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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 11:20

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Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

20 24. The Cities that repented not

St Luk 10:13-15, where the words form part of the charge to the seventy disciples. It is instructive to compare the connection suggested by the two evangelists. In St Matthew the link is the rejection of Christ by the Jews then by these favoured cities; in St Luke, the rejection of the Apostles as suggestive of the rejection of Jesus.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Then began he to upbraid … – That is, to reprove, to rebuke, to denounce heavy judgment.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 11:20-24

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsatda!

The damnation under the gospel more intolerable than that of Sodom

There shall be a day of judgment.

II. In the day of judgement some sinners shall fare worse than others.

III. In the day of judgment there will de a distribution of sinners; punishments according to the exact rules of justice.

IV. In the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Sodom than Capernaum. These two cities may be considered under a threefold distinction.

1. Nominal.

2. Local.

3. Moral.

V. That the worst of the heathen who never had Christ preached to them shall fare better in the day of judgment, than those that continue impenitent under the gospel. Why?

1. Because impenitency under the gospel hath more of sin in it, than any sin of the heathen. It is without excuse. Cannot plead ignorance.

2. Impenitency under the gospel is a resisting the loudest calls of God to repentance, The heathen called to repentance by natural conscience, creation; now by the Holy Spirit. Higher motives are laid before sinners.

3. There is the highest contempt of God in it

(1) of His authority:

(2) of His goodness:

(3) of His threatening.

4. This impenitency is a disappointing of God in His end.

5. This impenitency hath much folly in it, as well as sin.

6. Impenitency under the gospel shows greater wilfulness in sin.

7. Impenitency under the gospel is attended with the greatest resistance of the Spirit.

Wherein the greater intolerableness will consist?

1. Such will suffer greater torments from their own consciences.

2. More than others from the devil and his angels.

3. Christ Himself will appear in greater severity against such.

4. Witnesses will rise up against these more than other sinners.

Application.

1. We may hence learn what to judge of the heathen who have not heard of Christ.

2. The greatest favour and privilege to a people, may be the occasion of the greatest evil.

3. How ineffectual the best outward means are of themselves to bring a people to repentance.

4. What little reason men have to boast of their knowledge of gospel privileges, when these may turn to their surer condemnation.

5. To awaken us who have gospel favours above most people under heaven. (M. Barker, M. A.)

I. Does God grant to all mankind a sufficiency of means of repentance.

II. Is it any contradiction to his granting a sufficiency to all, that in the high exercise of his sovereignty he grants to some special assistance.

He gave time to Chorazin and Bethsaida what He granted not to Tyre and Sidon. When I read that Tyre and Sidon would have repented with the same means of grace that were given to Chorazin, I naturally inquire whether the means actually afforded to Tyre were sufficient. Then I ask if Tyre only wanted additional means, how could it consist with the justice of Gods dealings to have refused those means? Lay it down as an axiom that the Judge of all the earth must do right. We forget that Chorazin and Tyre were under different dispensations, one under light of the gospel, the other in darkness of heathenism; one would be judged by the standard of revelation, the other not. And what is there incredible in the supposition that the means afforded to Tyre, in order to obedience, were as ample as those given to Chorazin for raising her to the loftier elevation which the gospel demanded? Means must be judged in connection with this end, and in this connection could their difference or equality be decided. If one man be required to lift one thousand tons, and another only one, it is obvious the arm of either must receive strength before it could accomplish the task. But they do not need the same strength. Tyre had as much help as Chorazin in view of her duties; less is required of the heathen. There are mysteries about the doctrine of election But why does not God give to each of us grace as His omniscience sees will be effectual? But has not God given us enough to render our condemnation just? We have sufficient for our salvation. Means must be kept within certain limits. Means which exceeded them not in Chorazin, would not in the case of Tyre. The means consistent with responsibility in Chorazin might have destroyed it in Tyre. (H. Melvill, M. A.)

The danger of impenitence where the gospel is preached

I. I observe from this discourse of our Saviour, that miracles are of great force and efficacy to bring men to repentence.

II. That god is not obliged to work miracles for the conversion of sinners.

III. That the external means of repentance which God affords to men, do. Suppose an inward grace of God accompanying them sufficiently enabling men to repent, until by obstinate neglect and resistance we provoke God to withdraw it from the means, or else to withdraw both the grace and the means from us.

IV. That an irresistible degree of grace is not necessary to repentance, nor commonly afforded to those who do repent.

V. That the sins and impenitence of men receive their aggravation, and consequently shall have their punishment proportionable to the opportunities and means of repentance which those persons enjoyed and neglected.

VI. That the case of those who are impenitent under the gospel is of all others the most dangerous, and their damnation shall be the most severe. (J. Tillotson, D. D.)

The sentence of Chorazin

We can conceive some inhabitant of these Jewish towns demanding with astonishment how the heathen could be preferred in their stead. The Almighty Judge, in apportioning rewards and punishments regards not the actual amount of profligacy and virtue, but also the means of improvement enjoyed. He could see in Tyre and Sidon, debased as they were, a disposition not indifferent to those proofs of Divine revelation which to Bethsaida and Chorazin were exhibited in vain. He judges according to that hidden temper, not by the acts done. He judges of a degree of faith never actually called into existence.

I. THE first conclusion to be drawn relates to the future condition of those millions of men, who depart this life in ignorance of a Saviours name.

II. The probability of our being mistaken in our views of the future judgment.

III. Warning against drawing hasty conclusions from anything which we can interpret as a manifest interference of Divine Providence for the punishment of sin.

IV. Such is the sentence against ourselves if we know these things and do them not. (C. Girdlestone, M. A.)

The woe of Capernaum

While Christ was unmoved at the foreseen decay of Capernaum, He wept at the thought of the desolation of Jerusalem; a sign of His perfect manhood that He should thus have most sympathy with those who were His countrymen.

I. What is implied by the renunciation of Capernaum as exalted unto heaven. The Bible finds man in a garden, it leaves him in a city; intimating that the highest kind of life is social. We are not to regard the accumulation of men into great communities as an unmixed evil. It may be a source of temptation; it is also the means of drawing out some of the holiest charities of the soul, some of the noblest endowments of the mind. It is this selfexaltation which is the snare of evVVV man who is one of a great community. The concourse of men has a tendency to put God at a distance. Hence arises an independent spirit. If we would lead a life safe from the casting down of shame and care, we must keep before us the thought of an ever-present, personal God. Distraction of mind makes men wretched. This is produced by absence of religious obedience. Men are worn out with the eternal strife to reconcile impossibilities. In putting our life under God, lies its own safe exaltation.

II. But it is not only the being independent of God which our Lord charges upon Capernaum; He speaks of it as being in an especial degree insensible to his own wonder-working power. Here Christ appears to lay bare another fault to which large and flourishing communities are peculiarly liable, viz., insensibility to distinct religious impressions. This shows itself by the small proportion of people who attend public service or partake of the Lords Supper. Not difficult to see the reason why this should be the besetting sin of those who live in large cities.

1. The personal insignificance of each individual in this place is a snare. One man is nothing the mighty throng.

2. There is never wanting in a vast population the support of others.

3. In living amongst large numbers, we become acutely suspicious of being deceived and misled. We learn to distrust our best feelings. Not more mighty works were done in Capernauru than in our own streets if we have hearts to receive them. All that savours of the supernatural in religion, finds men apathetic. For a little while we catch a glimpse of what is, we know what it is to believe; and then the cold black flood of worldliness and unconcern rolls back and the solemn union grows indistinct and fades away. The spirit of insensibility possesses us again. Then awaits that man a fall more disastrous than ever overtook any earthly city-not the casting down of walls, but the undermining of every high resolve, the decay of every unselfish principle, the ruin of every goodly hope. (J. R. Woodford, M. A.)

The sin and danger of abusing religious privileges

It is a sin of the deepest dye.

1. A great contempt and affront are cast upon God.

2. It shows a mans determined hardness of heart.

3. Let us consider the privileges we enjoy in this favoured land. (E. Cooper.)

Judgment on Capernaum

I. Capernaum was exalted to heaven because of Christs preaching and performing so many miracles there.

1. Here He performed most of His miracles.

2. Here Jesus preached.

3. Here Jesus prayed.

4. Here the Holy Spirit descended, for conversion of souls. So Scotland has been exalted to heaven.

(1) By the preaching of the gospel.

(2) By the pouring out of the Spirit.

II. Capernaum repented not.

1. Some would not go to hear.

2. Some went for awhile.

3. Some followed Him all the time, but did not repent.

III. Capernaum was brought down to hell.

1. According to justice.

2. According to truth.

3. In the nature of things. (McCheyne.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the cities] The more God has done to draw men unto himself, the less excusable are they if they continue in iniquity. If our blessed Lord had not done every thing that was necessary for the salvation of these people, he could not have reproached them for their impenitence.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Our Lord had hitherto spent most of his time in Galilee, and the cities belonging to that province: there both John the Baptist and himself had preached the gospel, there he had wrought many miracles, by both aiming at their repentance; but there were multitudes that did not receive him, nor would be brought to any sight of their sins, or any acknowledgment of him as the Messias. He now begins to reprove them smartly, not that they did not applaud and commend him, but because they did not repent. This was Christs end in all his preaching, and in all his miraculous operations, to bring men to repentance, and to receive him as the Messias; and this should be the great end pursued by all his ministers.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

20. Then began he to upbraid thecities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because theyrepented not.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then began he to upbraid the cities,…. When he had sent forth his disciples to preach, and had been in these several cities hereafter mentioned himself, and had taught and preached in them, and confirmed his doctrine by many wonderful works; when he had observed how ill they had used both John and himself, representing the one as having a devil, and the other as a licentious person; when they could not be pleased with the ministry of the one, nor of the other, he very seasonably and righteously began to reproach them with their ungenerous treatment of him, their ingratitude to him, their unbelief in him, the hardness and impenitence of their hearts; which could not be moved to repent of their evil ways, and believe in him, and acknowledge him as the Messiah, by all the instructions he gave them, and miracles he wrought among them: for the cities he has a view to, were such,

wherein most of his mighty works were done; the most for number, and the greatest in their kind; as particularly at Capernaum; where he cured the centurion’s servant, recovered Peter’s wife’s mother from a fever, healed the man sick of a palsy, raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead, made whole the woman that had a bloody issue, opened the eyes of two blind men, and cast out a devil from a dumb man, possessed with one: all these, and more, he did in this one city, and therefore he might justly upbraid them,

because they repented not: not because they did not commend him, and speak well of his works, for he sought not his own glory, but their good: all he did was, in order to bring men to repentance of their sins, and faith in himself, that they might be saved.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Most of his mighty works ( ). Literally, “His very many mighty works” if elative as usual in the papyri (Moulton, Prolegomena, p. 79; Robertson, Grammar, p. 670). But the usual superlative makes sense here as the Canterbury translation has it. This word for miracle presents the notion of power like our dynamite. The word is wonder, portent, miraculum (miracle) as in Ac 2:19. It occurs only in the plural and always with . The word means sign (Mt 12:38) and is very common in John’s Gospel as well as the word (work) as in Joh 5:36. Other words used are , our word paradox, strange (Lu 5:26), , glorious (Lu 13:17), , wonderful (Mt 21:15).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Mighty works [] . The supernatural works of Christ and his apostles are denoted by six different words in the New Testament, exhibiting these works under different aspects and from different points of view. These will be considered in detail as they occur. Generally, a miracle may be regarded :

1. As a portent or prodigy [] ; as Act 7:36, of the wonders shown by Moses in Egypt.

2. As a sign [] , pointing to something beyond itself, a mark of the power or grace of the doer or of his connection with the supernatural world. So Mt 12:38.

