Wednesday 05 October 2022

Psalm 73:1-14

Background

How did he do that?

This question is at the heart of today's story of healing and subsequent controversy. And it is not idle speculation. People’s lives and circumstances are being dramatically and decisively transformed by Jesus, so much so that only the language of spiritual powers and ultimate authority seems to do justice to what he is doing and who he is.

The accusation that Jesus' opponents level at him is that malevolent forces are the source of his actions: what makes it possible for him to control and change the destructive and dark aspects of human experience. Beelzebul was a kind of slang-name for the arch-demon, or the devil. The word literally means ‘lord of the flies’ or ‘lord of filth’.

The alternative, of course, was that the source of Jesus’ capacity to change lives so utterly was the power of God. And if God is acknowledged to be the source of Jesus’ actions, then it must follow that God is at work in Jesus’ radical vision: his calling of outcasts; his reversals of who and what matter in God’s eyes.

Jesus’ opponents are questioning not just this healing, but everything he was doing. They are suggesting that the power and spirit behind all his words and actions are dark and demonic in an attempt to undermine him and turn people away.

Jesus points out the logical contradiction in their suggestion: why would the forces of darkness and destruction undo their own work, in healing and setting people free? But it is Jesus’ final warning which has often worried people: the possibility of an ‘unforgivable sin’ against the Holy Spirit (v. 32). Bible scholar Tom Wright offers a helpful perspective here. It’s important to keep the warning in its context, he says. If his opponents are suggesting that the transforming work of God is the work of the devil, Jesus’ warning is not that they won’t be forgiven, but that they can’t. They have cut themselves off from the source and possibility of forgiveness, which is part of the work of God’s kingdom. 

To Ponder:

• Are you troubled by the possibility that Jesus seems to raise in the story of an 'unforgivable' sin?  If so, why is that?
• Do you think Tom Wright is correct to suggest that human beings have the power ultimately to shut themselves off from God, so that they can't be forgiven? 

First published in 2019.