2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10 / Mark 3:22-30 (2020)
In a certain sense, we can say that life is rigid. For example, what is done cannot be undone, and what is said cannot be retracted.
Even in this age of information technology, what is posted on the internet cannot be taken off. As it is said, the internet remembers.
The second part of today's gospel passage can be quite troubling when Jesus said : Let anyone blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and he will never have forgiveness; he is guilty of an eternal sin.
We might immediately sit up and ask if we ever committed a sin like that. Anyway what does "blaspheme against the Holy Spirit" mean?
When we read the preceding verses, then we will understand why Jesus said that.
Because the scribes were say that Jesus cast out demons with the power of devil himself.
They were saying that what Jesus did was not the work of the Holy Spirit but the work of the devil.
In effect, they were saying that Jesus was the instrument of the devil.
Not only did that sounded ridiculous after the explanation of Jesus, but it also showed that the scribes utterly refused to acknowledge the good that Jesus was doing.
Yet in the 1st reading we see a different picture. The people acknowledged that the Lord was with David and they proclaimed him to be their king.
From today's readings, we have to ask ourselves if we have acknowledged the good in others and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the good that they do.
We also have to ask ourselves if there is any sin that we knowingly and repeatedly commit and are not willing to repent.
Well, what is done cannot be undone, and what is said cannot be retracted.
But with the Lord there is mercy and forgiveness. Only if and when we repent.