NEW: Link to the video of this blog in case you’d rather have me read it to you: https://youtu.be/dvoFrzIx7nk
Luke 12: 1-12. Please read it first. Me talking is just me talking. God’s word is GOD’S!
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2012%3A1-12&version=NLT
You know what’s crazy? I have read the gospels a lot. Jesus has used the phrase “yeast of the Pharisees” a lot. I only noticed for the first time that it explicitly states that what he means is “hypocrisy.” I guess I kind of understood before. I knew it had something to do with the crazy system of rules that they imposed on themselves and those around them and the way it was all about earning people’s approval rather than God’s. But Jesus was really clear. How did I miss that?
It’s not surprising that this was such a focus for him. Jesus cares about the state of our hearts, not the way we tick every box in our “chore charts.” Jesus wants our focus to be on making him smile, not impressing people. We learn in other passages that the Pharisees would stand on street corners and pray loud eloquent prayers and gather a crowd around themselves to watch them give gifts to beggars. Many people admired their piety and generosity and they were treated with honour. But Jesus knew that was why they did it. Think about it, Jesus just had the conversation where he agreed the greatest commandment was loving God with your whole heart. He knows that this is not what is happening when these religious teachers are praying and giving. So he tells them, God knows what’s happening in your heart. He knows your motivation. Get your focus off pleasing people and onto pleasing God.
Unfortunately Jesus knew that these religious leaders were respected so others were emulating them. Their hypocritical behaviour was spreading like yeast through a bowl of bread dough and making the bread look bigger but only because it was full of fermented air. There’s an effective metaphor!
Jesus says, get your focus off pleasing people. They are so limited in what they can do to you. Honour God. Please him. People can hurt your body but it’s temporary. God is the one you should find frightening. He has the power to destroy your soul in hell eternally.
That’s quite the portrayal of God! It’s a harsh truth, but it’s not the whole story. So Jesus paints a second picture. God is big and scary and powerful and he loves those he created. Jesus affirms that God even cares about sparrows which were clearly seen as having little value. And he cares about us intimately. The pointless details of our lives matter to him. He knows how many hairs are on my head which is wild because that is a moving target. I shed more than our dog!
So this big, genuinely scary God, deeply loves us. So yes, he should be feared. We should have a deep respect for him. We should be amazed by his power and captivated by his wisdom. And that should just make us even more astonished by the fact that he wants us to come to him as our father. Like a big, strong dad holding his little one by the hand as they cross a street, or just picking them up and carrying them when the traffic is too heavy. Tim Keller frequently reminded us, “The only person who dares wake up a king at 3am for a glass of water is a child.” If you have believed in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and trusted him to be Lord of your life, you are his child. You have that level of privilege.
Jesus continues. Now remember, he has been talking about hypocrisy – acting holy for the praise of people rather than out of love for God. So he has talked about the attitude our hearts should have. Now he explains what we should do publicly. We should publicly acknowledge Jesus. We should be prepared to publicly say, I believe Jesus is the son of God. I believe he lived in history. I believe he was killed, buried and rose again. I believe he is worthy of worship and is being worshipped in heaven.
When we are willing to publicly acknowledge what we privately believe about Jesus, God in heaven stands up and says to his angels. “See that one there? That’s my little girl! See him? He loves me too. Look at how he isn’t ashamed to be identified as a believer.”
Again, when Jesus said this, he was living on earth. He says, “If you deny me. You can be forgiven.” There is time to learn and grow and come to a point of true surrender. Many people had not yet figured out who Jesus really was. But he says, “Don’t think you can deny the Holy Spirit and still please God. Don’t think he will accept you if you don’t accept him.” Theologians and armchair Bible teachers like myself have looked at this idea of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. They have noted lots of things about it, including the fact that Peter denied knowing Jesus. And that concept of denial is the same idea expressed here. Sorry, if you haven’t read Luke’s whole story before, there are some dark moments coming. We’ll get there. My point is, afterward, Peter was clearly forgiven. The story ends well. Denying Jesus can be forgiven, while blasphemy against the Holy Spirit won’t be. Blasphemy is just saying offensive things against God. So, for example, saying Jesus cast out demons by the power of Satan. That was blasphemy. But Jesus said, that could be forgiven. And there were those who opposed Jesus who eventually came to believe his claims. Some of those people were later martyred because they wouldn’t deny Jesus. So forgiveness is possible for people who mistreat Jesus’ name. But Jesus says here that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. So is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit different from denying Jesus? To my understanding, it must be. Jesus came to preach a “gospel of repentance.” He taught that we needed to be healed of our spiritual disease by repenting and surrendering our lives to him, by making him Lord over our lives. The gospel is good news because it is a solution to the problem that our hearts were inclined in the wrong direction. It’s good news because it tells us God will enable us to change. We are told in the Bible that God loves the world, that he sent his son so we could be forgiven, that he doesn’t want any of us to be lost. So, while I can’t define blasphemy against the Holy Spirit succinctly, I can tell you what it’s not. It’s no sin, no oversight, no evil intention, nothing we can do for which God is not willing to forgive us. So if you ever find yourself racked with guilt because you have thought or done something you wish you had not, and you want God’s forgiveness, whatever you did was not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Because we are told that if we confess our sins, he is faithful. He is just. He will forgive us and make us clean in his sight again.
Here, as it is everywhere, Jesus’ focus is on our hearts. So whatever it is to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, it must have such an effect on our heart that we don’t even want his forgiveness. That’s all I have got on that topic. A girl’s got to know her limitations. I don’t have everything in the Bible figured out. News flash – nobody does.
Finally Jesus adds, since he is talking about not being afraid of what people can do to you, he knows that some of his followers will be persecuted because of their beliefs. So he adds a word of comfort. Don’t stay up nights formulating your defense. Don’t focus on the possibility that one day you may be called in front of the authorities. The Holy Spirit will help you in that moment. Right now, you just learn more about your God. Know him well. Enjoy him. Grow in him. The better you know him, the more you will love him and the more instinctively you will be able to respond to anyone’s accusations.
One more little application before I pack this up and go take care of my chickens. Maybe this, “know him well, enjoy him, grow in him” thing is just good advice period. There is a lot going on in the world. Quite a bit of it is not God honouring and it can make us furious, anxious, discouraged… There is a time to respond with righteous anger. Jesus did it more than once. He did it in this passage. But he always came from a place of knowing his father well, enjoying him, reflecting him… How do I say this gently, righteous anger is only God honouring if it’s actually righteous. If you are furious or anxious from a place of fear or anxiety, I’d really love to encourage you to take the time you might spend reading and reposting panicky, rage-baiting articles, and just spend it at the feet of your father. Read his word. Pick a psalm and just breathe slowly as you read it over a few times. Try Psalm 65, 103 or 104 if you are looking for a suggestion.
Part of acknowledging Jesus in front of your friends, family and colleagues, should involve reflecting his heart well.
