Genesis 3:8-15 New Revised
Standard Version (NRSV)
8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the
garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9
But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He
said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked; and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have
you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said,
“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I
ate.” 13 Then theLORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” 14 The LORD God said to
the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are
you among all animals
and among
all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you
shall eat
all the days
of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between
your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will
strike his heel.”
Mark 3:19b-30
Then he went home; 20 and the crowd came together
again, so that they could not even eat. 21 When his family heard it, they went
out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem
said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”
23 And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan
cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot
stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able
to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he
cannot stand, but his end has come. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s
house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then
indeed the house can be plundered.
28 “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for
their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of
an eternal sin”— 30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
I love this story that has
been going around the Internet lately.
The first time I read this I
thought, “only in Florida,”
but to be honest this story is so crazy it could have happened anywhere.
I’ll read it to you as it
came to me, and some of you have probably seen this…
“A married couple in Florida, Tito and Amanda
Watts, were arrested a few days ago for selling “golden tickets to heaven” to
hundreds of people.
“They sold the tickets on the
street for $99.99 per ticket, told buyers the tickets were made from solid
gold, and that each ticket reserved the buyer a spot in heaven — simply present
the ticket at the pearly gates and you’re in.
“Tito Watts said in his
police statement: "I don’t care what the police say. The tickets are solid
gold… And it was Jesus who give them to me behind the KFC and said to sell them
so I could get me some money to go to outer space. I met an alien named Stevie
who said if I got the cash together he’d take me and my wife on his flying
saucer to his planet that’s made entirely of drugs. You should arrest Jesus
because he’s the one that gave me the golden tickets and said to sell them. I’m
willing to wear a wire and set Jesus up...."
“Amanda Watts said in her
police statement: "We just wanted to leave earth and go to space and do
drugs. I didn’t do nothing. Tito sold the golden tickets to heaven. I just
watched."
“Police said they confiscated
over $10,000 in cash, drug paraphernalia, and a baby alligator.”
Now I hate to say it folks,
but that story is not true. A simple
search on Snopes.com reveals this whole story is made up.
But it is still a good story.
It’s a really good story,
complete with religion, baby alligators, and an alien named Stevie behind the
KFC. There is something about this story
that is so bizarre that it becomes believable.
Jump over to the New
Testament lesson from Mark and what do you have.
You have Jesus. And he is not selling forgiveness for $99.99
but he is giving it away free of charge.
And the people don’t know what to think, so not knowing what to think,
they start believing the craziest things.
This business of God
forgiving people, and people learning how to forgive each other, is so crazy
that people can’t handle the truth.
Listen to what Mark says in
his gospel. “When his family heard it,
they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his
mind.”
It is a shame that Mark is
such a short Gospel. I would love to
have more detail here, but all Mark says is “They tried to restrain him.”
I want to know how they did
that. Did try to lock him in the
closet? Did they tie him up? Did they chain him hand and foot?
But the fact is, they were
worried about Jesus. They thought,
according to Mark, “He has gone out of his mind.”
Now every family has one of
those relatives – you know – the crazy one.
It may be your uncle, cousin, or even your Daddy. And if you can’t figure out which one is the
crazy relative, chances are, it’s you!
And now the family of Joseph
and Mary suddenly think that Jesus is the crazy one of the family.
After all, this comes early
in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus has just
recently started his ministry and gathered his disciples. I suppose that Mary certainly remembered the
birth of her son, the angels, the wise men, and the star in the sky – but then
again all that was 30 years ago. The
memory has faded. It was a hectic time,
you know, giving birth to a child in a barn.
Now that Jesus starts up his ministry it is easy to believe Jesus has
gone out of his mind.
After all – who in their
right mind would believe that God would forgive us?
It is easier to believe Jesus
is crazy – or to believe some story about an alien named Stevie behind the KFC.
The scribes go one step further. The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said Jesus is
possessed of the king of demons.
After all – who in their
right mind would believe that God would forgive us?
It is easier to believe Jesus
is possessed by demons – or to believe some story about some husband and wife
selling golden tickets to heaven for $99.99 each.
It was the writer C.S. Lewis
in his book Mere Christianity who pointed out that there are only three
possible things you can believe about Jesus.
In the words of C.S. Lewis,
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be
a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man
who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the Devil of Hell.”
It has to be one or the other
– either nuts or the Devil himself – or, the one and only other
possibility. He is who he said he was,
the Son of God. For C.S. Lewis, one
cannot straddle the fence and say that Jesus was a good man or a great teacher
– that doesn’t fly. You have to either
believe that he is who he said he is, or he is just plain nuts or in cahoots
with the Devil.
After all – who in their
right mind would believe that God would forgive you?
