Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta có cảm giác lạ và khác thường khi chúng ta nghe Chúa Giêsu nói về một thứ tội mà không thể tha thứ được. Qua bức hoạ của Thánh Luca về Chúa Giêsu thì Chúa là một người luôn có bàn tay mở rộng và luôn tha thứ cho những người tội lỗi, Chúa là người mà dường như không thể có khả năng từ chối sự tha thứ cho những ai có tội. Tuy nhiên, hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu nói về một thứ tội lỗi mà không thể nào có thể tha thứ được.
Khi những người Pharisi đã thấy Chúa Giêsu làm phép lạ và trừ quỷ ra khỏi người bị quỷ ám. thế nhưng họ cho rằng Chúa Giêsu bị ám bởi quỷ Beelzebul, và khi Ngài trừ quỷ ra khỏi người bị quỷ ám này ngài đã nhờ chính sức mạnh của các hoàng tử quỷ. Họ nhìn Chúa Giêsu mà coi như Ngài như là chúa quỷ Sa-tan; họ nghĩ là họ đang chứng kiến rõ ràng là Thiên Chúa không còn chấp nhận việc làm tốt của Chúa Giêsu đã làm mà họ chỉ thấy việc làm hiện tại của Sa-tan. Họ đã mù quáng và không còn thấy được lòng thương xót đầy nhân hậu và sự thật nơi Chúa Giêsu. Họ không còn có thể phân biệt giữa cái ác và tội lỗi khi họ phải đối mặt với chúng. Kể từ khi họ không còn có thể nhìn thấy tội lỗi là tội lỗi, họ không còn thấy sự cần thiết cho sự ăn năn. Họ bị sa lầy vĩnh viễn trong tội lỗi của họ. Họ đã khổng thể thấm nhuần được những ân sủng của Chúa Thánh Thần.
Trong cuộc sống hiện tại Chúng ta cũng có lúc phải đối mặt với mối nguy hiểm này. Tội lỗi phải được công nhận là tội lỗi, tội ác xấu xa là tội ác, sự thật và sự thiện hảo phải là sự thật và thiện hảo. Nếu chúng ta có thói quen không nhìn thấy tội lỗi ở những nơi tội lỗi, thì chúng ta có thể đã đánh mất đi cái khả năng của chúng ta để phân biệt giữa thiện và ác. Mặc dù có tội, chúng ta sẽ không còn có khả năng ăn năn. Chúng ta đã bị mù trong chính tâm hồn của chúng ta.
It's very strange to hear Jesus speak about an unforgivable sin. The portrait Luke paints of Jesus is of a man whose arms are constantly open to sinners, who seemingly is incapable of refusing forgiveness to sinners. Yet today, Jesus speaks of the unforgivable sin,
The Pharisees had looked at Jesus working miracles and driving demons out of people possessed. What they saw was Jesus possessed by Beelzebul, driving demons out of people possessed by the power of the prince of demons. They looked at Jesus and saw Satan; they witnessed the obviously God-sanctioned works of Jesus and saw Satan at work. They blinded themselves to the goodness and truth in Jesus. They could no longer discern between evil and sin when confronted by them. Since they could no longer see sin as sin, they no longer saw the need for repentance. They were mired permanently in their sin. They had made themselves impermeable by the grace of the Spirit.
We also face this danger. Sin must be recognized as sin, evil as evil, truth and goodness as truth and goodness. If we get in the habit of not seeing sin where there is sin, we will lose our ability to discern good and evil. Though culpable, we will be incapable of repentance. We will have blinded ourselves.
Jesus lived this Gospel passage in His own life to perfection. He was arrested, interrogated, falsely condemned and questioned by the Chief Priest, Herod and Pontius Pilate. During His interrogations, sometimes He spoke and at other times He remained silent. In preparation for these interrogations, Jesus did not study each ruler ahead of time, trying to figure out what He should say and not say. He did not prepare a defense but relied upon His perfect union with the Holy Spirit and with the Father to be led at every moment in His human nature.
Though it may be unlikely that you will be arrested for your faith and put on trial for being Christian by the civil authorities, it is possible that you will experience various other forms of interrogation and condemnation at times during which you are challenged to respond. And more likely, if you are judged by another, you may be tempted to defend yourself in anger, attacking back.
This Gospel passage, when clearly understood and lived, should have the effect of calming you and reassuring you during any and every experience of judgment. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way” (# 2478). And though you must always strive to do this yourself, there will most likely be times when others do not act in this careful and truthful way toward you. Thus, if you are judged by another, even if what they say has truth to it, it is important that you not react with defensiveness and anger, unless the Holy Spirit has unmistakably led you to do so. The key message Jesus gives is that you must trust that the Holy Spirit will always lead you as you humbly and continually seek to follow His every prompting. This is only possible if you have built a firm habit of attentiveness to the Voice of God within your conscience.
