Matthew 11: 20-24
Then Jesus began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven?
No, you will be brought down to Hades.
For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Repent, Darnit!
Like the Gospel narratives known as the Cleansing of the Temple, Jesus’ words here are an angry denunciation and a bad temper. Quite unkind and unbecoming of our divine Lord, the Son of God? Yes, but quite like a normal human might feel when frustrated and, well, angry and in a bad temper!
The context here is that the people of all these places, and this entire region, have seen, heard, and witnessed the power and authority of Jesus’ preaching, the miracles of the many who have been healed and cleansed, and experienced the glory of God in the person of Jesus the Messiah. And yet there is little or no transformation in their way of living and behaving and no turning to God in gratitude and faith. In other words, the people he is addressing have witnessed the power of God, heard God’s word, and not repented, not turned from their sinful ways, and not turned their hearts to God.
This is Jesus’ understanding of his vocation and mission: to turn people’s hearts and hopes to God, so that they repent, through hearing the word of God and witnessing God’s power to heal, and accept God’s love and mercy. Yet their hearts remain closed and hardened.
Why would they be that way? Thank God I am not like that!
—Fr. Glen Chun, SJ, a priest of the Midwest Province, is community minister of Bellarmine House of Studies in St. Louis.
Prayer
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on the day of Massah in the desert.
There your ancestors tested me;
they tried me though they had seen my works.
—Psalm 95:7b-9
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