3. As an exhibition of God ‘s glory [] , Luk 13:17; glorious things.

4. As a strange thing [] , Luk 5:26.

5. As a wonderful thing (qaumasion), Mt 21:15.

6. As a power [] ; so here : a mighty work.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

JESUS PREDICTED JUDGMENT UPON THREE CITIES, CHORAZIN, BETHSAIDA, AND CAPERNAUM V. 20-27

1) “Then began he to upbraid the cities,” (tote erksato oneidizein tas poleis) “At that time he began to reproach the cities,” after He had visited and preached in them. Where or when this was spoken is not known, but it was after He had visited and wrought many wonderful works among them.

2) “Wherein most of his mighty works were done,” (en hais egenonto hai pleistai dunameis autou) “In which places occurred his most numerous, dynamic, or powerful deeds,” His most outstanding miracles, Luk 10:13-15.

3) “Because they repented not:” (hoti ou metenoesan) “Because they did not repent,” or did not turn to the Lord, from sin and the outward forms of Jewish ceremonialism, to accept Him as Savior and Lord.

The “Kingdom of heaven” (the church) announced “at hand” by John the Baptist, and by Jesus Himself, as in existence during the Sermon on the Mount, Mat 3:2; Mat 5:3; Mat 5:10-11; Mat 5:19-20; Mat 7:21, had been rejected by the people of these cities, as a whole.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Mat 11:20

. Then he began to upbraid. Luke states the time when, and the reason why, Christ uttered such invectives against those cities. It was while he was sending the disciples away into various parts of Judea, to proclaim, as they passed along, that the kingdom of God was at hand. Reflecting on the ingratitude of those among whom he had long discharged the office of a prophet, and performed many wonderful works, without any good result, he broke out into these words, announcing that the time was now come, when he should depart to other cities, having learned, by experience, that the inhabitants of the country adjoining that lake, among whom he had begun to preach the Gospel and perform miracles, were full of obstinacy and of desperate malice. But he says nothing about the doctrine, and reproaches them that his miracles had not led them to repent. (39) The object which our Lord had in view, in exhibiting those manifestations of his power, undoubtedly was to invite men to himself; but as all are by nature averse to him, it is necessary to begin with repentance. Chorazin and Bethsaida are well known to have been cities which were situated on the lake of Gennesareth.

(39) “ Que par les miracles ils n’ont point esmeus pour se convertir a repentance;” — “that by the miracles they were not moved to be converted to repentance.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 11:21. Sackcloth and ashes.In the East, it was common for mourners to put on a black garment which resembled a sack, with holes for the arms, and to strew ashes upon the head. The symbol of mourning and of repentance (Lange).

Mat. 11:23. Hell.Hades (R.V.), denotes a far-down subterranean region and so used figuratively to express a position of the utmost abasement (Wendt). The antithesis of heaven; the lowest as contrasted with the highest position (Mansel).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 11:20-24

Invincible unbelief.Three cities are made to stand out here among all the cities of Galilee. One of these is made to stand out in a similar way amongst these three. We shall examine what is said of them here as they are thus separated by the Saviour; considering the first two in the first place, and the remaining third in the second.

I. The first two.These are by name Chorazin and Bethsaida, and are believed to have been situated, the one on the western shore of the Lake of Gennesaret, and the other, probably, at its northernmost point, and on each side of the river Jordan as it there enters the lake. They are compared by the Saviour with two others, Tyre and Sidon, on the borders of the far larger Mediterranean Sea; but not belonging in any way to the land and people of Israel. Of Chorazin and Bethsaida, as compared with these well-known cities, the Saviour here, in the first place, implies a good deal. In temporal matters, e g. He seems to imply that the two Jewish cities thus named were so far like the Gentile cities in question as to be places, as these were, of no little success in the pursuit of commerce and wealth. In spiritual matters, on the contrary, He implies clearly that they were not at all alike; and that Chorazin and Bethsaida had had advantages in this respect which had been wholly confined to themselves; the teaching and the mighty works which had abounded in them having been wholly unknown in the other two. From this the Saviour goes on to declare very much more. He opens to us, as it were, the secret door of the hypothetical and contingent. He declares to us what would have been had things been otherwise than they were; and does not hesitate to say what Tyre and Sidon would have done had they had the advantages which they had not. On this point He is, indeed, peculiarly outspoken and clear. They would not have done, He says, as had been done by those other two cities. They would not have refused to repent (Mat. 11:20). Still less would they have refused with the same continued impenitence, notwithstanding all that was done. On the contrary, He says, they would have repented long ago, and that openly and in ashes (Mat. 11:21). In a word, all would have been present in their case, that was so conspicuously absent in the case of those others. Finally, from this the Saviour goes on to a higher step still. He does not hesitate even to forecast the issues of the day of all days. He tells us exactly how it will be with those He is speaking of in that time of judgment and light. How the people, e.g. that had the less light will not then be held responsible for more than that light; and will not, therefore, be called on to suffer beyond a certain amount. Also, how, all the same for that (cf. , nevertheless, Mat. 11:22) and however bad that certain amount may be to themand it is not spoken of, be it observed, as being anything elseworse still will be the doom of those who used greater light to worse ends. It is a terrible picture, and need not be dwelt on. But it must not be slighted, or put to one side. I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable (!) for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you (Mat. 11:22).

II. The remaining third.The parallel here is on the same lines withbut considerably in advance ofthe preceding one. This is true, in the first place, as to the cities compared. If Tyre and Sidon, among the cities outside of Israel, had been specially warned and denounced by the prophets of God on account of their abundance and pride (see Isaiah 23; Ezekiel 26; Ezekiel 27), much more had this been so of that one city specified now (Gen. 13:13; Genesis 19; Isa. 1:9; Isa. 3:9; Rev. 11:8). The very place of that city, in fact, had been for ages past a standing testimony against it (Jud. 1:7). On the other hand, if Chorazin and Bethsaida had been places favoured singularly and above others by the presence, and teaching, and miracles of the Saviour, even more so, in all respects, had been His own city (Mat. 9:1) Capernaum. In this respect, indeed, it might be said to have beenor, possibly, because of this, had itself supposed that it would beexalted unto heaven (Mat. 11:23). No greater privileges of that kind could very well be. Also, in regard to the cities compared so are the declarations here uttered about them. More is taught, e.g. about the case of Sodom than had been of those others. Of them, it is said, that if they had had the light, it would have led them to repent. Of Sodom it is taught, that if she had had the light, she would have repented to good purpose. In other words that her repentance would have been accepted, her sentence reversed, herself spared to that day (Mat. 11:23). Even more terrible, therefore, is that which is finally told us in this connection about the last day. Briefly put, it is this, that of all intolerable sentences passed in that day of abiding decision, none will be worse than that passed on those who have received most and profited least. No name of shame, in that day of shame, will be lower than theirs. Howbeit I say unto you, etc. (Mat. 11:24).

How much light is thrown by these words of Jesus:

1. On the breadth of His mercy.Not only Israel, but those outside it; not only their doings, but what they would have done alsoare thought of and allowed for!

2. On the intensity of His love.He is far more grieved for these guilty Galilean cities than they are for themselves.

3. On the supreme dignity of His person.Nothing is worse for any than neglect of Himself! Nothing that He declares can be ever set aside! Nothing can be removed that He has once fixed. All that He declares about all is to be as He says (cf. Joh. 16:9; Joh. 5:22; Act. 17:31, etc.).

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 11:20-30. Christs voice.

I. The voice of sad upbraiding (Mat. 11:20-24).

II. The solemn voice of thanksgiving (Mat. 11:25-26).

III. The majestic voice of self-attestation (Mat. 11:27).

IV. The pleading voice of universal invitation (Mat. 11:28-30).A. Maclaren, D.D.

Mat. 11:20-24. Mighty works.

I. That God vouchsafes a greater manifestation of Himself to some men than to others.
II. That the design of all these mighty works is mans spiritual reformation.

III. That the mighty works which would prove effective to reform some have no saving effect upon others.Does not this show

1. The diversity in souls.
2. The moral freedom even of depraved souls.
3. The sovereignty of God in His dealings with men.
4. That we must not depend too much upon mighty works to convert.

IV. That the guilt of the unconverted is measured by the Divine works that have been done amongst them.
V. That the relative degree of guilt belonging to sinners will fully appear on the day of judgment.D. Thomas, D.D.

Mat. 11:20. The true test of success.We see the Son of man mourning over comparatively wasted labour. There were Galilean cities, with Capernaum at their head, in which He had spent much of His time, and done most of His mighty works. Great blessings had been conferred, great joy created. But there was not repentance, and all the other fruit of our Lords ministry failed to meet His desire. This fact shows us what in the judgment of Jesus is the high and true success.

I. Glance at what took place in Capernaum, at the spirit the people manifested, and at the great amount of good that was done.

1. By going through the four Gospels and making a complete history of Capernaum, in relation to our Lords ministry, we find the conduct and the experience of the men of that city were in happy contrast to the experience and conduct of men in most other cities embraced by His labours. E.g. cf. Mat. 13:58. Surely, if the people had lacked sympathy with our Lords benevolent purpose, if they had lacked confidence in His healing power, if they had lacked thankfulness for the blessings He conferred, He would not in their midst have done most of His mighty works.

2. Who can fully realise the joy there must have been in Capernaum while our Lord was ministering there? If we had heard that He was going to speak concerning the city and His ministry in it, we should have gathered about Him, expecting to see His countenance lit up with triumph, and to hear His lips pour forth exultant strains. His countenance was dark, His tones were sad, His heart was bleeding, for the great end of His ministry had not been secured.

II. The lessons which this one fact teaches us are very obvious. In our Christian labour, whether at home or abroad, we must not be satisfied with results that did not satisfy Christ. The evangelical history will be sure to be repeated wherever the gospel is preached. Miracles will not be wrought, but, by processes that work just as certainly, though more slowly, temporal good will be created. We may use these temporary results as an instrument for securing the end. The end is not temporal prosperity, but spiritual life; not the refinement of society but the conversion of the individual.Charles Vince.

Mat. 11:23-24. Capernaum and Sodom.

1. The honour of a town is the gospel; and where it is most clearly preached, that place is exalted most and made nearest heaven.
2. Means of grace if they avail not unto true conversion, do bring a man deeper in the state of condemnation.
3. Abuse and contempt of the gospel, impenitent unbelief, and disregarding the offers of Gods grace do weigh heavier in Gods balance than the grossest sins against the law.David Dickson.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Section 25
JESUS CONDEMNS UNBELIEVING CITIES AND INVITES BABES TO COME TO HIM

TEXT: 11:2030
I. HEARTBROKEN CONDEMNATION

20.

Then began he to unbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not.

21.

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22.

But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.

23.

And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down into Hades; for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day.

24.

But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

II. HEAVENS AUTHORITY

25.

At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes:

26.

yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight.

27.

All things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him.

II. HEARTFELT COMPASSION

28.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

How did God reveal things to babes and hide them from the wise? If God hides truth from anybody, is that not partiality? Prove your answer.

How is Jesus yoke easy?

What kind of labor and burdens do you think Jesus was promising to relieve?

Why and how will it be more tolerable in the judgment for Sodom than for Capernaum?

What do you think Jesus expected of the people in Capernaum to do, that they did not do, which, in turn, moved Him to upbraid them for not repenting?

What is repentance?

Have you ever wished that you could have been personally present with Jesus during His ministry in those happy, golden days in Capernaum along the shores of blue Galilee? What grand illusions does this particular section shatter, bringing such dreaming back to reality and prepares us for eternity and judgment?

Do you think that this section teaches us to believe that there will be degrees of punishment for the wicked? On what basis do you answer as you do? If you say yes, then does that not picture God as showing favoritism in judgment, using one standard for Tyre and Sidon and Sodom while requiring another of the privileged cities of Galilee? If you say no, then how do you interpret the words more tolerable?

Should we revise our theology and our hymns that teach us, Jesus never fails. It appears that Jesus has clearly failed to win these famous Galilean cities for Gods Kingdom, even though most of His time and work had been spent within their precincts. How do you explain this failure?

