I have heard of, and have encountered, those who believe their sins are beyond God’s forgiveness. Some of them are veterans, who, in the heat of battle, have been given little if any choice but to commit horrible acts of war in defense of themselves and their comrades. Such acts are morally repellant – we are not made for killing. Those suffering traumatic moral injury may come to view themselves as beyond forgiveness.

In the Revised Common Lectionary gospel reading for this Sunday (Mark 3.20-35), Jesus responds to a group of scribes from Jerusalem who have accused him of being able to cast out demons because he is in league with Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Jesus rebuts their charge with a question and a parable. After asking how Satan would be able to cast out Satan, Jesus reminds them that a kingdom or a house which is divided against itself cannot stand; no one can plunder a strong man’s house without first binding the strong man. In that Jesus has bound Satan, Jesus has power over the demonic. 

Jesus then told the scribes, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” Mark further tells us the scribes had said, “He has an unclean spirit” (Mark 3. 28-30). Why is the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit unforgivable? Is God’s ability to forgive limited? In what sense is this an unforgivable sin?

Note that the scribes, who had witnessed the redemptive power of Jesus first hand, chose to lie and to attribute his power to the prince of demons. As John Foley, S. J., points out, one who “turns against (blasphemes against) the Holy Spirit of God” has “shut off the very source of love.” God’s forgiveness stems from the immensity of God’s love. One who willfully chooses to reject the very source of love (God) has chosen to exclude oneself from the possibility of God’s forgiveness. The exclusion and the impossibility of forgiveness rests with oneself – he or she can never have forgiveness because he or she has chosen to place himself or herself beyond the pale of forgiveness. God grants forgiveness to all who earnestly seek it.