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Mat.
11:20-24
Jesus
castigated the cities in terms which would have made anyone other than him sound
like they had totally lost their temper! But the righteous anger of God’s son
had full justification. He was the miracle-worker, fully qualified to speak with
all authority, yet the people would not listen.
Chorazin,
Bethsaida and Capernaum are compared by Jesus with Tyre, Sidon and Sodom - all
cities which God destroyed for their sins. Also see Luke 10:13 - 15 and
Mat.l5:21.
What
kind of prior witness did these cities receive?
They
are called "the cities where MOST of his mighty works were
done".
1.
Jesus went to work in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, where he met a woman who was
a Syrophoenician - Mark 7:24.
2.
A great multitude came from about Tyre and Sidon when Jesus was beginning His
work - Mark 3:7,8, Luke 6:17. The multitudes who returned would have spread the
word about him, but apparently there was no substantial repentance in Tyre,
Sidon, or Chorazin, Bethsaida or Capernaum despite the incredible witness of
God’s own Son!
Jesus
must have given each city a clear message and warning, because he
upbraids them severely. It would be unfair for Him to expect repentance without
a reasonable opportunity beforehand. Here, in Matthew, the words sound too
severe to our soft Western ears, but scripturally, it was God's love and mercy
which sent them His Son, when they really deserved NOTHING at all.
How
arrogant Man is! As C.S.Lewis puts it, Man has put God in the dock, whereas the
reality is the other way round. Man in his foolishness thinks he can sit in
judgment on God. These proud, stubborn cities decided that Jesus was not to be
listened to. They refused to acknowledge the evidence which Jesus presented to
them. Jesus responded in the only way he had left - as the Judge of Man.
Why
were Sodom and the other four cities destroyed?
1.
Gen. 13:13 "The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord
exceedingly".
2.
Gen. 18:20 "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because
their sin is very grievous".
3.
Gen. 18:32 If there had been only 10 righteous in Sodom, God would have spared
it.
4.
Ez. 16:49 "Behold this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride,
fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness . . . neither did she strengthen
the hand of the poor and needy . . . they were haughty, and committed
abominations before Me".
5.
Jude 7 They "gave themselves over to fornication, and they indulged
in unnatural vices and sexual pleasures, breaking through the bounds which God
had set.
Footnote:
"giving themselves over". In the Greek/English Inter-linear the phrase
is "having given themselves to fornication". The word
"fornication" = Greek: ekpomeuo = an intensive form of 'pomeuo'.
Ekpomeuo means "excessive indulgence".