Community Bible Study -- LUKE Community Bible Study -- LUKE
Text of Luke 12:1-53 Presentation, Lesson 12
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The Unforgivable Sin; Preparing for Jesus' 2nd
Coming; Jesus the Divider
I've gotten lots of questions about the
unforgivable sin in this session . . . and lots of questions
about Jesus as a "divider" rather than a
"unifier." I hope to do it justice today.
The issue of the unforgivable sin must be understood in context,
as with everything in the bible. In our last session, Jesus
harangued the Pharisees for their sin of hypocrisy. He said
"Woe to you Pharisees" six times as he detailed this
sin: they follow the letter of the oral law, but enforce their
rules so strictly that they violate the spirit of God's law (cf
Mk 7:13). Jesus says they will be punished severely by God!
In today's lesson, Jesus continues this theme. He warns of the
"the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy"
(12:1). Yeast of course is the live fungus culture that ferments
dough and causes bread to rise. A little yeast quickly ferments a
large batch of dough. In the New Testament, yeast is typically a
symbol of evil . . . as in this case, the hypocrisy of the
Pharisees. The problem is that the Jews believe the Pharisees
point the way to God. Pharisees seem so pious, with their
rigorous attention to the rules of the oral law. They exude
self-assurance and confidence, giving the impression they know
God's will precisely. They are "often in error, but never in
doubt" . . . like super-fundamentalist, legalistic churches
popular today because they offer a "guaranteed formula for
salvation." But Jesus says they are "yeast,"
corrupting true worship of God.
Yet Jesus assures us that, although the Pharisees play their role
so well, their hypocrisy will eventually be exposed: "There
is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that
will not be made known" (12:2). The Pharisees can't pull off
their act forever.
And Jesus tells his followers not to fear persecution from people
like the Pharisees: they can only "kill the body and after
that can do no more" (12:4). Jesus says to fear God,
"who . . . has power to throw you into hell" (12:5).
Even if most people are fooled by the Pharisees' hypocrisy, God
isn't. And God is not only all-powerful, God is also all knowing
. . . right down to the most minute details of what happens to
every common bird and every hair on our heads (12:6-7).
That leads in to the main point:
"Whoever acknowledges (Jesus) before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns (Jesus) before men will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven" (12:8-10).
Does this mean it's OK to say bad things about
Jesus . . . but not about the Holy Spirit (12:10)? Not exactly.
Those who "disown (Jesus) before men will be disowned before
. . . God" at the time of judgment; but they can repent and
be saved. A challenge of Jesus' Messianic credentials is really a
question of Bible interpretation, for which men like Saul of
Tarsus saw their error and repented. Saul's dramatic encounter
with the risen Jesus while en route to persecute Christians
turned him into Paul the Apostle. But "blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit" is somehow different; it cannot be forgiven --
ever (Matt 12:32).
What is "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit"? A
dictionary defines blasphemy as:
1. A contemptuous or profane act, utterance, or writing
concerning God.
2. The act of claiming for oneself the attributes and rights of
God.
Let's look the 2nd definition first. The Jewish Sanhedrin judged
Jesus guilty of blasphemy for claiming he was God (Matt 26:65,
Mark 14:63-64). We might argue Pharisees commit blasphemy by
claiming the oral law is the will of God . . . when it's really
just "rules taught by men" (Mark 7:7-8); but how would
this blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
How about the 1st definition? Have the Pharisees committed a
contemptuous or profane act or utterance against the Holy Spirit?
To the contrary, they are scrupulous to avoid that -- or any
appearance of it! If they are guilty in this way, we must dig
deeper.
So let's look at a definition of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to
follow Jesus' advice to Nicodemus (cf John 3:8) and avoid putting
the Holy Spirit in a box . . . but we know when prophets speak on
behalf of God, they do so through the power of the Holy Spirit;
and since Pentecost, the empowerment of Christians to carry on
the work of Jesus comes from the Holy Spirit in their hearts; and
even for Jesus: the Holy Spirit came upon him at his baptism
(3:22), and he left "full of the Holy Spirit" (4:1).
Hence it seems the Holy Spirit is the power of God within us . .
. and that whenever man does God's work on earth, the Holy Spirit
is at work.
