Reading: Gen. 3:9-15; Ps. 130; 2Cor. 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

IF YOU BELONG TO GOD’S FAMILY WHY SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT

Having a sense of belonging is fundamental to human happiness and well-being, for it gives value to our lives and helps us in coping with some painful emotions. Hence, we often want to identify with one another, with our friends and families, with our culture or one association with another. However, one of the common and safest places to belong is our families, especially when it is rooted in the love of God and neighbour.

So, today in our Gospel passage, Jesus speaks about belonging to his family and his relationship with members of his family when he said: ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.’ In this Gospel, Jesus speaks of two ways the people around him could be identified as members of his family. Firstly, he talks about those who belong to the family of his birth that is, his mother, father and relations. Then his other family is made up of those who do the will of God.

This family he says, is his true family where doing the will of God is the only way of belonging to this family. This is not to say that Jesus is rejecting his family; to do so would contradict his teaching about loving one’s parents and loving one’s neighbours. However, Jesus is using this opportunity to emphasize that relationship with God is more important and this should depend on our total commitment to doing the will of God through him.

Surprisingly, Mary the mother of Jesus belongs to both sides of the family, for she gave birth to Jesus and was also the first to do the will of God when she said, “Let it be done unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). For this reason she is the first disciple of Jesus and a model for all Christians. This is not the same with Eve in our first reading who disobeyed God’s instructions for we heard the Lord calling the man after he had eaten of the tree. ‘Where are you?’ what have you done ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ the Lord asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’

 With this act of disobedience, humanity was separated from our original family where doing the will of God is the guiding principle. But God has not abandoned us for he still stretches his hand of reconciliation.

Thus, to be a Christian or a disciple is to respond to this act of reconciliation in order to enter into the family of Jesus and embrace a new relationship with God and with one another for this is the most important family we can belong. All other bonds, including those of blood, should be considered secondary. Because belonging to God is fundamental to our basic relationships before all human relations. Remember, we belong first to God before belonging to our families, after which we all go back to God where we ultimately belong, which is determined by how we have been doing God’s will here on earth.

Little wonder Jesus spoke about the sin against the Holy Spirit who is the primary agent of evangelization. This is because some scribes who watched the great miracle of the deliverance of a man who was possessed said that it was through the power of Beelzebul the prince of demons that he was able to cast the devil out. Because they were adamant in their opposition against Jesus which was propelled by envy and jealousy.

 So, it is obvious that the scribes knew the truth but were not ready to accept it, rather they chose to deny the work of God, that’s why Jesus said: everyone who says a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

From this frightening passage, Jesus reveals to us that sins no matter how grievous can be forgiven, but there is a particular sin that will not be forgiven. That is the sin against the Holy Spirit. But what is this sin against the Holy Spirit? And why would it not be forgiven? The sin against the Holy Spirit is rooted in one’s outright rejection of God’s mercy and grace of salvation offered to us through the Holy Spirit‘s constant invitations and warnings.

This happens when the will of a person is hardened against God’s mercy and goodness. This is so because it is the sinner himself who rejected God’s forgiveness. And since God respects the freedom which He has given us, for he respects the sinner’s decision to firmly refuse to be forgiven.

Dear friends, we are called today not to be like the scribes who out of pride and ignorance denied the power of God over spiritual realities and so sin against the Holy Spirit. This will be possible if we know where we ultimately and truly belong. Though, as Christians, we claim to belong to God. But do our attitudes and decisions show that we truly belong to God? Do we not often commit ourselves to things contrary to the faith we professed in God? Can we say that we are truly doing the will of God? What have we been doing with the word of God we hear every day? What kind of fruit are we bearing in our family and society? How has the word of God changed our life and disposition towards our family?

Therefore, we should ask God to endow us with the spirit of discernment and truth, especially during this period when we are often faced with the ugly and sad attitude of human deception all over the world.

 LET US PRAY: Lord God, today we are called to do your will always in order to truly belong to that true family of Jesus where the love of you and our neighbour unites us together. Grant that we may learn to do your will and never sin against the Holy Spirit. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Do have a blessed Sunday.