Jesus is speaking to you, from His own Gospel, saying,
Blasphemy falls under the 2nd command to “not
misuse the name of the Lord your God”. This command is broken in two ways:
cursing God or cursing your neighbor. If you speak evil of God or mock Him,
Moses warns that you will be held responsible for those words.
If you call down the anger and punishment of God upon
yourself or any other person or thing, you break this command, unleashing your
tongue. Do you curse and praise out of the same mouth? Brothers it should not
be so.
We usually think of cursing as using bad words in front of
the preacher (in front of friends its ok), but this is not so. It is not vulgar
language in itself that is the blasphemy, it is how it is directed and who it
is directed against.
But this is why we become so confused and so guilty so
quickly. Because we can not distinguish who we curse and who we don’t. We
believe that keeping some language private or secret, at least covers some bases,
but we do not fool ourselves. We still feel guilty.
Especially that one weak moment when we cursed God.
In sinful hands, knowing what blasphemy is simply gives us
recourse to use it as a weapon against our neighbor, maybe even God. We feel
that if we point enough fingers at everyone else’s blasphemy, deserved or not,
that God will forget about ours.
However, it is exactly in our judging that our judgment is
revealed (Rom.
2:1). Point one finger, three point back. We want to boast so much in the law, but
it just ends up showing how we are the ones dishonoring God. In our zeal to
root out blasphemy from politics and public schooling, we make the blasphemy
worse by modeling the holy life with our sinful life. “For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the
Gentiles because of you.” (Rom.
What we should be doing is using our knowledge of blasphemy
in a positive way. Not only should we be teaching against it, but we should
self-reflect and discover that we are just as guilty as the worst of our
neighbors and therefore both are in need of forgiveness rather than judging.
Because, where do we see true blasphemy and what do we do
about the unforgivable sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and the fact
that we may be guilty of that?
Blasphemy is always against Jesus, because the Law that
declares that “a man can not be God” and that is exactly Jesus’ crime against
humanity and the charge that gained Him the death penalty. For no good work did
the Jews condemn Him, but because Jesus, being a man, makes Himself God.
As such only God can forgive sins. So when the paralytic
walks away with the forgiveness of sins, that act signals Jesus’ own
declaration: I and the Father are one. But, the blaspheming did not stop there.
What the enemies of Jesus did as Jesus hanged on the cross
was blasphemy saying, “You who would
destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the
Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mt.27:40)
Cursing, according to the 2nd Command, then becomes not just
dirty language or speaking evil of God, but preventing Jesus from being God and
man and preventing Jesus from going to the cross.
True blasphemy is denying that Jesus is both God and man and
that He died and rose again. Thus, when we get to the unforgivable sin of
blasphemy, it is not simply our sinful judgment of God and others, but it has
to do solely with Jesus.
The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a rejection of the
gift of forgiveness that Jesus spent all of history accomplishing. If you don’t
think your sins need forgiving, then Jesus didn’t die for them. That is
unforgivable blasphemy, because there is nothing to forgive, rather you think
there is nothing to forgive and so keep your own sins.
The Good News? The Good News is that blasphemy is a
forgivable sin. Jesus says, “Therefore I
tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people…” (Mt. 12:31). Because
you feel that guilt, because you feel that contrition, because you still
believe that your cursing and blasphemy is sinful, you are still on the right
track.
You know what else is a forgivable sin? Scourging, crucifying,
and killing Jesus! In fact, it was that sin that made the forgiveness of sins
possible. The crucifixion of Jesus stands as the demarcation between praise and
blasphemy. Is Jesus on the cross for you or is He not?
Jesus did not curse you or swear against you in His
suffering. Jesus did not lie or deceive by God’s Name in any of His miracles or
good works. Jesus did not use satanic arts to raise Himself from the dead.
Jesus called upon the forgiveness of our heavenly Father
from the cross. Facing His own unjust death, Jesus prayed for others, praised
our Father for His almighty will, and gave thanks that one should suffer and
die instead of all of you.
This, sin, death, and the devil can’t stand, because in
Jesus’ actions, they are blasphemed. The Lord blasphemes against sin by
becoming a man, living a perfect and holy life, and dying for everyone else.
Christ blasphemes death by forcing life to Himself Who once had died. Jesus
curses the devil by proving that the Lord is slow to anger and quick to
forgiveness.
In God’s blasphemy of sending His only begotten Son to the
cross, the entire world is saved. God allows the world to curse Him, swear at
Him, use satanic arts against Him, lie about Him, and deceive by His Name in
order that salvation be brought to you. Jesus opens Himself to history, to
investigation, and to sharp criticism in order that the forgiveness of sins be
preached to the whole world.
Because the only way to fulfill the law; the only way to
avoid the sin of blasphemy is through love. Brow or Bible beating is not going
to do it. Rooting our all blasphemers and burning them at the stake really
won’t do it.
But, the love of Christ shining on the cross, will do
it. The Holy Spirit, freely given, convicting us of sin, of Christ’s
righteousness and justice, will do it. Living among the Word and sacraments of
Jesus will continue to strengthen us and give us confidence that all of His
promises are true.
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