Jesus is accused by rulers of being a demon, “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” Jesus replied, “‘How can Satan drive out Satan?'” “If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” “No one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man.” “All sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness.”
Jesus preaching to the people about a new Way to live together, the Community of God, and curing them of diseases, catches the notice of rulers. For all the goodness Jesus is effecting, the rulers demonize him. Knowing they speak and act for God, the rulers know Jesus’ challenge is ungodly, demonic. Jesus’ ministry is asserting there is another energy in the world. It is not the control of the ruler class nor of the God they invented. It is the power of the people. That power is the Spirit. Might we consider the Spirit to be “the strong man” Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel. The Spirit is the strength of people to be the fullness of their creation, singularly and communally. To sin or to blaspheme against the Spirit could mean that someone is tying up that power, intentionally so. Some individuals or some groups, like bullies and rulers, willfully deny a person or a community of people their strength. For example, our strength for healing is tied up by a warrior ethic that intimidates us into a destructive enemy consciousness. We are weakened of OUR common goodness, ours and that of others, and of making common ground. The act of tying up the strong man, the Spirit, is then followed by Jesus saying that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness.” Is it possible that such a sin will “never have forgiveness” because the perpetrator does not seek forgiveness? The tying up is intentional. The perpetrator thinks the tying up they do is of ‘God.’ It is of the God of Old – War Lords who know who God is – a ruler who controls people. The God of Old ties people us. It is why the ‘Godly’ rulers who see Jesus healing demonize him and try to tie him up. Do rulers know this about themselves and their invented God? From the Gospel story, rulers do not seem to know the tying up they do – of the Spirit, of others, and of themselves.
A repeated phrase of late is, ‘You can’t cure stupid.’ Stupid is associated with stupor, which means having our mind or faculties blunted or dulled, to be stunned. The suggestion is a person has been struck dumb, made stupid, dulled, by an external force. In a sense, their strong man has been tied up. Whether by a political party, a conspiracy theory, or a laziness in reasoning, they are being plundered of their power, their Spirit. If we do not want to give up on people or do not want to succumb to their control and cede our power, if we want to cure stupid, to help a person out of harm and into healing, we will need to model OUR common Spirit to them. OUR Spirit invites the ‘stupid’ person out of the ties that bind them. It is likely what others have done for us when we have been ‘stupid.’
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, keep us open to learning, growing.
Question: What is my self-awareness, especially during conflict?
June 9, 2024 Gospel Mark 3:20-35 Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time