“Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida!” In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus does not have kind words for the people who live in these two cities. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum are the cities that make up what is called the “Evangelical Triangle”…they are the cities where Jesus did most of His preaching and the performed many of His miracles. So, that adds some context to what Jesus is saying here.

These are the people who had seen most of Jesus’ public ministry and yet they still couldn’t bring themselves to believe in Him as the Messiah. These are the people who saw the great signs and mighty deeds of God and still couldn’t find an ounce of belief that Jesus was anything more than just a preacher and carpenter. They couldn’t see what was beyond the words He preached or the miracles He performed…they couldn’t recognize His identity as the Savior.

As a result, Jesus says that the people in the pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon, areas of the region that were not conquered by the Israelites when they first arrived in the Promised Land. He is basically saying that they would have more faith in Jesus than the Chosen People of God. It’s another way of Jesus saying that God was opening up the door of salvation and relationship with Him to all peoples, especially the Gentiles, those outside of the people of Israel.

But for us, this poses a deeper question. Many of us have seen the mighty works God has done in our lives. We know the ways that He has blessed us, the graces that He has given to us. We can look back over our lives and see them. (If we can’t, this is an invitation to do that.) But for those of us who can, despite those blessings, despite those graces, we still find it hard to trust the Lord at all times. The invitation for us this morning…ask the Lord to reveal what, within our hearts, is preventing us from coming to a more profound sense of faith in Him.

At the end of our lives, we don’t want to hear Jesus saying “Woe to you!” We want to hear Him say, “Well done! Welcome home.” So, today, let’s go deeper with the Lord and ask Him to lead us to increased faith and trust in Him.

Photo: Ancient synagogue at Chorazin, by Lev.Tsimbler. Wikimedia Commons. This is a photo of a place that is recognized as a heritage site by the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel. Used under CC BY-SA 4.0 license. No changes made.