St Matthew, Chapter 11, verses: 20 - 22, The Reproach.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The impenitent towns) Part 1. 

Christ has traveled throughout the region preaching and performing miracles.  He has sent his disciples through the towns and villages on their solo journey casting out devils, healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, making the lame walk, and raising the dead.  Christ gave them the power to perform these miracles.  They have encountered the dark forces of evil in these places and overcome, because of the training that Christ gave them.  Now Christ looks back upon the completed work and makes his observations.

He says, "Woe to thee, Corozain!  Woe to thee, Bethsaida!  For if in Tyre and Sidon had been worked the miracles that have been worked in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."   Christ mourns for those towns and villages that have not repented when the message of the kingdom was preached in them.  For he has told his disciples to kick the dust from their feet as a sign of those who do not receive the message.  Those towns and villages will receive the wrath of God on the day of judgement and Christ laments for them.  For what would it take to bring about repentance.  Corozain did not repent.  Bethsaida did not repent.  Tyre and Sidon did repent but without miracles.  Great will be the wrath in those towns and there will be no mercy.

Christ says to them,  "But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you."   For on that day there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth and the wrath of God will come upon them.  They have rejected the message sent from God through Christ.  They did not hear the call for repentance because their minds were closed and their hearing was blocked by the evil one, and they refused to turn from their evil ways.  The call was upon them and they did not listen and in the day of judgement they will know their sorrows, they will know their pain, they will know the one true God who came down from heaven to offer salvation.

How true is this message today?  What cities and towns live in evil and do not heed the message of Christ?  Will the sin city see repentance?  Will the sun bathing capitol see repentance?  Will the city of angels see repentance or the new jack city come to life?  All have had the message preached in them and they do not heed the message of wrath that will come upon them.  You who believe escape to safety.  You who heed the message leave the cities and live outside the gates. Live according to the spiritual precepts preached by Christ.  Forsake the sin and evil ways of the world.  For we live in a time of destruction.  We live in a time when mankind is held in captivity by the evil one and the world knows not Christ. 

Depart from them children of God.  Leave before the wrath of God comes upon you.  You are the chosen ones.  You are the lost sheep that Christ came down from heaven to redeem.  Let not his redemption be in vain.  Christ mourns for all his children, for all his brothers and sisters.  For their will be great suffering on that day of judgment.  But until that time God is merciful.  God is patient.  God is loving and he wants all his children to have the opportunity to repent.  He wants all his children to have the opportunity to turn from their wicked ways.  Be ever thankful for that opportunity and let others know that they have the same opportunity.  The Holy Spirit will guide you and protect you if you open the door and welcome him into your heart.  For he will teach all.  Christ mourned for the children in his time.  Let him not mourn for us in our time.

St Matthew, Chapter 11, verses: 18, This Generation.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The inconsistency of the Jews) Part 2. 

Christ continues to characterize this current generation because of their selfishness.  They want everyone to dance to their tune.  They want everyone to cry to their sorrows.  They want to be in control of everything.  They are selfish people who have had power to long and are unwilling to consider that the Messiah has come among them to change everything.  John preached about the coming.  The scriptures foretold about the coming of the Messiah.  Yet the Jews of this generation have their own plan and will not consider that the Messiah has come as a man in their midst to change all mankind.

They have no wisdom.  They have no knowledge.  They have no understanding, only that they want everyone else to dance to their tune and cry to their sorrows.  John was written about in the scripture.  John preached from the Jordan and thousands came to hear him.  John baptized many and preached repentance.  John paved the way for the coming of the Messiah and yet they did not believe.  Christ says that they characterized John as a lunatic.  He says,  "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a devil!" 

The people knew that John was anointed of God.  They heard him preach.  They believe that the Messiah had come.  But the rulers and the rich, and the educated, and the religious, and the Pharisees and the Sadducees did not believe.  They rationalized that John was possessed and out of his mind.  They said that John was insane and people should not follow him.  They had to turn the people least all believed in John and his teachings.   They had to do something before they lost control and the people no longer danced to their tune and cried to their sorrows.

What should I compare this generation to, Christ said?  Shall we compare them to the blind.  They live in an evil world and yet do not see.  They stumble through life leaning upon the one who lives in darkness.  They believe in their own capacity to live without knowing true life.  They cannot see the light.  This generation is like a moth drawn to a flame.  They are utterly attracted to the glitz and glamour of a world that is dying and has no life of its own.  Are you in the world?  Do you look out from your position in the world and wonder about those who do not follow your passions for the worldly life?  Do you hunger for something more than the world has offered you, having conquered the passions of this world?  Do not be lost with this generation.  Do not be blind.   Open your eyes and see the road that you are on before it is too late.  God is patient and yet your cup of wrath continues to fill.  Repent before the thief comes to steal your life.  God loves you and is merciful and forgiving.  Christ paid for your sins and will forgive all, if you just ask and believe that he will.  Come take his hand and be healed!!