Is Jesus meaning to say that not a single soul in these three cities had repented? Give proof for the answer you give.

In what way can a city or a people be exalted to heaven? In what way can they be brought down to Hades? Where is Hades?

Jesus thanks God for hiding important truth from the wise and understanding. It would seem to some that this is putting a premium on ignorance and degrading the advancement in knowledge and culture. This is a long-held charge laid against Christianity. How would you interpret these words of Jesus in such a way as would show that, in reality, Jesus actually holds no brief for ignorance and unwillingness to seek truth?

Even though a man may be very well-developed intellectually, when he views Gods way of saving the world as nonsense, what then should we say about him and his wisdom? Should we reject all the truth that he knows, even though he rejects the gospel we know? Is he a fool for rejecting the gospel? If so, how far has he lost the key to truth, i.e. can he continue learning truth about nature? Will he be hampered in learning the fundamental truth about himself and human nature? How far will he err or fail to grasp the fundamental truths of psychology or sociology?

Do you think that Jesus accepts the possibility that the people He describes as wise and understanding really are wise and understanding? What makes you say that?

What is there so praiseworthy about people whom Jesus describes as babes?

Should we get excited or be upset by the attacks upon Christianity launched by the intelligentsia of our day? If so, in what way? If not, why not?

What fundamental attitude is Jesus requiring before participation in His Kingdom is even possible?

Why should Jesus be thankful to God that some folks are actually unable to see the truth (I thank you that you have hidden these things from the wise.)? How can any sane person be thankful for this?

If Jesus be only a mere man, what must we conclude about the grandiloquent claims He is making for Himself in this section? If Jesus be God come in the flesh, what must we do about the claims He makes upon us in this section?

After reading the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus other sermons on the high cost of discipleship (for example, Luk. 14:26-33), can we still take Him seriously, when He claims that His yoke is the easy one, HIS burden the light one? If so, how?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Jesus began then to censure those cities where He had done most of His miracles, simply because they remained apathetic and unrepentant. How sorry I am for you, Chorazin! You too are to be pitied, Bethsaida! For if the wicked cities, Tyre and Sidon, had seen the miracles performed to demonstrate Gods authority that you have seen, their people would have turned to God long ago, wearing the sackcloth of shame and with ashes on their head to show their humility. But let me tell you that it is going to go easier on judgment day for those wicked cities than for you!
And you, Capernaum, do you suppose that I will exalt you to a position of imminence, power and importance, simply because I have preached in your midst? No! As a city you shall die! Had the miracles taken place in the vilest city you can think ofeven Sodom, that I have performed in your streets, yes, even Sodom would still be standing today! But I can assure you that it will go much easier for the whole land of Sodom than for you!
At that time Jesus prayed, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding the truth from those who suppose themselves to be learned and wise, and for showing it to humble, teachable people. Yes, Father, I thank you that you were pleased to do it that way.
My Father has turned everything over to me. No one really knows me, except the Father, and no one really knows God but me! And I am willing to reveal God to anyone I want to. So, come to me, all you who are worn-out and loaded down with impossible burdens. I will give you real rest. Here: wear my yoke: let me teach you. You will find me gentle with you and genuinely humble. You will actually find the soul refreshment you are seeking. Last but best, in the final analysis, you will find that, of all the yokes you will ever know, my yoke is the easy one; my burden is really the light one.

SUMMARY

Jesus denounced those privileged cities where He had spent the major part of His earthly ministry, because they remained undecided and unwilling to turn to God after all His efforts and evidences given to convince them. Wicked cities with less opportunity will not be so severely condemned as those reasonably good cities that had refused to take a positive stand for Jesus. Then, in rapid-fire order, Jesus expresses the rigorous judgment of the Judge Himself, His exultation over the Fathers choice of method. Next He makes the highest possible claim to the knowledge of God by excluding all others. Upon the basis of this claim, He makes the deepest, most sympathetic invitation to the whole human race, while asserting the most incredible humility. He concludes by making the astounding claim that, after all, His way is best.

NOTES

Mat. 11:20 Then began he. Luke (Luk. 10:13-16) records this same denunciation pronounced upon the three Galilean cities, however with several noteworthy differences, in connection with the mission of the Seventy. Because of this fact, the chronological unity of Matthews chapter has been doubted. That is, is this condemnation of these cities situated in its proper chronological place? While it is true that Matthew often links together in the same chapter harmoniously organized material from different situations, weaving them into one closely-woven whole, the following suggestions tend to argue that in this case he did not do so:

Matthews version of the denunciation is given in some loose connection with Jesus Galilean ministry, while Luke makes it clear that the Mission of the Seventy, and the instructions given in connection with it, were given after Jesus had definitely left Galilee for Jerusalem. (Cf. Luk. 9:51-52; Luk. 10:1 after this)

In the commission of the Seventy, the significant omission of the injunction not to enter either Gentile or Samaritan territory (cf. Mat. 10:5-6) may point to the evangelization of an area containing mixed populations, such as Perea with its Decapolis, without excluding Judea. If this is, in fact, the case, then a different audience for Jesus remarks, especially this denunciation in Luk. 10:13-15, would naturally permit Jesus to repeat what He had said earlier (Mat. 11:20-24)

The fact that Jesus actual commission of the Seventy includes Luk. 10:16, shows that Luke intended to include the denunciation as an integral part of that commission. This is all the more significant in light of the fact that Luk. 10:16 was also said to the Twelve before their mission in Galilee (Mat. 10:40), a fact that tends to confirm the conclusion that Matthew and Luke record similar words spoken on two separate occasions.

That they are similar, but not identical expressions, will be seen from the following arrangements:

Matthew:

Luke:

Chorazin and Bethsaida; Tyre and Sidon; facts and fate compared.

Sodom and any city rejecting the Apostles; fate not connected in any way with Capernaum.

Capernaum and Sodom: facts and fate compared.

Chorazin and Bethsaida; Tyre and Sidon; facts and fate compared.

Capernaums fate, not compared with that of Sodom.

Therefore, this condemnation of the unrepentant cities is in its chronological places both here in the Sermon of Matthew 11 as well as in the commission of the Seventy in Luke 10, In that place it is in order for two important reasons:

Since His great Galilean ministry would already have been concluded, His words become a warning to any other cities in the virgin territory to which He would send the Seventy, that to reject Jesus or any of His messengers is to invite the same dreadful judgment pending for the Galilean cities that had remained impenitent.

Precisely because Jesus would not be permitted the leisure to develop the same friendly rapport with other cities in Palestine, as He had with Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, the people of other cities might be tempted to feel themselves particularly neglected and, hence, at a great disadvantage because they would not be able to witness so many miracles at first hand. So, by uttering, both in Galilee and elsewhere, this fiery judgment upon those privileged towns, Jesus serves notice both to the privileged and underprivileged cities alike that no amount of first-hand acquaintance with Him can take the place of genuine repentance! The miracles, and the proof of them, are important, but not at the expense of the real point of Christs mission: God was in Christ endeavoring to bring men to their knees in surrender of their lives.

But even having said that this condemnation was uttered in Galilee within earshot of some of the inhabitants of the very cities in question, does not also argue that this chapter is one continuous sermon, since then began he may be taken, not as a note of time (the very next thing Jesus said was . . .), but could well be Matthews means of transition from one subject to another. (Then another thing Jesus said in this same general connection was . . .)

I. INVINCIBLE UNBELIEF (11:2024)
A. IMPENITANCE = UNBELIEF (11:20)

Then began he to upbraid (oneidzein, to reproach justifiably, Arndt-Gingrich, 573). Upbraid means to rebuke, censure, blame; to charge, accuse or reprove reproachfully. Bur why would the usually quiet, gentle Jesus be so disturbed? We must feel the ironic contrast in Matthews introduction: Gods part in seeking to save these cities had been mighty works done by Jesus. Mens reaction: they repented not! Whose conscience would not be deeply indignant at this obstinate refusal of divine mercy! In Jonahs ministry to Ninevah, the warning of imminent total disaster and the terrifying judgment of God was sufficient to bring vicious pagans like those Assyrians to tremble on their knees before God. By contrast, even the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, by which Jesus message of mercy and ministry of generous helpfulness were intended to encourage men to change their lives, could not move Gods own people! Jesus scolds them, because He knows that a refusal to repent constitutes defiance of the living God! (Cf. Rom. 2:3-6) They were so very unforgivable, for they rejected evidence that would have persuaded some of the wickedest cities in the world! Whereas this same gentle Jesus had spoken many precious promises and would yet offer many yearning invitations to these people, they must now hear the other side of the question: the fiery condemnation and the fearful warnings. They must face what Lenski calls the mighty and terrible Jesus.

Surprisingly, as Jesus sounds these awesome warnings, we realize that we are standing in the presence of the very Messiah that John the Baptist had been seeking! This entire section (Mat. 11:20-30) is Jesus own claim to be the Judge Himself who would one day take up the winnowing shovel to separate the wheat from the chaff. The day would come when He would actually seize the ax to cut down fruitless trees. And the first among the worthless to go down would be these very cities who had had the finest opportunities to know the truth of God and live by it! In this one stroke, Jesus justifies the OT predictions of the Messiahs justice, clarifies what John longed to see Jesus undertake now and gives us all fair warning, by asserting that He would bring this all to pass. But by His great invitation, He teaches us that the day of mercy and of Gods long-suffering is still in effect.

Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done. A phrase like this proves to us once more how very little we know of all that Jesus did. (Cf. Joh. 21:25) Even after a close examination of the recorded incidents in that tri-city area, we must admit that great selectivity has been exercised in eliminating all but the few stories we do have. And though the Evangelists impression is that these narratives are representative of the rest, yet our knowledge of the samples does not permit us to presume we know all there is to know even about the earthly ministry of our Lord.

Most of his mighty works (hoi plestai dunmeis auto). Though plestos is superlative in form, yet in koin Greek, as in modern popular English, the superlative is used with a much more relative sense than the form suggests. It is used for emotional emphasis (elative use) where we would translate it very, or many. (See Robertson-Davis, Short Grammar, 206; Arndt-Gingrich, 696; Dana-Mantey, 121) To get a quantitatively precise picture of the miracles wrought there and, at the same time, be faithful to koin usage, we should translate it many of His works. The word most however, carries its proper emotional impact and, simultaneously, vouches for the authenticity of Matthews work. If he were inventing his story and altering to avoid possible mistakes, he would be unlikely to admit that most of the great miracles of his Messiah resulted in the failure to win those who witnessed them. Yet, if he did consciously say that the major part of Jesus miracles produced no more than this, then we may rest assured that he is not counterfeiting, and his story true. We must search elsewhere for the explanation behind this admission (that Jesus works failed to secure repentance in significant cases),

Jesus ministry there was two-pronged, consisting of action and preaching. (Cf. Act. 1:1 : His doing came before his teaching.) Jesus first established His right to say what He came to reveal, then He preached it.

1. Incidents in the tri-city area:

Jesus moved there with His family and disciples. (Joh. 2:12)

At Cana in the first year of His ministry, He healed the noblemans son who was dying at Capernaum. (Joh. 4:46-54)

Miraculous catch of fish, called four fishermen, healed many (Matthew 4; Mark 1; Luke 5).

In Capernaum the man with the unclean demon liberated on the sabbath in the synagogue (Mark 1; Luke 4).

Peters mother-in-law healed that afternoon (Matthew 8; Mark 1; Luke 4).

That evening, whole city gathered at door for healing.

Paralytic borne by four men was cured (Matthew 9; Mark 2; Luke 4).

Centurions servant healed (Matthew 8; Luke 7).

Stilling the tempest, with other little boats from cities also present on the lake with Jesus (Matthew 8; Mar. 4:36; Luke 8).

Jairus daughter raised from dead (Matthew 9; Mark 5; Luke 8).

