Woe to Unrepentant Cities
Luke 10:13-16
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.
16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Observations and Reflections
Rejecting those who carry out the message of the Gospel also means the refusal to accept Jesus Christ. Those who are called to go and preach the good news are representing Christ and all that He is. There is no distinction between the message of Christ and Christ Himself. They are one in the same and Jesus wants to make it clear that there will be eternal consequences to those who refuse to believe in Him.
Having an unrepentant heart means to be eternally separated from God. Jesus’s death on the cross, followed by His resurrection put an end to that separation and if we choose to follow after Him, we will no longer be enslaved by our sin. Jesus is longing for those who have been exposed to the Gospel to accept it and experience a life that will be filled with His peace, satisfaction and hope.
We are living in a day and age were hope is something that is being sought after. Hope is not something that our world is producing and with all that chaos that is going on around us, the Gospel is the one thing that can offer a true sense of stability and comfort.