Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 But when His own people heard [about this], they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.” 23 So He called them to [Himself] and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 “And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 “And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27 “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house. 28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 “but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”– 30 because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

– Mark 3:20-30 (NKJV)

What is the unpardonable sin? Rejecting Jesus and declaring God in the flesh to be “possessed by a demon.” That’s the reading of verse 30. Jesus said what he said, because they attributed the work of God to the Devil. If you are looking for the Messiah to come and save the world and when he shows up you asses what he is doing and call him a demon… It’s clear you have opted out of any salvation he was offering. You can’t find forgiveness when you won’t humble yourself enough to even confess that you need it.

It’s not a little sin to call the work of God evil. There will be people who come into the kingdom of God with a storied history of all sorts of wicked sins that are forgiven by God (see 1 Cor. 6:9-11). But some of the people who miss the kingdom will have lived otherwise very moral lives. It’s not our good deeds that get us into the kingdom of God, it’s the king. It’s not our bad deeds that ultimately keep us out. It’s rejecting the king (see John 3:18). You can find forgiveness for every sin you have ever committed, but if you reject Jesus, there is no forgiveness for that.

The picture I think we see here is that these men were focused on the idols they had set up in their hearts. Their hearts had gotten so hard and they had given themselves over so much to the enemy that when Jesus was in their midst they didn’t recognize him or even worse they did, but rejected him! We should pray that our hearts are always sensitive to the Lord.

Father, We love you and want to grow in knowledge of you and your word. We are shocked at what these men did. We find it concerning that people can be so seemingly “righteous” and be so wicked at the same time. Guard our hearts from pride, give us grace to repent of our sins, let us walk in all humility and patience. Please guide us in your will and direction for us. In Jesus Name, Amen.