Woman with hemorrhage cured (Matthew 9; Mark 5; Luke 8).

But mere mighty works alone cannot produce faith, if they are divorced from what the miracle Worker says of Himself. Jesus miracles could be verified by these very townspeople, but they failed to see that these signs pointed to Jesus identity. These mighty works were in themselves a word from God, saying, This is my Son: listen to Him!

2. Some of Jesus greatest messages were delivered in this area:

Perhaps the Sermon on the Mount was preached close enough to these cities that at least some of the inhabitants could have heard it.

The Sermon on the Bread of Life (Joh. 6:59).

Probably also the Message on Human Traditions (Matthew 15; Mark 7).

The Sermon on True Greatness, Stumbling-blocks, Mistreatment and Forgiveness (Matthew 18).

What is the connection between Jesus miracles and the result He anticipated, i.e. the repentance of these Galileans? His miracles served to lead men to change their lives, by demonstrating Jesus right to demand that they repent. Since His miracles were evidence of the nearness of the Kingdom of God (Mat. 11:28), the paradox was true: though the Kingdom of God had come nigh to them, yet they remained far from the Kingdom! (Cf. Luk. 10:9-12 with Mar. 12:34) Their continued impenitence, even in the presence of the best evidence of a divine break-through into human history, is the best answer for those who would insist upon the supreme necessity of miraculous manifestations today for convincing the impenitent skeptics. We must not depend upon mighty works to convince and convert men today, if the Gospel attested by Christs own miracles was rejected by men of the same mentality in His day. To paraphrase Abrahams response to the tormented rich man: No, if they hear not Christ and the Apostles, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead or work other marvelous miracles.

They repented not is a tragic epitaph! What could have been the motives that induced these privileged Galileans to justify their failure to repent? Some of the fatal assumptions may have been:

Proximity to the Lord is as acceptable as faith. Physical nearness to Him did not guarantee their repentance nor strengthen their faith. The more distant ministry of John the Baptist had stirred multitudes throughout the nation, but not even Jesus ministry right in their midst had been able to bring these cities to their knees. In fact, the sheer commonness of their fellowship with Him may have dulled their sensitivity to His message and to His mission on their behalf. It is foolish to think that faith would necessarily have been excited in us, or would be stronger than it is, had we been immediate neighbors of the Master and thus witnesses of His life and work, (Analogous cases: Joh. 11:47; Joh. 12:37) Here is the moral exception to the proverb: Seeing is believing. This area had seen many wonders but did not believe the moral significance of them sufficiently to submit to the message based on them.

Morality may be substituted for repentance. The relative morality of these cities seems to have been higher than that of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom. They may have even been priding themselves on their relative respectability. Perhaps they even sneered at Jesus demands that they bow with other common sinners, that they too be born again, repent deeply and sincerely seek the redemption and leadership He offered. They were generally good people: they at least did not try to stone or crucify Jesus. In fact, one could say that they accepted Jesus up to a point. But, for Jesus, that certain point cannot exist: He wants all or nothing. He teaches that the greatest sin man can commit is to refuse to believe in Him. And, as far as the so-called good morality is concerned, it is not really good after all. A person or a city that retains itself for itself and does not give itself to the Lord, is really wicked! They were too confident that they already pursued the proper course, with God. Their good conscience was their most blinding fault. Jesus was not trying to make people more or less good; He was endeavoring to lead them to trust Him to make them perfect! We too may shudder at the sins of others and at the punishment they have incurred, and yet be far more guilty ourselves of crime against God. We may not be violent, sensual people, ready to ridicule or oppose the work of Christ. And yet our own self-righteousness and complacency will cause us to be indifferent to Him, dulling the influence of His ministry, letting Him produce no change in us. Though externally our lives may be more eminently respectable than those whose conduct is openly disreputable, we may be ungodly in a far more deadly way.

Education in godliness, or information, is as good as faith. These cities had enjoyed the distinct opportunity to be educated directly at the feet of the Master Himself, whom to know was to know the very mind of God! But the mere fact that they had heard many messages and were informed on the nature of Gods plans did not release these Galileans from the necessity of trusting Jesus! For, according to the measure of light against which they sinned, so will their judgment be! They enjoyed the utmost opportunity. Now they must face the utmost in responsibility. They forgot the responsibilities of privilege.

They may even have supposed that sympathy with the Masters work were equal to repentance. Surely had they lacked some faith in His miraculous power or had they begrudged Him some understanding of His intentions, He would have done no mighty works there. (Cf. Mat. 13:58; Mar. 5:6) But mere sympathy with His general program to the extent of rejoicing in the evidences of the blossoming of righteousness, or to the extent of agreeing that Jesus was on the right track in bringing God close to men, without submitting to the spiritual demands of His message, is to remain uncommitted, and, in Jesus sight, ultimately against God. (Cf. Mat. 12:30) The sympathy that men show for Jesus work and their agreement that His Gospel is the best view of life may help us to open their hearts to submit to His rule, but sympathy is not repentance.

Failure to repent is as good as repentance. Christ was relegated to the realm of indifferent. They did not care enough about Him to react. Theirs was the sin of inaction. Many a mans defense before God is no more than this: But I did not do anything! But this may be his condemnation, for Jesus had outlined a plan of action. He blamed these favored cities because they repented not.

One cannot help wondering whether Jesus piercing description of that last great Day were not most directly true of these cities: Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart for me, all you workers of iniquity! (Luk. 13:26-27)

Because they repented not. To bring these cities to repentance was the Lords grand desire and the practical goal of His labor. Even though He had lavished blessings upon them and caused much rejoicing, His toil appeared comparatively wasted, because He could be satisfied with nothing short of repentance, He did not aim to leave His audiences merely richer, only better educated, perhaps more adequately adjusted socially, materially more comfortable. We must notice how little emphasis Jesus put upon the externals of religion, Even though great multitudes from these cities followed Him, they did not surrender their will to that of God. What great emphasis we tend to put on church buildings, budgets, numbers in attendance at worship, in short, mere trappings of religion, even though the people themselves, who are brought into contact with our religion, do not feel the heavy burden of their responsibility for what they have had the opportunity to know of God! They must never be the same after hearing the voice of God speaking through Jesus! Do men actually hear this voice in our gospel proclamation? So, in our work for Him, we too must not rest content with results that did not please the Lord when He worked at the same task.

Implicit in His reproaches is the rigorous judgment pronounced by the Judge Himself:

By implication He claims to know the past more perfectly than any, by declaring what men of ancient cities WOULD HAVE DONE with better opportunities. Only omniscience could guarantee accuracy at this point.

By implication He claims to know with unshakeable certainty the outcome of the yet future judgment, an issue which only God could know.

And because these presuppositions are merely implied, not asserted or defended (as He does, in fact, do elsewhere, Joh. 5:22; Joh. 5:27; cf. Act. 10:42; Act. 17:31), the positive boldness with which Jesus speaks is the more awesome.

B. OPPORTUNITY = RESPONSIBILITY (11:2124)

Mat. 11:21 Woe unto thee (oud soi) is an interjection denoting pain or displeasure (Arndt-Gingrich, 595), but in what sense does Jesus mean it here?

An as expression of grief, as if the Master is pained to reveal the fate of so many friends? This makes excellent sense here, because of Jesus sorrowing sympathy for these who stumble on in their wilful blindness with no real conception of their impending doom. This idea is perfectly in harmony with the known character of our Lord, who is merciful even to the hardest sinners whose wilful unbelief demands additional signs when so many had already been given. (Cf. Mat. 12:38-42) Woe may be so interpreted. (Cf. Mat. 24:19; Mat. 26:24; Rev. 8:13; Rev. 12:12; Rev. 18:10; Rev. 18:16; Rev. 18:19) Barclay (Matthew, II, 13) is certainly in order to notice:

This is not the accent of one who is in a temper because his self-esteem has been touched (nor) of one who is blazingly angry because . . . insulted, (nor) a passion of hatred at men. It is the accent of sorrow, . . . of one who offered men the most precious thing in the world and who saw it completely disregarded. (He is) watching a tragedy being played out and . . . is powerless to stop men rushing on to ruin.

In condemning judgment? Jesus hates sin, He cannot but expose it, even if it means scorching rebuke aimed at friends among whom He was a well-known and appreciated companion, for they had proudly refused Gods grace. This suggestion is probably the right one, since, contextually, Jesus is clearly pronouncing the destiny of those who continued to reject His representation of Gods mercy.

Chorazin is an otherwise unknown city probably located about two miles to the north of Capernaum, now utterly desolate, its very existence being yet attested by extensive ruins. (ISBE, 614a)

Bethsaida. Two cities bore this name and were both situated at the north end of the Sea of Galilee on opposite sides of the mouth of the Jordan River. A critical study of the following texts reveals them to be Bethsaida in Galilee (Joh. 12:21; Mar. 6:45; Joh. 6:17; near Capernaum) and Bethsaida Julias (Luk. 9:10; cf. Joh. 6:1 on the other side of the Sea of Galilee from Capernaum; Mar. 8:22, a blind man was healed there on the other side, Mar. 8:13, after the discussion at Dalmanutha Magadan on the west bank, Mat. 15:39 b; Mar. 8:10 b) That two similarly-named cities, located so close together, should not be thought strange, since Bethsaida, etymologically, may mean nothing more than house of fishing (ISBE, 451b), hence refer to the water-front fishing villages so-called from the occupation of their inhabitants.

The mighty works done in you. Although we have no record of miracles worked in Chorazin and Bethsaida (however, see notes on Mat. 8:14), yet in every part of the Gospel narratives are found evident summaries of much vaster extent of Jesus labors. (Cf. Mat. 9:35; Mat. 4:23-25; Jn. 20:35; 2125) Nevertheless, due to the proximity of these towns to Capernaum, the scene of much of Jesus activity, as well as the headquarters of His Galilean campaigns, the many miracles done in the city limits of Capernaum would have had repercussions in those other two adjoining communities located but a short walk away. On the other hand, if the great day of miracles (Mat. 8:14-17; Mar. 1:21-34; Luk. 4:31 b Luk. 4:41) ended at Bethsaida in Galilee, rather than in Capernaum, then we have an excellent sample of the mighty works done in Bethsaida, since Peter and Andrew, at whose home that day was concluded, were originally from there and perhaps still lived there. (Joh. 1:44)

If . . . (they) had been done in Tyre and Sidon means that no such ministry of any of Gods prophets had actually been carried out in those cities. While it is true that Gods men had thundered against Tyre and Sidon time and again (cf. Isaiah 23; Jer. 25:22; Eze. 26:1 to Eze. 28:26; Amo. 1:9-10; Zec. 9:2-4), yet apparently God sent no prophet to bear the warnings of their destined judgment. The case of Nineveh and Jonah seems to have been the exception rather than the rule. The above-mentioned prophecies were delivered, then, for local consumption among the Jews themselves, as God gave them evidence of His planning. By declaring His counsel prior to its execution, He provided written proof that He is the Lord of history and ruled nations. Nevertheless, it was not His purpose to do mighty works in those pagan cities. To the Jews, then, the mention of these two Phoenician cities called up the image of typical pagan cities, ignorant of Gods revelations and, as a consequence, morally degraded. Tyre and Sidon were geographically close enough to Palestine for their notorious wickedness to be generally proverbial among the Jews.

Foster (SLC-1957, 49) submits the interesting suggestion that Jesus may not have been looking at the ancient pagan cities in their own historical context, but rather was alluding to the modern cities of His day. However, if the Lord intended a parallel between Tyre and Sidon on the one hand with Sodom (Mat. 11:23) on the other, in approximately the same sense in which He mentioned Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin together, then it becomes evident! that He had only the ancient cities in mind, since Sodom had never been rebuilt and was no longer existing in the time of Christ.

