Monday of the
Third Week in Ordinary Time
(II Samuel 5:1-7.10; Mark 3:22-20)
Can God make a rock so big that He cannot lift it? No, that would be a contradiction for the all-powerful
God. And could there be a sin so bad
that God could not forgive it? No, that
too would contradict the God, the Father of mercies. Then what is this talk about the unpardonable
sin in the gospel today?
Jesus comes to earth as God’s very forgiveness. That is, to believe in him by becoming his
disciple is to receive forgiveness. To reject
him, as the scribes from Jerusalem do by accusing him of collusion with the
devil, is to deny God’s forgiveness. It is
like the old story of the man who drowned in a flood after refusing to get in a
safety boat saying God would rescue him.
Then can only Christians be saved? Yes, but not only professed Christians. The Holy Spirit acts in ways that seem
strange to us. Working from within, the
Spirit moves many to Christ’s compassion and truth without their even knowing
it. If such people were on hand when
Jesus walked the earth, they would never have rejected him. We need to ask ourselves if we would have?
