Hebrews 9:15,24-28
Mark 3:22-30
The scribes in today’s gospel accused Jesus of being possessed by -Beezebul-the prince of devils. They were supposed to acknowledge the wonders of God instead they fell into the sin of blasphemy. Light and darkness are not the same so Jesus points out the fallacy of their statements: “How can Satan drive out Satan?” And then, toward the end of our gospel reading, Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness but is guilty of an everlasting sin.
We too can be tempted to look for justification for our condemnation of others instead of avoiding condemnation ourselves or too caught up with the divisions among us, creating more dominion for darkness.
The first reading form the letter to the Hebrews tells us that Christ does once and for all. The power of Christ’s suffering banished the devil and sin forever. Christ’s passion brought deliverance to us and make us one under the loving embrace of God our Father. United we stand Divided we fall! Division leads to self-destruction and unity leads to progress. Let us create a space for love and compassion to appreciate the wonders of God in us and others.
Shalom
Fr Joseph Osho