They would have repented long ago. This is no hypothesis contrary to fact, notwithstanding the possibility that anyone could have levelled this objection to Jesus affirmation. His assertion remains above challenge, if we admit the identity of the One who asserts it. Only Gods omniscience could comprehend in its scope all possible actions, as well as what people actually do. The Master does not hesitate to reveal what the wicked ancients would have done, and, by so doing, reveals His own identity even further. This impression is made the more evident by the solemn introduction prefixed to His pronouncement: But I say unto you. This is the authoritative voice which will pronounce the sentence on the day of judgment. These words encourage the vilest sinner to believe that, if these cities might have escaped their horrible fate by thorough-going repentance, there is hope for him too if he but repent.

Repented in what sense?

Does Jesus mean that full conversion to God that was expected of the chosen people? That would depend upon the precise nature and requirements of the message those pagan cities would have received. If that preaching were equal to the message supported by the mighty works done in Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum, then the Master means nothing short of full transformation.

If, however, He meant a message geared to the actual degree of maturity (or lack of it) at Which those ancients lived, then He probably refers to that leaving off of their more heinous sins for which they had grown notorious. In this case God would not have destroyed them, even as He tolerated the continued existence of other relatively ungodly cities, until the times were right to provide them more complete revelations. (Cf. Act. 17:30) It may be safe to decide this, since, in light of Jesus principle, responsibility is equal to ones opportunity. For if these cities had no special revelation on the basis of which they could be deeply transformed, as had the Jews, then it could not be expected of them that they produce that of which they were psychologically incapable. (Cf. Rom. 10:14)

Sackcloth and ashes. The wearing of a rough, prickly hair-shirt next to the skin and the covering of ones head with annoying ashes (or also sitting in them) was the ancient way of expressing extreme sorrow and genuine repentance. (Cf. Isa. 58:5; Dan. 9:3; Jon. 3:5-10; Est. 4:3; Rev. 11:3) This bodily discomfort harmonizes well with the contrite attitude of ones spirit. Because it was obvious to all, it became a public recognition of ones contrition.

Mat. 11:22 More tolerable in the day of judgment than for you, does not mean that these ancient, corrupt cities will get off scot-free at the judgment, in the sense that they would not be punished, or that they would be assured a place in Gods paradise. The rule still stands: responsibility equals opportunity. (Cf. Luk. 12:47-48; Joh. 15:22-24; Joh. 9:40-41; Rom. 2:12-16; Rom. 3:23-25) So there is no favoritism with God here, as if the corrupt Gentile cities might be thought to be judged by one standard and the Jews by another. The one standard for all is that of opportunity to know the truth and act upon it, So a man is responsible not merely for what he actually knows, but for what it was possible for him to know, but he chose not to recognize. (Cf. Rom. 1:18-28) One of the most excruciating parts of Hell is the burning within the conscience which screams to the suffered how much opportunity he had to receive Gods loving grace. (Cf. Luk. 16:25) As a consequence, Jesus is not teaching that all the unsaved will suffer punishment of the same severity, since the gravity of guiltiness will vary with the opportunity.

Who would have supposed that judgment would reveal such a reversal of popular standards and upset estimates so commonly held? The jarring surprise caused by Jesus declaration could not have been greater! One would have thought that of all people, surely those good Galilean neighbors of the Lord would be first in the Kingdom. What a lesson: the relative degree of a sinners guilt may not come to the fore here on earth, and should never be used as a standard for measuring the guilt of others. Only the judgment of God will reveal the depth of ones guilt, since only then will the facts be bared that show how much opportunity one had to know and do Gods will.
This is a judgment upon an attitude toward Jesus message, but not absolutely irrevocable in the case of individuals, since some of these very townsmen could yet be won. This solemn declaration, then, is a fearful warning of a fate too dreadful to be conceived, deliberately worded to shake the complacent back to a sense of reality, calling them to repent before the hour of opportunity had elapsed.

Mat. 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? Is this a question or an affirmation?

Affirmation (KJV: Thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven ., .) Capernaum would naturally feel honored as a city whose face would soar to the gates of heaven itself, inasmuch as she could consider Gods Son her most illustrious citizen. But taken in juxtaposition with the following phrase, this affirmation becomes ironic, since her temporal fame is not matched by eternal glory.

Question (ASV, RSV). This suggests that Jesus was verbalizing Capernaums self-estimate: You did not suppose that my mere presence among you would guarantee your eternal fame and glory, did you? Wait till you hear your sentence read!

The problem lies in the reading of the manuscripts, since E, G. phi and other Greek MSS as well as and q among the Latin, the Siniatic and Peshitta Syriac have And you, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, where K, M, and other Greek MSS and h Latin have a similar variant: And you, Capernaum, the one which has been exalted unto heaven. But contrary to these two variant readings, Aleph, B, D, W, Theta, C, many Latin MSS, the Vulgate; the Curetonian Syriac, the Sahidic, Bohairic and many other ancient translations have: And you, Capernaum, you will not be exalted to heaven, will you? (m hs ourano hypsths;). Since in the best judgment of the editors of the critical text, the latter reading has the best MSS support, this is a question expecting a negative answer.

Thou shalt go down into Hades. Hades most often refers to the unseen world of the dead, the tomb. Moreover it can also connote the fate of those dead whose punishment is sure, having been so destined by their passage beyond the realm of further opportunity to change. (Cf. Luk. 16:23) For this reason Hades may sometimes be used as a synonym for Hell. Which is it here, merely the obscurity of the grave and the oblivion in the dust of the centuries, or a fiery threat of eternal punishment?

1. The grave, historical oblivion.

ISBE, 1315b: As in the OT Sheol is a figure for the greatest depths known (Deu. 32:22; Isa. 7:11; Isa. 57:9; Job. 11:8; Job. 26:6), this seems to be a figure for the extreme of humiliation to which that city was to be reduced in the course of history. It is true that ver. 24, with its mention of the day of judgment, might seem to favor an eschatological reference to the ultimate doom of the unbelieving inhabitants, but the usual restriction of Hades to the punishment of the intermediate state . . . is against this.

In this connection note also Isa. 14:13-15; Eze. 26:20. So, without denying the threatened punishment of any who rejects Jesus, it may be possible to interpret figuratively heaven and hades in this verse, since in Jesus mind they represent proper antitheses. Thus, in the same way that the exaltation of Capernaums citizens probably did not mean that they would all go to live in heaven, so their humiliation in hades need refer to no more than the material ruin of the city. Capernaum would lose her glory and privileges, falling to a level as far below other cities as she had been honored above them. The Jewish wars with Rome so thoroughly destroyed the city, that one might almost believe that those who overthrew it were bent on proving Jesus right.

2. Hell. Foster (SLC-1957, 50 argues that

The reference as to what will happen to Sodom in the day of judgment makes it plain that Jesus was not threatening Capernaum with a mere return of its fine buildings to rubble and its people to the grave. As a matter of fact, this was the fate of these cities within the scope of about a generation, but the warning of Jesus carried a more solemn import. What would be the point in saying that unrepentant men shall be brought down to the grave? Where else would dying men go? The fate of these cities is determined by no other factor in this context than the obdurate indifference to repentance and faith. Temporal oblivion is too good for anyone who turns thumbs down on Gods Son!

Go down into Hades. Though there is reasonably good manuscript evidence for the reading: You shall be brought down to Hades (katabibasths), a reading which suggests the active punitive justice of God, the reading chosen for the text is well supported. It raises the instructive problem in what sense unrepentant cities go down into Hades. Gods judgment is often passive in its function. When men would have expected Him to rain fire from heaven upon the wicked, thus giving a world-shaking indication of His justice, sometimes He gives no sign at all, almost as if He were happily unconcerned. Why is He silent? Since He did not destroy Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida for their refusal to repent, as He did in the case of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, how could He be just? Often He simply withdraws His blessing after men prove themselves disinclined to appreciate them, thus leaving them to fend for themselves. When He thus abandons men to the logical consequences of their own choices, He is actually delivering them up to their own damnation. (Cf. Rom. 1:18-32, esp. Rom. 1:24; Rom. 1:26; Rom. 1:28) Further, it may well be that in the very hour, in which Gods patient silence is interpreted by rebels as a motive for relaxing in their false security, God is mixing for them a cup of wrath. Either way, the apparent silence of the Judge is fully as ominous as if He had taken immediate action. Men must not confuse Gods long-suffering for weakness or forget-fulness.

To what city does Jesus compare His adopted hometown? Sodom, with the opportunities offered Capernaum, would have remained until this day. Out of this affirmation arise four truths:

A reminder of the appalling end of those wicked cities of the Plain. (Cf. Gen. 19:24 ff.; Mat. 10:15; Luk. 10:12; Luk. 17:29) The historical ruin of these metropoli naturally lent itself to their proverbial use as symbols of divine punishment. (Cf. Isa. 1:9; Rom. 9:29; 2Pe. 2:6; Jud. 1:7; Rev. 11:8)

A solemn affirmation of the dreadful doom awaiting the Sodomites at Judgment. If they thought their earthly punishment had been terrible, they miscalculated God! This future justice is not, as some suppose, because the Sodomites rejected the angels sent to them, for God did not send them to save Sodom, but to retrieve Lot and his house. Sodom had already been condemned for sinning against the knowledge of God and righteousness it possessed.

A divine announcement that with the same challenge to know the truth given to Capernaum, Sodom would have repented and so never would have been cremated alive. This is no hypothesis contrary to fact, given the divine superhuman knowledge of the One who declares it. He who read the hearts of the Sodomites, now reads the consciences of these Galileans.

An encouraging hope: if Sodom would have been spared, despite the heinousness of her sin, there remains a chance for the vilest sinner who accepts the very Gospel that would have saved Sodom!

Mat. 11:24 It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (See on Mat. 10:15) This proposition contains several other presuppositions that deserve consideration:

Though Sodom had been extinct for almost two millennia before His coming, Jesus points out yet another day on which Sodom must stand with Capernaum to give account before God.

Death itself is not, therefore, all the punishment an individual can expect for his sins. After death there is also a judgment.

Though cremated alive for their sins, the Sodomites await yet future judgment. This means that punitive judgment on earth for ones sin is not the final satisfaction of absolute justice. That kind of summary vengeance may only mean that God speeded up the time left until death, immediately thereby eliminating the opportunities to continue sinning with apparent impunity.

Though horribly punished with death on earth, the Sodomites were not thereby annihilated. They are yet alive somewhere facing the final vindication of Gods righteousness and their final sentence.

The fearful instruction of this section (Mat. 11:20-24) is that while men still breathe, they are the absolute masters of the citadel of their heartstheir emotions, their intellect, their conscience and their will. God Himself in Jesus Christ chose to leave men absolutely free to throw open the gates of the fortress and surrender, or resist divine mercy clear to the bitter end. This means, of course, that in the present, Jesus is willing to let each unbelievers private kingdom remain invincible. This also means that in the light of time, Jesus appears to be beaten, since He refuses to force mans surrender. But the Master knows that the few pages, necessary to tell anyones entire life story, do not include the final denouement, for every man, rebel or friend, will one day bow the knee to Jesus and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Php. 2:9-11) Then it will be decided who was really invincible. Jesus can wait.

II. UNCONQUERABLE SUBMISSION (11:2530)
A. JOYOUS THANKSGIVING (11:25, 26)

A superficial reading of the previous section, as suggested above, might tempt us to shake our heads in discouragement, since even the Son of God is apparently failing even to hold His own with the most favorable opportunities among the best contacts as He ministers among His own people. And if He fail there. . . .? But the Master is anything but beaten. Matthew leads us to a closer examination of what he himself learned to appreciate, i.e. how the Christ reacted to frustrating heart-crushing disappointments. Instead of flailing out or becoming bitter or accusing others of blundering and failure to evangelize properly, Jesus turns to God. The paradox is especially true of the Son of God: though invincibility and submission usually mutually contradict each other, in Jesus they are nicely matched. He absolutely refuses to permit anything to hinder Him (here is His unconquerable spirit), turning Him aside from His responsibility to do exactly what His Father sent Him to do even if that means personal disappointments to Him (here is His real meekness and submission). Jesus knows that the secret of ultimate invincibility lies in submissions-immediate, unhesitating, willing and continuous submission to the Fathers desires. Would that we could learn that self-rule and invincibility are the real opposites!

