jesus three times the same day is the rock on whom the church is built? I’ve written about this elsewhere, but the only difference I see between Judas and Peter isn't that their sins were qualitatively different, the difference is that one stayed around to see his story change and one didn’t. I feel like the under reported tragedy of Judas’ story is that he didn’t get to experience the God who raised Jesus from the grave…he never got to hear the resurrected Christ speak about peace and forgiveness of sins. Judas did not get to experience the defeat of sin and death revealed in the breaking of the bread.  Our brother Judas.

The other thing we don’t seem to talk about much, is how convenient it must have been for the disciples to have Judas to blame when in fact, every single one of them failed Jesus that night. But since what Judas did was worse, they could easily use it for cover for any of their own minor infractions– they could hide all their smaller betrayals behind his big one.

Let’s be honest with each other. We love this kind of thing don’t we? It’s such a relief when someone comes along who is so conspicuously worse than we are because we get to collectively place all our secret icky feelings about ourselves onto them and point and say “how DARE they”. Historically speaking it’s unbeatable for creating social cohesion too.  When we can all agree who the REAL problem is, we get to bond over it while sweeping our own hardly worth mentioning very minor sins under the shadow of someone else’s big sin.  It’s super effective.

I thought of that yesterday when I was driving on Colorado Blvd and witnessed an epic display of road rage. Two drivers angrily cutting each other off until they were stopped next to each other at a light, windows rolled down yelling when finally the one guy threw his can of soda and several other unidentifiable objects at the other car. I was like, how DARE he? This is what’s wrong with this city.

Then I quickly remembered my own very worst moment behind the wheel.  It’s shameful and I don’t really want to admit the details but let’s just say it was rush hour in downtown Denver and involved me laying on the horn, and screaming at the driver in front of me who was blocking the left turn lane making me sit through 3 cycles of lights when I was late for the theater just because they wanted to merge back onto 15^th and not turn left.

They eventually did turn left but not until – again…not proud of this, I got out of my car to yell at the person.

It was irretrievably stupid of me. And fortunately also has been washed in the blood of the lamb amen.

But what are the odds that shame about my own behavior in some way fueled my moment of outrage about the guy yesterday?

Fortunately my second thought after, how DARE he was Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on me a sinner. And I was reminded again of how Richard Rohr says that anyone who has received real mercy, real grace, is no longer in the position of getting to decide who the so called deserving poor are. For it is all of us.

And yeah, we are free to quietly sweep all our little sins under the rug on which  the capital R capital S Real Sinner stands, but then we miss out on the freedom that comes from the work of the spirit in confession and absolution. We miss out on the freedom that comes from the work of the Spirit that is reconciliation between two broken down people. We miss out on the freedom that comes from the work of the Spirit that brings forgiveness.

If Judas was considered unforgivable, by himself or his community, doesn’t that itself feels like blasphemy against the Holy Spirit whose work among us has always been that of restoration and reconciliation?

Maybe that’s what Jesus was talking about here. He was calling out the religious authorities who fancied themselves gatekeepers of God’s Mercy. Jesus speaks about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in the context of those who would have us believe that a) they themselves are of course never in need of God’s mercy and b) there is a limit to how and where and for whom God’s mercy applies to others.

Jesus makes the charge of blasphemy against those spiritual insurance adjusters who would have you believe that you do not meet the conditions for the Spirit’s coverage. That your pre-existing condition will keep you from the healing you need.

We don’t even really need “Scribes and Pharisees” around for this to happen, by the way. I mean, what about we who can manage forgiveness for everyone but ourselves? Are we not also saying a polite no thank you to the spirit’s work in us?

My older sister called me out on this once.

I was giving myself a real beating over a mistake I had made. I just couldn’t let it go. She asked if I would extend grace to a friend who has made the same error. And I was like, no question about it. Of course. But not to yourself? She asked. And I just shook my head. But I should know better. I replied.

Uh-huh, She said, Well, that’s not humility baby. That’s just pride.

How sad when we would rather be subjugated by pride than be freed by grace.

I cannot claim to know what may have kept forgiveness out of your own life. Maybe you believe that you don't really need it. Or maybe you believe that you don’t really deserve it. I do not know what you may have withheld from yourself or others because of a misguided notion about worthiness, I do not know how others may have scapegoated you, or how you may have transferred your own guilt into blame.  But I do know that your demons are no match for his terrible mercy.

I do know that our Lord went to great lengths to heal the sick and set the prisoner free and he wouldn’t shut up about forgiveness.

And friends, let us not forget that in his death and resurrection he put an end to the human competition extravaganza, by establishing a new humanity in which there is no ranking system, no grading on a curve, no extra credit to be had. Because when there is mercy and forgiveness of sins in his name, the role of scapegoats is made obsolete. We need not see anyone else as our competition or as a basis of comparison. And there is nowhere to cast blame when we have nothing to hide and nothing to fear.

As for the really bad sinners…Judas and all our precious villains who we love to have around so we can look good in contrast, Jesus does have a policy for them. But it’s not cancelling them or casting them out. Anyone that far gone, our Lord goes to find. Lost coins of great value. While we are condemning anyone even slightly more guilty than ourselves, he is on his hands and knees scouring the floors of this Earth to reclaim them. And us.

Amen.