Over in Genesis there is a
drama about guilt and the need for forgiveness.
Adam and Eve are walking in
the Garden, and they are hiding. They
have committed some grave sin and they are afraid to be in the presence of
God.
It is an interesting
story. Genesis puts it this way, “Adam
and Eve heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of
the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
Which is a strange thing for
God to say – it’s not like he doesn’t see all and know all. It’s as if God is playing along with their
little game.
“Where are you,” and Adam
said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked; and I hid myself.”
Another strange thing because
up until now Adam has been completely naked his whole life.
But it is not a physical
nakedness. Not anymore. It’s a spiritual nakedness. Everything in his life is exposed. Everything is out there in the open.
There is no hiding anything
from God.
Shame.
Guilt.
Fear.
Why don’t we find it easy to
believe that Jesus will forgive?
Because we know the depth of
our guilt.
We may clothe ourselves in
denial, or try to hide our spiritual nakedness from being exposed, but the
guilt is there.
There is in this Sanctuary an
adulterer who believes his secret is safe, but from time to time he hears the
stirring of God moving in his life, and he is afraid of being found out.
There is in this Sanctuary
the young adult who has failed to honor his mother and his father as the Ten
Commandments require. It has been years
since words with the parents were shared.
What divided them and poisoned a relationship between parent and child
has become a rusty memory – old and faded.
But from time to time the stirring of God can be heard and there is fear
that the parent may die before the ancient wounds can be healed and the
relationship restored.
There is in this Sanctuary
the young person who bullies another.
The heart is filled with hate and anger and jealousy. Or perhaps it started with what was believed
to be innocent teasing. Or perhaps it
was just something everyone was doing to this one poor soul. But from time to time there is the stirring
of God in the heart and there is a haunting fear that the one who is being
bullied might be pushed over the edge into a sea of self destruction and
suicide. How would one deal with that
kind of guilt?
There is in this Sanctuary a
person who has caused hurt and pain in another’s life. There is a racist sitting in a nearby
pew. There is an embezzler who so easily
justifies every theft from work. There
is the gossip – what’s the big deal in that – it is just a person’s reputation
at stake.
We are guilty, and we walk
through life thinking we can hide. Our
naked sins will not be exposed. But when
we feel the stirring of God in our lives we are afraid of judgment.
And here comes Jesus with the
crazy notion that he will forgive us for our sins – forgiving whatever we have
done. Giving us an opportunity for a new
life – a new, and improved life.
And this is not some golden
ticket being sold for $99.99 by some alien from another planet named Stevie
hanging out in back of the KFC. This is
Jesus, and he is serious.
Everything can be forgiven.
Well, wait a minute. There is that fine print.
In Mark, we read that Jesus
said, “I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies
they utter; 29 but “ and here comes the
fine print… “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have
forgiveness.”
Uh oh!
I wonder who in this
sanctuary is guilty of that one?
And what is that one anyway?
What is this unforgivable
sin?
Well, it is found in the
context of the reading from Mark.
“whoever blasphemes against
the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal
sin”— because they had said, “Jesus has
an unclean spirit.”
That is the unforgivable sin
– to reject the forgiveness from Jesus.
Centuries ago St. Augustine put it more
eloquently, “He who dies in a state of obstinancy is guilty of the sin against
the Holy Spirit.” (Augustine,
"Enchiridion," lxxxiii.)
John Calvin put it this way,
“They sin against the Holy Spirit who, with evil intention, resist God’s truth,
although by its brightness they are so touched that they cannot claim
ignorance. Such resistance alone
constitutes this sin.” (Institutes, III,
III, 22)
Or to put it more simply, the
only unforgivable sin is when a rational mind thoughtfully and deliberately
turns down God’s offer of forgiveness.
A person who is irrational,
suffering from deep depression, even to the state of being suicidal, is unable
to rationally turn down God’s offer of forgiveness and therefore cannot be
guilty of this unforgiveable sin.
It is difficult to believe
that anyone in a clear mind would turn down the offer of God’s
forgiveness. But if that is possible,
then that alone would become the unforgiveable sin.
So … Jesus is offering
forgiveness – not at $99.99 per ticket – but free of charge.
It’s up to you.
Accept this forgiveness – and
you have forgiveness.
Reject this forgiveness – and
you don’t have forgiveness.
So – what’s it going to
be?
Are you going to hide like
some naked Adam and Eve in the shadows of the world?
Or are you going to bask in
the light of the Son of God and live as forgiven people?
Copyright 2015.
Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved
Ministers may feel free to use some or all of this sermon in their own
ministries as long as they do not publish in print or on the Internet without
ascribing credit to the author.
