Gospel: Luke 10:13-16
Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! So many miracles have been worked in you! If the same miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would already be sitting in ashes and wearing the sackcloth of repentance. Surely for Tyre and Sidon it will be better on the Day of Judgment than for you. And what of you, city of Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be thrown down to the place of the dead. Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me.”
Reflection:
"The voice of the Lord."
In the language of the prophets of old, Jesus pronounces words of woe to the towns that have rejected his message or responded in a lukewarm fashion. Chorazin and Bethsaida have refused to repent and so that are worse than pagan cities like Tyre and Sidon, who would have repented in sackcloth and ashes, just as the people of Nineveh did in response to the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:5). A particularly severe word is reserved for Capernaum, a central location of his ministry. Despite the miracles performed there, as well as the enthusiasm of the crowds, Christ is still held in suspicion as a blasphemer (Mk 2:7; Lk 5:21), and as one who presents a teaching that is difficult to accept (Jn 6:60). So despite living with them and spending much time preaching and healing, many people have not listened to Jesus; they have not listened “to the voice of the Lord” (Bar 1:21) or doubted his words. How do I approach God’s word? How do I welcome the teaching of Christ? Do I find his call to conversion difficult to accept? Is my acceptance of Christ held back by doubt?
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