Title: In Christ, you are washed and made new!
Text: Mark 3: 20:35
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Years ago new engineers in the Lamp Division of General Electric were assigned, as a joke, the impossible task of frosting bulbs on the inside. Eventually, however, an undaunted newcomer named Marvin Pipkin not only found a way to frost bulbs on the inside but developed an etching acid that gave minutely rounded pits instead of sharp depressions. This materially strengthened each bulb. Fortunately, no one had told him it couldn't be done, so he did it.
Bits & Pieces, December, 1989, p. 20-21.
In Christ, you are washed and made new!
Having spent some weeks in the Gospel of John during the Easter season we now return to the Gospel of Mark as our reading directs. Jesus here is being followed by the crowd to his home – which was probably the house of Simon Peter where Jesus had been staying. You may remember that Jesus was going about healing the sick, casting out demons and feeding the multitudes … and they were following him, not so much for the message he proclaimed, but because they were hungry or had other needs. But even here it seems that the family of Jesus too was concerned even saying:
“He is out of his mind.”
Jesus had been pretty ordinary and for his family seemed like a normal person but now as his ministry begins he is looked upon as a bit crazy or out of his mind by his family. Even we who follow Christ look odd to the world as we profess faith in Jesus and submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in us and walk and live our lives according to God’s teaching.
The scribes go so far as to accuse Jesus of being possessed by the devil, the prince of demons and being Satan himself, saying that his work in casting out demons is a direct result of being demon possessed. They denying Christ’s teaching and reject the revealing of who Jesus is - God in the flesh.
They and we, apart from faith may look at Christ’s claims and think it just too impossible to believe, that God became man and that the infinite can inhabit the finite and by his work we are forgiven and receive a righteous that is not of our own.
In Christ, you are washed and made new!
Confusion and doubt are part of life. Wrestling with the truth of God’s word is something we all do and is something that has been done for 2000 years. And by the working of God’s Spirit in us we can know the truth. At time we may question God, or forget his commands and fall short. You’ve done it, and I’ve done it, and then by God Spirit we are brought to repentance recognizing our sin … and turning back to him who created us … we ask for forgiveness and are forgiven.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,
This is of great comfort. All sins will be forgiven in Christ. So dear Christian you may rest in the peace and joy of the Lord.
29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness,
Never repents. Never has faith. Never is saved. Never is Christ’s child.
… but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The Scribes had a wanton disregard for the truth. They knew Christ, and like Nicodemus from our Gospel reading of last week who said, “Rabbi, we [even speaking for others of the Pharisees] know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
The scribes deny this truth and call Christ the devil. For this [continual denying Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit] there is no repentance because it is an ongoing and willful denial of the truth of who Christ is.
This is nothing new. In Jesus day his [the Christ’s] truth claims were rejected. The truths proclaimed by the early church witnesses were rejected as well and they were even persecuted. Luther worked to reform the church and to restore Christ and the free gifts of grace and faith that he gives by God’s Spirit to a church that was broken and fallen in works righteousness.
Today we still see God’s truth rejected for the truth norms of mans.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. Gen 1:26a, 27
What God created male and female facebook now has 58 uniquely man centered gender choices to define yourself, if you wish to move beyond the biblical definition or male and female.
The focus on gender identity has been in the news and on magazines this past week. It has been embrace by many and called brave by some. I don’t wish to turn a sermon about Christ into a lament of the falleness of our post-Christian worldview or the merits of being who we feel we should be rather than who God created us to be. There are obviously many factors at play but Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins University calls these gender identity issues … mental disorders and biological impossibilities … when speaking about gender reassignment surgery.
Ultimately it all becomes contrary to God’s word and once again places Christ and the Christian worldview up against man and a worldview broken and fallen in sin.
As Christians we don’t hold those who are being led astray or conflicted by the wages of sin, the world or the devil’s working to a higher standard than God holds each one of us too.
10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.” Rom. 3:10-12
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom. 5:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 6:23
In Christ, you, me and all who come to faith are washed and made new!
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,
Christ brings to his followers the very good news that all sins in Christ are forgiven.
As the epistle reading for today comfort those first hearers we too receive comfort.
13a Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Daily as you remember as a child of God that he has called you to faith, given you his Spirit and has washed you in the waters of Holy Baptism being buried with Christ unto death and raised to newness of life. Daily live in the comfort of being a baptized child of God knowing that in Christ you have the forgiveness of sins and God’s favor on account of Christ’s work.
In Christ, you are washed and made new!
Fortunately, no one had told Marvin Pipkin that it was impossible to frost a light bulb on the inside, so he did what some thought impossible.
God’s gift of faith and forgiveness in baptism for some, looks to be impossible as they look for the evidence of faith in the lives of the followers of Christ.
1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb. 11:1 KJV
Jesus came to save the world!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit
Amen
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