Unforgivable Sin

The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level. Yes, for your way and your judgments, O LORD, we look to you; Your name and your title are the desire of our souls. My soul yearns for you in the night, yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you. When your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world's inhabitants learn justice. O LORD, you mete out peace to us, for it is you who have accomplished all we have done.

O LORD, oppressed by your punishment, we cried out in anguish under your chastising. As a woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so were we in your presence, O LORD. We conceived and writhed in pain, giving birth to wind; Salvation we have not achieved for the earth, the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth. But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise; awake and sing, you who lie in the dust. For your dew is a dew of light, and the land of shades gives birth. (Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19)

Jesus said: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

I disagree with what Jesus said in the reading from Matthew. In no way is his yoke easy and his burden light.  Oh, sure, if we are yoked to him, he does the pulling with us; therefore, the pulling is easier and perhaps lighter. Of course, the pull-strength is spiritual, not physical.  Therein lies the rub.   

When we are labored and burdened with worry, we have mental anguish caused, for example, by fear that some of our leaders – political and religious – have values contrary to Jesus’s teachings.  Their ways are rough; their paths are jagged. They don’t mete out peace. They punish and chastise. They would have us lie in the dust and tread on our corpses if that would give them power, control, and wealth.  Am I being unfair and exaggerating?  I am not, although I realize many will disagree with me.   

The beast lies in the hearts of many men and women unfettered and not yoked to Jesus.  Just the opposite.  They have sold their souls to the great deceiver and Prince of Lies. Lying is the ultimate spiritual, moral, and psychological danger. It lies at the root of what Jesus calls the “unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit.”

Let’s not be guilty of this unforgivable sin.  Beware the Prince of Lies and his fellow deceivers.  They are legion.

Deacon David Pierce