Because the experience of rash judgment, detraction, calumny and the like are painful to encounter, you must prepare your defense ahead of time by learning to only rely upon the Holy Spirit in all things. Jesus exhorts us to do so! Therefore, if you daily and humbly seek to fulfill God’s will, hear His voice, and respond with generosity, then you can be certain that when the time comes and you experience these forms of judgment, you will be ready. The Holy Spirit will speak to you, inspire you, console you and give you every grace you need to respond in accord with God’s will. Do not doubt this. Have faith and confidence in these words and this promise of our Lord.
Reflect, today, upon the ways that you have responded in the past to the judgment of another. Try to call to mind specific moments when this has happened. Did you respond with similar judgments? Were you filled with anger? Did you brood over injury? Did you lose your peace of heart? If you have fallen into these temptations, then commit yourself in faith to believe what Jesus says today. Trust Him. Trust that He will be with you in those difficult moments in the future and pray that you will be graced to respond only as the Holy Spirit directs you.
My innocent Lord, You were put on trial, judged and falsely condemned. Yet in all of that, You were the Innocent Lamb Who always loved and spoke truth with perfection. When I experience judgment in my life, please fill me with peace of heart and trust in Your promise that the Holy Spirit will be with me, inspiring me and leading me in accord with Your perfect will. Holy Spirit, I abandon myself to You now and always. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: I come before you, Lord, to praise and bless you. You have filled the earth with your glory, with signs of your goodness, your power, your wisdom. I want to live with an awareness of that, of your presence and your love reaching out to me at all times. In this time of prayer, please grant me the grace I need to grow in the faith that will open my eyes to your glory.
1. Acknowledging Christ: Jesus encourages us to acknowledge him before others. He promises that if we deny our allegiance to Christ, we will break our connection with him—he will not acknowledge us to the angels in heaven. What does it mean to “acknowledge Christ before others”? It means so many things! Everything we do that indicates to others our faith in Christ is a way of giving witness to Christ. Pausing to pray and make the sign of the cross before a meal at a restaurant or in the cafeteria is a way of acknowledging Jesus. Arriving late to a social engagement because we attend Mass on Sunday is a way of acknowledging Jesus. Speaking calmly but clearly about the Church’s teaching on moral and social issues, even defending those teachings when they are attacked, that too is acknowledging Jesus. Having religious images in our houses is a way to acknowledge Jesus to those who come and visit us. If in our own minds and hearts the core of our identity is that we are disciples and messengers of Jesus Christ, almost everything we do will in some way announce to those around us that he is real, that he is the Lord, and that we belong to him. And the more we do that, the deeper our bond with him becomes, and the greater our joy will be, now and forever.
Opening Prayer:
Encountering Christ:
1. Angels as Our Witnesses: Christians by definition acknowledge that they live for Christ. We do our best to know, love, and serve the Lord and we begin each day by reflecting on his holy word so as to grow more “Christian.” Today, we learn that Jesus may someday “introduce” us to the angels—perhaps by name. What delight! It’s good to reflect from time to time on heaven and imagine what it might be like. These thoughts can help to enliven our faith and motivate us to do just a little bit better today than we did yesterday, all for God’s glory.
What is the unforgivable sin which Jesus warns us to avoid?
He warns them, however, that it's possible to reject the grace of God and giving up the faith out of cowardice or disbelief.
The scriptural expression to deny someone means to disown them. Jesus also speaks against blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
What is blasphemy and why is it reprehensible? Blasphemy consists in uttering against God, inwardly or outwardly, words of hatred, reproach, or defiance. It's contrary to the respect due God and his holy name. Jesus speaks of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit as the unforgivable sin. Jesus spoke about this sin immediately after the scribes and Pharisees had attributed his miracles to the work of the devil instead of to God. \
A sin can only be unforgivable if repentance is impossible. If someone repeatedly closes his heart to God and shuts his ears to his voice, he comes to a point where he can no longer recognize God even when God makes himself known. Such a person ends up perceiving evil as good and good as evil (Isaiah 5:20).
There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who refuses to accept God's mercy by repenting of wrongdoing, rejects the forgiveness of their sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.
God gives grace and help to all who humbly call upon him. Giving up on God and refusing to turn away from sin and disbelief results from pride and the loss of hope in God.
Saint John tells us that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Jesus' death on the cross won for us our salvation and adoption as the children of God.
The love and mercy of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit are freely given to those who acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Is your hope securely placed in Christ and his victory on the cross?
"Lord Jesus, you are my hope and salvation. May I trust you at all times and rely on your grace in times of testing and temptation? Let the fire of your Holy Spirit burn in my heart and fill me with a consuming love for you."
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