With all this in mind . . . in what way might the Pharisees
commit a contemptuous or profane act or utterance against the
Holy Spirit? The Pharisees have just accused Jesus of driving out
demons through the power of Satan. If Jesus really casts out
demons with God's power through the power of the Holy Spirit, the
Pharisees are saying the Holy Spirit is Satan. That would indeed
be the blasphemy of a "contemptuous utterance" against
the Holy Spirit. So the unforgivable sin is to attribute the work
of the Holy Spirit to Satan. This makes me think of radical
Moslems, charging certain Christian world leaders as being
"The Great Satan.".
Jesus goes on to elaborate about the Holy Spirit as the
empowering agent for man to do God's work. Last week I skipped
over discussion of 11:13 . . . the verse in which Jesus implies
the greatest gift God the "super father" can give to us
his children is the Holy Spirit. That verse foreshadows the
coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost . . . and 12:12 is
similar, because Jesus says believers called upon to defend
themselves during persecution will receive the right words at
just the right time from the Holy Spirit, In fact, with the early
church through the 3rd century, the witness of believers during
persecution served to bring in more believers - until the Roman
Empire relented and adopted Christianity.
The next sections are the Parable of the Rich Fool and Jesus'
advice about worry. A man asks Jesus to serve as judge in an
inheritance dispute (12:13-14). This man is often criticized for
not understanding Jesus' message . . . and that may be true, but
I find significance in the similarity between Jesus' comment,
"Who appointed me judge or arbiter" (12:14), and the
comment of a fellow Jew to Moses, "Who made you ruler and
judge" (Ex 2:14). The man may have heard Jesus say parts of
the oral law violate the spirit of God's law (cf 12:52, Mk 7:13).
Since rabbis served as judges for 1st century Jews -- just as
imams do for fundamentalist Moslems today -- the man may be
saying: "I hear you, Jesus; you know God's law better than
the rabbis, so I'll bring my legal problem to you now"
(12:13). And Jesus may be saying, "Wait a minute . . . just
because I'm clarifying God's law doesn't mean I'm chief rabbi of
a redefined, earthly Judaism." Nevertheless, the man's
question leads into Jesus' discourse on worry, of which the
Parable of the Rich Fool is a part.
Jesus embellishes his warning about the hypocrisy of the
Pharisees (12:1) by charging greed is part of their hypocrisy
(11:39). "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of
his possessions" (12:15), he says. The one who "dies
with the most toys" does not win. And to illustrate this, he
tells a parable about a man preoccupied with accumulating
possessions to provide for his old age. In the man's culture, he
probably thought his great affluence was a sign of God's
blessing, but God calls him a "fool" (12:20), because
he dies young and has no use for his wealth! Jesus' point is that
we should focus on being "rich toward God," rather than
"stor(ing) up things for (ourselves)" (12:21).
What does it mean to be "rich toward God"? If we
continue Jesus' commercial analogy of gaining riches by working
to please clients or employers, it must mean working to please
God; it must mean doing what Jesus just called the key to eternal
life: loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbors as
ourselves (10:27-28)
But if the man who saved and planned for his old age is called a
"fool" (12:20), does that mean we shouldn't plan at
all? That's what Jesus seems to be saying in 12:22-34. He points
out that God provides for birds, and man is "much more
valuable (to God) than birds" (12:24). And nothing is more
beautifully clothed than flowers (12:27), so why worry about
clothes and other basic human needs (12:30). Jesus even says:
"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide . . .
for yourselves . . . (inexhaustible) treasure in heaven . . .
where no thief comes" (12:33). Does he really mean that?
It's always easy to rationalize a "no" answer to that
question; none of us have sold all our possessions and given them
to the poor! But perhaps the key verses here are: "Who of
you by worrying can add a single hour to his life"? (12:25)
and "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also" (12:34). We should put our priority on doing pleasing
God, rather than chasing riches. Although we work in the secular
world, we must never violate God's law to obtain wealth; we are
better risking poverty than risking the fires of hell! And we
don't need to worry, because Jesus promises "Your Father
knows (about your human needs) . . . (so) seek his kingdom, and
these things will be given to you as well" (12:30-31).
"The rich fool" was a fool because he lacked trust of
God and focused on accumulation of wealth for his old age. And as
for as selling our possessions and giving to the poor: if that's
what it takes to be faithful to God . . . remember, the choice is
between eternal life and eternal damnation!