Mat. 11:25 At that season (en eken t kair) is a most remarkable wording if Matthew is adhering to a strict chronological presentation in this chapter, for kairos (season) often refers to a longer period of time than just a moment on the day when this discourse would have been presented. Further, Luke (Luk. 10:21), in an almost exact parallel passage has in that same hour (in aut t hr), as it were, to express the precise moment when Jesus prayed the very prayer here reported by Matthew in a loose general connection. Matthew knows how to be precise when the occasion calls for precision. (Mat. 8:13; Mat. 10:19; Mat. 18:1; Mat. 26:55) And He can speak loosely as necessary. (Mat. 12:1; Mat. 14:1; Mat. 11:25?) Perhaps the publican-Apostle has taken Jesus prayer and observations from the Mission of the Seventy, which he does not intend to include, and uses it here because of its suitability to close this section in which he has illustrated the varying effects of the Lords ministry upon those who came into contact with it.

Jesus answered and said, To whom or what is He making answer?

Is He responding to His own reflections upon the ignorance, unbelief and rejection found in the most favored cities. Only if these two parts of this section (i.e. Mat. 11:20-24 and Mat. 11:25-30) are chronologically connected.

Or is His answer a grateful response to the deep confidence in Him manifested by many humble disciples who were willing to come to Him, confessing, Lord, you know everything I need to know. Teach me? In this case, chronological connection is not so important, since the Lord is viewed as responding to a general situation. Matthew, then, sees the Lord as expressing His own answer to the climate of unbelief all around Him, contrasted with some evidences of simple trust.

Or, is it merely an introductory formula common in Hebrew narrative as an enlarged equivalent for said? (Plummer, Matthew, 165; cf. Mat. 17:4; Mat. 28:5; Deu. 21:7; Job. 3:2; Isa. 21:9 in ASV)

I thank thee (exomologomai soi). Since the verb exomologomai means primarily to confess, admit; acknowledge and, the connotative meaning, to praise (See Arndt-Gingrich, 276), one might wonder why many English translations have it: I thank thee. But when it is remembered that, by nature, our thanks is an acknowledgement of some favor or kindness received, a confession of our gratitude, this connection becomes more natural. Further, exomologomai in the LXX period had already begun to include the more general sense of praise. (Compare the following especially in the LXX; Gen. 29:35; 2Sa. 22:50; 1Ch. 29:13; Psa. 86:12 [Psa. 85:12 LXX] ; Psa. 118:28 [Psa. 117:28 LXX]; Psa. 18:49 [Psa. 17:50 LXX]; Psa. 35:18 [Psa. 34:18 LXX]; Sir. 51:1) In all of these passages the idea of giving thanks is easily substituted with the idea of praise and vice versa. Vine (EDNTW, IV, 122) has it I make thankful confession or I make acknowledgement with praise. In our dealings with God, the dual force of this word (exomologomai) is most appropriate, since the nature of His gifts and loving care is such that we feel that we may confess our dependence upon him, praise Him for His graciousness and thank Him for His gifts almost all in one breath! It should not be surprising that pious Greek-speaking Hebrews should have found the one word that beautifully expresses all these ideas!

In addition, if Jesus feels the exuberant joy here, that is described by Luke, then it is more than psychologically credible that all these ideas be united in His mind. He is in high spirits, rejoicing as completely as if a great victory had just been won, even though He is realistically and frankly facing failure. The Lord has failed to win over those cities wherein most of His labor had been expended, and yet He gives thanks? Carver (Self-Interpretation, 91ff.) senses this:

Jesus is frankly facing relative failure in His preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven to the people. Not that we are to suppose He was surprised, and in that sense, disappointed. The actual fact and experience of failure is, however, upon Him; and there is no prescience or preparation that can take away the grief and sting of failure to do the good to people to which one had devoted all his energy . . . Yet few would have agreed with Him that He was failingprobably not one would have agreed. He had never been more popular . . . multitudes seek Him out on every opportunity, . . . They are ready to risk all and follow Him in revolt against all authority, religious and political . . .

Therein appears His superior insight. Here was for Him the mark of His failure. The people were missing the point of His appeal. They wanted a bread king. They wanted His miracle personality to perform in miracles of provision and protection, deliverance and defense while, unchanged in heart and life, they would enjoy a physical, a material Messianic reign. How it all wrung His soul and drove Him to prayer. He was calling them to repentance, they wished to follow Him to power. He wanted to get God into them, they wanted to get Him and God into their service. His soul is wrung in deep anguish, because of their deep need of repentance and their persistent unrepentance. He has tried so hard, so faithfully, unselfishly, so perfectly tried to give them God, and they have not seen it.

And yet, Jesus refuses to be downed by the failure implicit in His judgment of those cities. Instead He has a high heart and nothing but words of praise for God! What an exquisite expression of the very meekness He will shortly claim! This is no mere acquiescence: I accept your wisdom, since I have no other alternative. There is no sorrowful, but dutiful, submission that whines, I conform, because I feel that I should. Rather there is joy and satisfaction with Gods plans: I thank youI praise you! The depth of His meekness becomes evident when we examine who it is that stands here rejoicing despite the heartaches in being so limited: the only One who truly knows God and is perfectly understood by God, the One to whom the Father entrusted everything! (Mat. 11:27) Despite these divine prerogatives that might have seemed to guarantee Him the right to expect better treatment and greater success, He accepts being limited this way as part of His mission and the most excellent course.

The things which cause the Lord Jesus to rejoice and give thanks, should give us reason to reflect upon what pleases us. His strange thanksgiving challenges us to inquire into our easy satisfaction with those irrelevant, superficial symbols of success: our great crowds, our spacious cathedrals, our tight schedules, many programs and multitudes of meetings. What does He have to be so triumphantly glad about?

God is His Father and universal Sovereign. No matter what issues the intermediate conflicts may have, the ultimate victory is safely in His hand. There is an unquestionable stabilizing effect in knowing that the Lord of heaven and earth is also our Father, Temporary setbacks, however heartbreaking they be, cannot upset the confidence that is founded on the invincible God! (Cf. Isa. 26:3-4; Psa. 112:7)

Jesus can be grateful that elementary justice is already being done, since the intellectual aristocracy, so proud of its superiority, would for that very reason, be hindered from knowing the eternal truths, whereas the intellectually humble believers would actually recognize the divine wisdom.

Jesus can rejoice in the width of the abyss that separates the supreme majesty of God from the vaunted greatness of earths wise and understanding, who dare pit their limited understanding and unlimited pride against His wisdom and revelations. This contrast merely proves that Gods efforts to save man do not rest in any way upon human intellect. Rather, intellectual talents, instead of being necessary, often get in the way. Jesus can praise God for working out a means of salvation that leaves God completely autonomous and that demands that man surrender his pride in order to understand.

He praises God that He, to whom all heaven and earth owe submission, mercifully stoops to bless the nobodies, the rankest beginner, the babes! For whom does Jesus give thanks? Often we are tempted to thank God for the rich, the powerful, the learned, the beautiful people in our congregations, who are capable of giving an air of success and prosperity to our efforts, whereas He is grateful for those in whom FAITH dwells. He praises God for the marvellous vitality of those humble followers who are willing to brave the worlds scorn in order to do things Gods way.

Paradoxically, Jesus cause for gratitude is the very limitation which had produced His greatest disappointment. Gods plan for saving the teachable was working, even though this means the loss of those who were, by their own choice, unteachable.

Thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding and didst reveal them unto babes. These things involves all that Jesus had been trying to reach. This, in effect is the Gospel whereby men can be saved by trusting God, rather than by accumulating their own merits or depending upon the (presumed) merits of others. While its fundamental concepts are relatively simple and within the grasp of all, this message is not designed to appeal only to the ignorant, but rather to the humble. (cf. 1Co. 2:6-16)

Who are the wise and understanding? They are the aristocratic intellectuals, as well as the common man on the street, who believe they know too much to permit themselves to be duped into committing their lives into the hands of an itinerate, unauthorized rabbi like Jesus of Nazareth. (Study Joh. 7:48-49; Joh. 9:40) The scribes and Pharisees, whose entire life was dedicated to the proposition that the law of Moses and the traditions of the fathers, taken together, constituted the consummate wisdom of the ages, were not open to any new truth that did not sanction and revere the old as they understood it. And, because they refused to humble themselves before the truth preached by the Nazarene, they became the worst of idolaters, satisfying themselves with the half-god of their own imagination: the sum total of their theological deductions and speculations. (Compare the pagans decline: Rom. 1:21-22; Rom. 1:25; Rom. 1:28; Rom. 1:32)

This, of course, involves a preconditioning of pride and arrogance in order to be able to shut ones eyes to evidence. It also forces the wise and understanding to create another view of the universe that explains away the force of the facts and proof that contradict their pet theories and traditions. (Study Mat. 12:22-24; Mat. 9:32-34) But, in so doing, they move away from reality (as represented by Jesus), thus creating for themselves a world of unreality in which they choose to live. But to set ones mind against truthwhether physical, cosmic or ethical truthcauses a fearful hardening of the heart which blinds to those realities the individual who does it. It causes Him to manipulate the truth to suit himself. He will even rearrange God, His Word and His universe in his mind, molding them according to the dictates of the system he is substituting for Gods. So many care not at all for truth: they neither long for it nor care about falsity (unless falsity brings them some immediate discomfort!) They are controlled principally by desires. (Cf. 2Pe. 2:3; 2Pe. 2:10-19; 2Pe. 3:3; Jas. 1:6-8; Jas. 1:13-15; Jas. 4:4; 1Pe. 2:11; 1Pe. 4:2-3) They live by wishful thinking in this denial of unwelcome reality presented by the Lord. Despite the temporary and apparent relief from responsibility to recognize and live with reality, the tendency to ignore a reality hardens one to it. Airport noise, glue factories, alarm clocks, etc., are no longer noticed, if ignored long enough. There are none so blind as those who will not see, true enough, but it produces even deeper darkness to say We see, while remaining indifferent or openly hostile to Gods truth revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. (Cf. Joh. 9:39-41; 2Co. 3:12 to 2Co. 4:6)

It is also quite natural for the wise and understanding to band together. Because they like to think this way, they encourage others to join them in an elite club of the worldly wise. Those who are reluctant to relax their grip on reality (i.e. the world as God reveals it through Jesus) are cajoled, embarrassed, black-mailed and otherwise threatened, (Cf. Joh. 9:22-34; Joh. 7:45-52; Joh. 12:9-11) The result is but a conspiracy against God and His people. (Cf. Joh. 16:1-4; Act. 4:23-31, etc.) Substitute theories are popularized and termed scientific explanations. Even though contrary evidence is presented, it is scorned, suppressed, and its apologists persecuted, harassed, demoted or simply ignored.

Further, the wise and understanding naively believe their lives to be very much under control. Paradoxically, a man will not stop sinning until he admits that he cannot stop. This is why the wise and understanding will remain what they are until they are willing to admit that they have been ignorant, deceived and conceited, until they confess that their human wisdom was leading them even further from Gods truth, until they see that man is not the center of the universe nor the measure of all things, So it is that, when a man admits that he cannot stop trusting his own understanding and comes to Jesus, saying, Lord teach me, only then does he really find the power to depend upon the Lords wisdom.

