The Dilemma of Choices

 

[Jesus said] “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:28-30 ESV).

 

A dilemma is a situation in which a person must make a tough decision between two choices. A trilemma involves three choices. The Christian scholar C. S. Lewis once described the trilemma that every person faces who hears about Jesus. Either Jesus is who he says he is and deserves our complete obedience, or he is an impostor and is not to be trusted, or he is out of his mind. There is no middle ground. Lewis put it this way: Jesus is either a lunatic, a liar, or the Lord. He is either mad, bad, or God.

 

We see three choices in our Scripture passage for today. Jesus’ own family came, intending to take charge of him because they thought he had lost his mind. Some of the religious leaders who were there thought something worse. They believed Jesus was an impostor and was possessed by the devil. But there were others who took another position. They listened to Jesus and believed what he said. They made him the center of their lives and became his spiritual family. They believed he was God.

 

Today, there are people who try to avoid all three of these choices. They hear about Jesus and shrug their shoulders, strangely indifferent to his message. That’s a dangerous position to take, because not to decide about Jesus is to decide against him.

 

Shortly after restoring the sight of the blind man at Bethsaida Jesus asks his disciples “Who do men say that I am?” and after getting several answers – John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets – he asks Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter replies: “You are the Messiah.” (cf. Matthew 11:16-20). That is our question today.