And Jesus tells us that just because we trust and depend on God,
we must not sit back and wait for God to take care of everything;
we are to be good stewards for God on earth (12:35-48; cf
19:11-37). Jesus addresses this in the context of his 2nd coming
in judgment -- which shows the complexity of Luke 12. The
apostles don't seem to have a clue what Jesus is talking about
(12:41). Nevertheless, they'll remember comments like this after
Jesus' death and resurrection (24:8), as Jesus probably knows.
Jesus tells a parable about servants whose master is away
attending a wedding feast. Such celebrations could go on for a
long time . . . and in the 1st century, with travel by foot or
camel and no telephones, people might be gone for unpredictably
long time in places that today would be less than a day's drive
away. Manager-servants were expected to keep the household
running smoothly while the master and his family were away, and
when the master returned, they were called to account in
proportion to their assigned responsibilities. Jesus' followers
are expected to do their jobs for him while he is away -- just
like manager-servants.
In addition to his point about Good stewardship, Jesus may also
be putting into perspective his earlier emphasis on forgiveness
of sin (11:4). He has mentioned only one unforgivable sin
(12:10); are clever people already planning
"just-in-time" repentance? (Emperors of the Holy Roman
Empire, were baptized on their deathbeds, so they could enjoy
eternal life with Jesus despite a lifetime of intrigue and
misdeeds.) Jesus seems to be warning against this with his
comment: "If the owner of the house had known at what hour
the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken
into" (12:39). If we know when Jesus will return, you bet
we'll be ready! But such is not the case, "because the Son
of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him"
(12:40). We need to be ready all the time! Why? Because of the
consequences::
"The faithful and wise manager, whom the master . . . finds doing (God's will) when he returns. . . . will (be put) in charge of all his possessions. But . . . (for) the servant (who does not do God's will because he) says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' . . . the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers" (12:42-46).
Also like the manager-servant analogy, when Jesus
comes again he will hold Christian leaders and teachers to a
higher standard because "from everyone who has been given
much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been
entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (12:48). And
Jesus leads by example. He is the one to whom the most has been
given . . . and from whom the most will be demanded. He says:
"I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until
it is completed" (12:50)! Jesus is, of course, referring to
the agony of his crucifixion . . . a real agony -- the same as
suffered by real criminals subjected to this brutal punishment.
The only consideration God's son received was that he suffered on
the cross only a few hours . . . rather than days.
In the context of Jesus' advice to prepare for his 2nd coming -
and his warnings of the consequences - it seems clearer why Jesus
says: "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I
tell you, but division" (12:51). According to Matthew, he
also says: "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword"
(Matt 10:34). If your father or your son or your mother or your
daughter or your mother-in-law or your daughter-in-law (12:53)
stands in the way of your salvation -- and through him or her you
risk being cut to pieces and assigned a place with the
unbelievers (12:46) -- where do you want to stand? You want to
stand on the side of eternal life . . . and out of love, you want
your father or son or mother or daughter or mother-in-law or
daughter-in-law to stand with you. Hence the division. In any
family there are usually those who want things their own way . .
. and whereas in general the more Christ-like members of the
family will give in to the others for reason of
"peace," that's not to be the case on the issue of
following Jesus . . . that's when Christians should pick up the
"sword." And what is the sword? Paul writes in
Ephesians 6: "The sword of the Spirit . . . is the word of
God" (Eph 6:17).
We probably all know Christians who use their interpretation of
the Bible as a sword to beat up on others -- showing judgment
rather than love -- and often give Christians a bad name. But
that's not the question tonight; Luke 12:49-53 deals with
principles and philosophy . . . not technique.
Nevertheless, Paul makes the love part of the equation clear in
his letters to Corinth. Even as he says, "Do not be yoked
together with unbelievers" (2 Cor 6:14), he also says:
If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her, (and vice versa). . . . If the unbeliever leaves, let him do so; God has called us to live in peace. . . . (But) How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Cor 7: 12-15)
And that's the point . . . to show love for our
family by doing what it takes to bring everyone to a saving faith
in Jesus . . . not backing off in the name of "peace."
In the next session -- after the Christmas break -- we continue
on the same theme: judgment . . . rescue of souls from the grip
of Satan . . . and the "narrow door" through which we
enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And the lesson concludes with Jesus'
sorrow over the fate that will befall Jerusalem for rejecting
him. Their fate was not just a spiritual destruction, but also a
physical destruction, which occurred some 40 years after Jesus
crucifixion.