Thou . . . didst reveal them unto babes. Who are the babes? They are not merely those unlearned, common men who made up the large percentage of Jesus disciples (cf. Act. 4:13; Joh. 7:45-49), but those who are willing to consider themselves as such. (Mat. 18:3-4; Luk. 18:17) Babes are those who are intelligent enough not to be so presumingly certain of their own conclusions, who are honest enough to admit the fine possibility that they do not know everything, even about the most common matters, whose general attitude is one of openness and willingness to learn. Babes are those who can learn from any and every one regardless of their own personal educational achievement, but who are critical enough themselves to be able to distinguish truth from error, good from bad advice, the precious from the worthless. Babes are those who are willing to judge the case on the weight of the evidence, rather than distort the evidence to suit their own preconceptions. Babes can see that, as sinners, their lives are unmanageable, out of control, that they have made a mess of them. In short, they are men who can say with clear minds, but in deep revulsion of themselves, I am a sinnerI have sinned. Babes are men whose minds are not so thoroughly jammed with false notions that have to be unlearned before divine truth can enter. The Lord can do a great deal with man whose thinking is relatively unencumbered with the educated nonsense expounded by the arrogant pseudo-intellectuals. But since most of us are troubled with the incompleteness and relative accuracy of much of our best information, Jesus is not so much concerned with the amount of true knowledge we have, but He is very much concerned with our attitude toward the truth that we think we possess.

How is it that God hides truth from the wise and understanding? Can He be just if He does this? How can He be justified in condemning those who do not see the truth which might have saved them? There are two sides to the answer:

Suppose we never arrive at a satisfactory answer to this question. It may well be difficult, by pondering and logic, to fathom how God is said to hide the truth from some men. We may never find out just how God could harden Pharaohs heart (cf. Exo. 7:3; Exo. 9:12; Exo. 10:1; Exo. 10:20; Exo. 10:27; Ex. 11:20; Rom. 9:14-18) or open Lydias (Act. 16:14). But even if so, until we do understand, we find ourselves before an excellent case of the necessity to trust God where our limited understanding fails to comprehend all parts of His plans or falls short of grasping the wisdom behind His choices. Were we to go no further, we could still answer the above questions by saying, In terms of human understanding of justice, it may not seem right that God should hide the truth from some men and reveal it to others, but because I have learned to trust God on the basis of the evidence Jesus gives, I will also trust Him to be just and know what He is doing in this matter too.

But is the problem clearly stated? In the same way that particular predestination wrongly states its case elsewhere, so also here. Jesus is not referring to particular individuals who merely happen to be wise and understanding, but to classes of conceited people who, because of their vaunted culture and enlightenment, reject Gods revelation. Any individual who overestimates the importance of his learning and experience and counts himself to be erudite and worldly wise in the sense rejected by Jesus, and puts himself into this class, will find himself strangely blinded and quite unable to see any lasting significance in Gods message. So, it is not true that God hides His life-giving truth from certain unfortunate individuals, thus predestining them to eternal damnation, while, at the same time, revealing His wisdom to other individuals, so saving them. Were particular election true, this entire passage could have no sense, since Jesus is lamenting the fate of people who could have chosen to repent. But if they could not have changed their personal, eternal destiny by repentance, according to the theory, Gods Son had been wasting His efforts on them without knowing it!

Or, on the other hand, to state the problem differently, so as to get closer to its solution, has God set in motion certain natural, psychological laws, programmed into the human mind, whereby His truth can be assessed by EVERY mind? If all human brains operate in more or less the same way, then, seeing or failing to see Gods truth revealed in Jesus Christ is not a question of the superior performance or functioning of the receiving equipment (the human intellect), nor the range of the transmitter (God), but of the willingness of the receivers operator to turn on and tune his set. If all the radios operate more or less the same way and are so constructed as to pick up the frequency on which God is transmitting is it Gods fault if some men turn Him off by dialing another frequency? The responsibility lies, then, with the hand that changes the dial.
But if this be the case, then how is it true that Thou didst hide these things? That is, if man himself hides the truth from his own eyes, how can it be said that God did this? As suggested above, because God created the human mind with its particular characteristics, He is responsible for knowing its limitations. Further it was He that chose to reveal truth that can only be received by humble, honest minds. He resolved that the Word of life shall not be broadcast so as to be intercepted on the channels of human wisdom, prudence or understanding. In a word, by limiting His broadcasting to this one frequency, God hid these things from the wise and understanding, because they are far too sure that all significant truth must come through human thought and discovery. Men were convinced that divine wisdom had to be announced by philosophers, sage rabbis, priests or kings, but when God sent a simple Galilean carpenter, this they could not accept. So, Jesus is discussing the inclination (or disinclination) to open ones mind to accept revelation, not the strength of that mind or ones intellectual gifts.

How does God reveal truth to babes? The word reveal is the key to the fundamental difference between the wise and the babes: what are men willing to have told to them that they do not already think they know? If men believe they already know all there is to know that is significant, then revelation to them is impossible. However, God has chosen revelation as His means of communication, and by so doing, has quite literally hidden His truth from all those who choose not to be told anything they do not already know and approve. (See on Mat. 11:14; Mat. 13:10-17) At the same time, His truth gets through to all the rest. The express purpose of the Gospel is to dethrone self and enthrone God in mens hearts. Had the Father made the Kingdom of God the prize for human scholarship, then its message would have been grasped only by the few great intellectuals, but in this case it would have become the object of human achievement and the stimulus to pride and self-sufficiency. Such an approach would have defeated the purpose the Gospel was intended to accomplish. But by addressing His message to all who are humble, the Lord brings it within reach of everyone who is willing to descend from his throne and exalt God to His rightful place. Luk. 10:23-24 indicates how distance in time from Jesus of Nazareth kept some men from seeing Gods truth perfectly revealed, a limitation of which they were not responsible, but by which they were nonetheless hindered. But the blessing pronounced upon the disciples was occasioned, not by the accident of birth that chanced to drop them into the same time schedule on earth with Jesus, but because they permitted themselves actually to perceive in Jesus what the self-praising religious analysts were unable to fathom, because these latter were unwilling to acknowledge it. Mat. 13:16-17 clarifies this concept: Blessed are your eyes BECAUSE THEY SEE . . . For example, God revealed Jesus true identity and mission to Peter, while this same vital information remained unpalatable and, consequently, unappreciated and unknown to the Jewish hierarchy! (Cf. Mat. 16:17; 1Co. 2:8.) But the same evidence God gave Peter was also at the disposal of the scholars. The difference in the evaluations lay in the evaluators.

Christianity is for the weak. The problem is that men dislike the awful tension of being weak in a world that demands that they be strong. As a result, they are greatly tempted to prove themselves strongto themselves and othersby illegitimate means that equivocate their dependence upon God or anyone else. Least of all does anyone wish to admit his own intellectual inferiority and dependence. But in the presence of the Almighty, one can hardly confess anything else but weakness, inferiority and dependence. It is a shame that so many miss the point of this sort of confession, when they suppose that to admit this means to deny some part of their essential humanity. But belief does not require intellectual dishonesty or mediocrity to have validity, just intellectual humility. Christ can make weak men strong, if they but confess their need of Him and seek His power. (Cf. Jer. 1:6-7; 2Co. 11:30; 2Co. 12:9-10) Irreligious people who seem so strong are often people who have not been tested, are yet young enough, rich enough to maintain a substantial level of autonomy. But just let some of these factors fall below subsistence levels and put them through some real crises that try mens souls and then judge their strength. Unbelief is no evidence of a persons intellectual superiority or of some inadequacy in the evidence upon which faith could be founded. Unbelief may only be proof of the unbelievers prejudiced standpoint, his own limited grasp of the available information and his unbounded self-esteem. Jesus does not condemn intellectual excellence any more than He condemns the mere possession of wealth. But He does point out the danger inherent in both: idolatry. He who bows before a mental concept of his own devising is no less an idolator than the man who kneels at Mammons altar.

The Apostle Paul could measure the exact distance between the wise and understanding and the babes, between the effects of a false education and viewpoint, and the knowledge of Christ, because he had personally covered that distance in his own spiritual pilgrimage. When he announced his estimate of the Jewish tradition at its highest, most scholarly level, he describes it as rubbish (Php. 3:8), not because Hebrew culture was deliberately false or calculatingly wicked but because of its false view of reality in rejecting Gods Messiah. The scholars of Jesus day could give a number of apparently valid reasons for rejecting the untenable claims of that Nazarene, reasons that would have been perfectly consistent within the framework of the accepted system of thought. But once reality broke through this system that was permeating Pauls mind, when he met Jesus face to face on the Damascus highway, he was shocked with the realization that his perfectly consistent system was based upon a false premise that ignored true reality (as opposed to the imagined reality in the Jewish system that invented a Messiahship for God to respect.) Saul of Tarsus bowed before the evidence, while many of his brilliant contemporaries did not.

Jesus could see the future judgment with unerring eye and rejoiced because the very laws, which were set in motion to save the saveable, were functioning perfectly. People were actually coming into Gods Kingdom in Gods way! The proud, the unrepentant, those who deemed themselves wise and understanding, the self-satisfied, those who sat on both the throne and cathedra of their own lives, those, in short, who refused Gods rule and wisdom, were damning themselves. The Kingdom of God was right on course! (Study notes on Mat. 3:2; Mat. 3:15; Mat. 4:17) Those whom God wanted to be savedthe little people who had so little other chance for greatness or godliness in this life, but who wanted to do things Gods waythese were really grasping the fundamental truth of Gods message. The publicans, the harlots, the demon-possessed, the simple, common people of the land, because of their open-hearted response to Jesus, stood out in bold contrast with the Pharisees and others who made laws for God to keep! Nevertheless, Jesus puts no premium upon either ignorance or stupidity as qualifications for recognizing His divine wisdom. Intellect, per se, is no disqualification, nor are all simple people qualified. Intellectual power or its opposite are simply immaterial, for Jesus is describing the MORAL qualifications of the individual who would be examining His revelations. A man does not have to be either an intellectual or a simpleton to be able to trust Jesus, just humble, whatever his intellectual gifts or deficiencies.

God in his wisdom chose not to save the comparatively righteous or to damn the relatively wicked. He elected to remove the old man completely, since, when judged by absolute perfection, he can only be condemned, because he does not measure up. Therefore, it is only when we stop justifying ourselves and judging ourselves somehow to be worthy, when we stop living by our self-rule and stop walking by sight, when we begin life under Jesus direction, that we can see what God is trying to tell us about life and truth. The trouble with the wise and understanding is that they think they have sufficient understanding, that they are already righteous in any way that is really important, that they have enough. (Cf. Rev. 3:17; 1Co. 4:8) They want to preserve something worthy in themselves and not surrender to death, letting the whole life be sacrificed. The news that God has already condemned ALL men is totally unacceptable to them. After all, they argue, were no great sinners! But the greatest of all sins is to be conscious of none. The very next scene which chronologically takes place in the house of Simon the Pharisee, so well illustrates this problem. (Study Luk. 7:36-50) Look at that woman standing at Jesus feet, without any pretenses or demands, weeping in appreciation of her Lord and fully knowing that Jesus knows all about her. She is not trying to save face: she would save her soul! Then, by contrast, study the Pharisee who feels no sin. How little he understood, how little he loved, how little he repented, how little he was forgiven! The babe is one who is willing to come out in public, even in the house of hypocrites, and admit his sin, wanting to do anything for Jesus,even wash feet while listening to the sarcastic remarks of others. Such are willing, as was the Prodigal Son, even to face ones own self-righteous older brother.

