From Matthew 11:20-24 / Woe to You!

On the heels of explaining to the crowds how those serving God are out of step with those in the world, and how the World misunderstands them, He goes on to pronounce woes on several cities: Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. These the text says, are where He performed “most of His mighty works.”

Note first then that the misunderstanding of the ministries of John and Jesus, is not an innocent mistake. The Kingdom had been demonstrated before them with multiple and incontrovertible proofs. They rejected the proof. It isn’t that there wasn’t enough proof. It is that they would not believe.

Jonathan Edwards is helpful here when he distinguishes between an inability to believe as though people do not have the faculty for faith, and a “moral inability.” He uses the example of Joseph’s brothers in Gen. 37:4 where we read that Joseph’s brothers “could not speak peacefully to him.” Why? Because “they hated him.” Why do people reject the Gospel, because our flesh is at enmity with God. We don’t want to submit to Christ. Later in Matt. 23 Jesus will cry to Jerusalem that He would have gathered her children together like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but they “were not willing.”

It is the will of man which must be overcome for salvation to dawn. This is why we are all morally culpable before God. It is not that we cannot believe, as though we don’t have the capacity, it is that we will not because we want to serve self and not God.

Note secondly how it is Jesus denounces entire towns for their lack of repentance. Perhaps some individuals did, we cannot be sure. But each town, each community is dealt with as an entity. The zeitgeist of any given area speaks loudly. Communities, villages, cities, states?, nations? And let us be clear, America as a whole has not repented. Though the most marvelous of miracles have been done in it. It will suffer judgment worse than that of Tyre and Sidon for its rejection of Christ. We must see that judgment is not restricted to individuals, but to cultures, cities and the like. Do not doubt it. It is a powerful call then to join the new Community, the community of Christ. And to be citizens of His anew Jerusalem.

Note thirdly that future judgment is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. There will be judgment proportioned to the weight of various sins. It is vastly more egregious to hear the Gospel and reject it outright, than to have never heard at all. Tyre, Sidon and Sodom will receive their just due. But even greater guilt will accrue to those who saw and heard Jesus, and remained in their unbelief in the face of His incarnation.

Those fine, upstanding, normal people, people like you and me and our neighbors – not notorious sinners like those at Sodom, are more culpable and worthy of greater punishment for our apathy toward the Savior when exposed to Him.

We are wont to point the finger at the murders, the savages, the pagans and the brutal and make them the highest of sinners. Or, we point to the notorious, those whose sin is open and repugnant to us.

But it is those, the normal people, the average people, the not-so-wicked people – who having heard the Gospel and encountered the measure of Christ in His Church, who have simply shrugged their shoulders, and said “to each his own, its just not for me” – who live their nice neat every day, culturally upright lives who will one day see the real malignancy of that rejection.

Note lastly the profound grace in this warning. For that is what it is, a warning. The day of judgment was not yet. If they were hearing His voice that day, they had opportunity right then to repent. Or you as you are reading this today, repent! There is grace this moment. Here, once again, you have the opportunity to flee to the Savior for forgiveness and new life. He made them know the seriousness of their condition, but in doing so, He made it known they might come and be reconciled to Him if they would. And this is the seriousness of your situation if you are still outside of Christ. But in mercy and grace you’ve been warned again. And so there is till a door open. For how long, no one knows. But it stands before you today. By faith, enter in.