Denounced by Jesus

“Next Jesus let fly on the cities where he had worked the hardest but whose people had responded the least, shrugging their shoulders and going their own way.” (Matthew 11: 20, Msg)

In my personal reading of Scripture the other day I was reading along in Matthew when I stumbled over an adverbial phrase: “Then Jesus began to denounce the cities…” (v. 20, NIV.) I’ve read this passage plenty of times before but on that afternoon it stuck up like a lip of a slab of sidewalk which my big toe happened to collide with. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus shushes the “Sons of Thunder” for wanting to call down fire on a Samaritan crowd that was driving them crazy. But in this instance, Jesus seems to want to do the same. This is not the speech of him whom Charles Wesley once wrote, “Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild.”

This whole section is a bit unsettling when you linger over it. Think of the cities that Jesus cites – Tyre, Sidon and Sodom. Think of who comes to mind when you mention these places – the guys who wanted to rape Lot’s guests and Jezebel, to name a few. They are the epitome of centers of evil. And all of them were ultimately subject to the judgment of God. The original Tyre is beneath the waves of the Mediterranean. Sodom may be beneath the Dead Sea. But by comparison, things will be far “more bearable” for the Tyrians, Sidonians and Sodomites on Judgment Day than it will be for the Korazinites, Bethsaidaians and Capernaumonians. That statement in itself ought to cause us to say, “Huh?” After all what can be worse than idolatry, immorality and infanticide? Apparently there are worse sins than these.

Previous to this diatribe, Jesus had sent his disciples out on their first mission. In every knock about town and village they were to preach, heal and deliver. If they met resistance, they weren’t supposed to make a big deal about it but kick the dirt of that town off their sandals and move on to the next. For the town that doesn’t welcome the message he pronounces doom: “I tell you the truth – i.e., I solemnly swear – it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town” (10:15). That is staggering. Given all the rhetoric that emanates from the conservative camp of Christianity (of which I am a member) leveled against the growing acceptance of the practice of homosexuality which seems to be increasing in our land, despite the way that heterosexual individuals are usually creeped out by just the thought of people actually engaged in such behavior, there is a sin which is worse. Namely, the sin of unbelief.

Despite the manifestation of God’s power through Jesus and his followers in these communities, they remain nonplussed and unconvinced of the authenticity of his authority as the Son of Man. Think on Matthew 11:24 for a second: “But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” It makes me think of something a bus driver in town once said to some kids on his school bus who were teasing a fellow student with a cognitive disability, “He was born that way – what’s your excuse?” Jesus states that had he ministered in Tyre, in Sidon, or in Sodom they would have responded like Nineveh in the days of Jonah: in sackcloth and ashes, in total repentance and anguish over how they had justly incurred the wrath of God. By comparison, the good folks of Korazin, Bethdsaida and Capernaum are either irritated or – worse! – indifferent to his message and ministry. And what a fearful thing it is to be this way.

In our small city of Chetek, I am going to assume there is not a lot of homosexuality going on (per capita). Yes, there is a good deal of cohabitation, teen sex, bullying, stealing, and drunkenness that happens within our city limits. But percentage-wise, I’m going to guess there are far more nice and neighborly pagans who are generally indifferent to the goings on of God’s kingdom. I, for one, have never been told by anyone in this town, “I wish you would leave.” No one has ever burned a cross in my yard or threatened my life. No, there is just general indifference and apathy. This both inside and outside the Church. We believers tip-toe around not wanting to be scary or dangerous or impolite or rude. We are nice people going about our lives, cutting our grass, planting our gardens, minding our own business. If people come to our church, we generally welcome them. If they never come back, we don’t chase after them. “Good riddance,” seems to be our message. Or, “Sucks to be you.”

It’s difficult for to me to conclude if Chetek has reached Capernaum’s status because that requires outright rejection and how can you reject a message that you have never heard? You are left to draw your own conclusions and whatever “outsiders” may think of us, they are clearly not flocking to join our ranks. Last week Christians all across America and ones right close to home gathered at courthouses, churches, and city halls on the National Day of Prayer to seek God on behalf of our country. And obviously there is much to be concerned about: the ongoing tearing of the moral fabric of our society, runaway greed, abortion, self-centeredness, gross national debt. These are enough to make us anxious in their own right. But how many of us are gripped by a sense that rampant unbelief exists within our own house or in our own camp? That’s the stuff that should put the fear of God in us for it is what provoked Jesus to “let fly” on certain communities in the First Century. And I think we would all agree that to be denounced by Jesus is a fearful thing indeed.