Wise and understanding . . . babes. Even though the Master uses these categories to describe widely contrasting attitudes people have toward truth, it does not follow that any individual who finds himself in one or the other class will always remain there. The very work of the Gospel proclamation involves dealing with those prejudices held by any who feel that their own wisdom, their own reasons, are sufficient to reject Jesus. And if such people hear the Gospel presented often enough and persuasively enough, they may be induced to admit the folly of their wisdom and turn themselves over to Jesus after all. Further, a person who was once open to the tender appeals of the Lord may someday awaken to the realization that the Lord no longer really dominates his life and this former babe has then become wise and understanding in his own eyes, so much so that even Jesus Himself can no longer make Himself understood to this man. This former babe, now well-versed in Christianity, has made himself insensitive to the call of God, despite his constant familiarity with it. The Apostles were constantly doing battle with their own understanding of Jesus and His program. (Cf. Luk. 9:45; Luk. 18:34; Gal. 2:11 ff.) Ones own self-satisfaction (I know enough, I am good enough, I am doing enough), is just as blinding to spiritual light today as religious pride in Jesus day. This is why we must consent to die to self and live only for Him. To become and remain what Jesus means when He speaks of babes, we must be willing to say, The self that I thought so righteous, justly deserved death. I accept the sentence of death and die to my rationalizations, self-defence and self-rule. I now submit my understanding to the test of the truth that Jesus guarantees, always remembering that I may well have an imperfect grasp even of His truth. This is why Christs servant must constantly ask himself whether he is eager to learn new truth that he did not already know, whether he really be prompt to obey and sensitive to Jesus desires.

God has always been using babes, the few, the foolish, the weak, to confound the strength, numbers and wisdom of the self-confident. (Cf. Isa. 29:14; 1Co. 1:19; 1Co. 1:26 ff,; 1Co. 2:6 ff.; 1Co. 3:18-21; Psa. 8:3 and notes on Mat. 21:16) The Lord had chosen these unknown, trusting men to pit them against all the wisdom, wealth and power of the foremost leaders in Israel, and ultimately, in the world. Jesus may have been rejoicing to see that the establishment of the Kingdom on earth was first to be done by poor, weak instruments (as the powerful of earth would judge them), for He could see that even this tactic would be a strong argument in its favor, for men would be drawn to admit that the greatness of the power operative in such a movement must be Gods! (2Co. 1:9; 2Co. 4:7; 2Co. 12:9-10) But never let that calumny stand that would scorn them as unlearned, common men (Act. 4:13)! Though they had studied in no recognized school of the day, they sat under the unique instruction of the only Rabbi accredited by the Father.

What effect would this prayer have had upon the disciples who heard it? Would they have immediately grasped the great issues that are involved here? Perhaps the Lord said more than Matthews summary includes, in which case they might have sensed more readily the Masters meaning. That He should give praise and thanks to God for such relatively insignificant men as these, must have touched them deeply.
Bruce (Training, 102, 103) takes another point of departure. Instead of looking at the theological objections levelled at Jesus by the hierarchy, he examines the objections they may have had to His methods and procedure. Consider also his application:

The reference in the thanksgiving prayer of Jesus to the wise and prudent suggests the thought that these evangelistic efforts were regarded with disfavour by the refined, fastidious classes of Jewish religious society. This is in itself probable. There are always men in the church, intelligent, wise and even good, to whom popular religious movements are distasteful. The noise, the excitement, the extravagances, the delusions, the misdirection of zeal, the rudeness of the agents, the instability of the convertsall these things offend them. . . .

None of the wise and prudent knew half so well as Jesus what evil would be mixed with the good in the work of the kingdom. But He was not so easily offended as they. The Friend of sinners was ever like Himself. He sympathized with the multitude, and could not, like the Pharisees, contentedly resign them to a permanent condition of ignorance and depravity. He rejoiced greatly over even one lost sheep restored; and He was, one might say overjoyed, when not one, but a whole flock, even began to return to the fold. . . . His love was strong and where strong love is, even wisdom and refinement will not be fastidious.

. . . Another class of Christians, quite distinct from the wise and prudent, in whose eyes such evangelistic labours as these of the twelve stand in no need of vindication, Their tendency, on the contrary, is to regard such labours as the whole work of the kingdom, Revival of religion among the neglected masses is for them the sum of all good-doing. Of the more still, less observable work of instruction going on in the church they take no account. Where there is no obvious excitement, the church in their view is dead, and her ministry inefficient. Such need to be reminded that there were two religious movements going on in the days of the Lord Jesus. One consisted in rousing the masses out of the stupor of indifference, the other consisted in the careful, exact training of men already in earnest, in the principles, and truths of the divine kingdom. Of the one movement the disciples, i.e. both the twelve and the seventy, were the agents; of the other movement they were the subjects. And the latter movement, though less noticeable, and much more limited in extent, was by far more important than the former; for it was destined to bring forth fruit that should remainto tell not merely on the present time, but on the whole history of the world.

If Bruces observations seem to miss the main point Jesus is making, let it be remembered that we have yet a great deal to learn from the Lord, especially about methods, and it is often at this point that we need to acknowledge our ignorance and, as babes, learn from Him.

Mat. 11:26 Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. This subordinate clause depends upon Mat. 11:25 for its principle verb (exomlogomai, I praise and thank thee) and provides us Jesus second expression of thanks or praise for the Father. Whereas before He praised Him for His absolute sovereignty, here the Sons emphasis is upon Gods good pleasure, His eudoka. (Cf. uses of eudoka in Luk. 2:14; Php. 1:15; Php. 2:13; 2Th. 1:11; Eph. 1:5; Eph. 1:9 unites these two concepts of the absolute sovereignty of His will and the emotional impact of Gods pleasure. See also Luk. 12:32; 1Co. 1:21; Col. 1:19)

Barnes personal expression of confidence in the wisdom of God is worthy of repetition here. (Matthew-Mark, 123)

(The proud and haughty scribes and Pharisees) rejected his gospel, but it was the pleasure of God to reveal it to obscure and more humble men. The reason given, the only satisfactory reason, is, that it so seemed good in the sight of God. In this the Savior acquiesced . . . and in the dealings of God it is fit that all should acquiesce. Such is the will of God is often the only explanation which can be offered in regard to the various events which happen to us on earth . . . (it) is the only account which can be given of the reason of the dispensations of his grace. Our understanding is often confounded. We are unsuccessful in all our efforts at explanation. Our philosophy fails, and all that we can say is, Even so, Father, for so it seems good to thee. And this is enough. That GOD does a thing, is, after all, the best reason which we can have that it is right. It is a security that nothing wrong is done; and though now mysterious, yet light will hereafter shine upon it like the light of noonday. I have more certainty that a thing is right if I can say that I know such is the will of God, than I could have by depending on my own reason.

One of the clearest lessons of this text is that Jesus does not expect to save the whole world. It tears at His great heart, but He will not relent. Even though He yearns to rescue everyone, yet He is willing to say even here, Not my will, but yours, be done. He is grateful that this psychological law, which permitted Gods truth to be concealed even while it was being revealed, was Gods idea, Gods will. (Study 1Co. 1:30; 2Co. 4:4)

B. MAJESTIC SELF-REVELATION (11:27)

How can Jesus be so sure that this psychological law, which automatically excludes the proud Pharisee while at the same time opens Gods truth to the humble disciple, is in perfect agreement with the eternal counsel of God? This critical question receives its resounding answer in the magnificent claim now expressed.

Mat. 11:27 All things have been delivered unto me of my Father. What were all things that were delegated to the Son? Plummer (Luke, 283) is right to notice that it is arbitrary to confine the panta (i.e. all things) to the potestas revelandi (i.e. right to reveal. See also the expository sermon Rest in a Restless World which follows.)

All authority in heaven and on earth (Mat. 28:18; Heb. 2:8-9 : Dan. 7:14; 1Co. 15:24-28; Joh. 3:27-36).

Power on earth to forgive sins (Luk. 5:24).

Right to be Lord of the living and the dead (Rom. 15:8-9).

Inheritance of all things (Heb. 1:2; Heb. 2:10; 1Co. 8:6).

All glory and honor, a position superior to angels (Heb. 1:4; Php. 2:9-11).

The responsibility to suffer for all (Heb. 2:8-9).

The headship over the Church (Eph. 2:22).

The authority to judge all men (Joh. 5:22).

There could be many more. Nevertheless, the most important prerogative claimed by Jesus in this context is primarily the unique knowledge of God. Such a claim is common in Johns Gospel (cf. Joh. 3:35; Joh. 6:46; Joh. 7:29; Joh. 10:14-15; Joh. 13:3; Joh. 17:2; Joh. 17:25), but so utterly unique in so outspoken a form in the Synoptic Gospels (although there are numerous allusions and a few widely-scattered but clear declarations like this one), that this claim has been rejected by some as a genuine utterance of the Lord. However, no critical evidence in the manuscripts can be presented to undermine its authenticity as part of Matthews Gospel. It can only be discredited in circles where prejudice makes its truth unwelcome. It is interesting to notice that this kind of claim has never been popular in intellectual circles because, if Jesus is right, such a statement declares false or, at best, totally inadequate mens best efforts to arrive at absolutes and truth without going by way of Jesus. And the wise and understanding just do not like to be told that they are wrong. Some of the best brains of Jesus day used this kind of utterance against Him to crucify Him. It is Jesus highest claim to exclusive knowledge of God. We must feel this exclusiveness: it puts us on the outside. My Father speaks of a relationship shared by no other (Cf. Joh. 5:17-18) The Son refers to One who is unique among all other sons of God.

Is Jesus speaking here of a past fact (have been delivered) or by anticipation? That is, did He at that moment actually possess all that He claims? Yes, because He sees the Fathers sending Him to earth and committing all these tremendous responsibilities to Him as one act. All the pain and glory that is involved in being the Son of God was part of His commission.

Lenski (Matthew, 454), citing Luther, points out the perfect balance in Jesus deity and perfect humanity:

By this he indicates that he is true man, who has received them from the Father. For neither would God deliver all things to one who was only man, nor would one who was only God received them from another. For neither is it possible for one who is only man to be over all things, nor for one who is only God to be beneath God. Thus in this one person true God and true man are joined together.

Luther argues his case well but we must also weigh Jesus next statement into our conclusions.

No man knoweth the Son. This very assertion gives us reason to re-study and re-examine all that we thought we ever knew about Him. As we struggle to understand Jesus divine and human nature, and as we try to comprehend His earthly ministry and interpret His message, we must hold lightly our own interpretations, lest they become more decisive in our deliberations, than the very Word of Christ itself. Though He came to earth with the specific intention to reveal God, and though He let Himself be seen, heard and studied, there was always that other side of Jesus, His infinite deity that staggers mens minds and keeps Him just beyond their complete grasp of His nature. Note how unobstrusively Matthew admits to being one of those very few Galileans who did not presume to know all there was to know about the Master. He simply quotes Jesus words without qualification or personal reservation. He might have said, as do modern critics in their estimates of the historical Jesus, His affirmation, that no one really understood Him, may have been true when He said it, but we have Him figured out now! The favored cities of Galilee too thought they knew Jesus, but their conceit prohibited them from recognizing anything more in Him than just another Nazarene carpenter, or perhaps as another Galilean rabbi whose opinions were to be added to the ever-growing body of scribal traditions. But lest we hide our own limited knowledge behind repeated criticisms of the unbelieving Jews, let us ask ourselves whether, with our greatly increased opportunities to know the completed revelation as presented and explained by the Apostles in the NT, we have done any better. Do we know the Son, His attitudes, His methods, what He was trying to get us to understand about God, the world, sin, life and eternity?

Neither doth any know the Father save the Son. Feel the stupendous impact of this bold declaration made by a young Hebrew who stands before the entire world and cries, If you would really know the heart, mind, nature and will of God, look at me! Come to ME, learn from ME. I am the only Person who really knows God! All who came before me are liars, thieves and robbers. (Cf. Joh. 14:9; Joh. 1:18; Joh. 10:1; 1Jn. 5:20) The grand significance of this statement is that there is no God but the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! We must believe that Jesus is the exclusive authority and our only necessity, for, if He is right, there can be no other way back to God than through Him. (Joh. 14:6) People demand free-thought, because they do not want Jesus authority over their lives. But if they would see God, they must honor the Son by submitting themselves totally to His authority! (Joh. 5:23-24) And Christians cannot rule their lives and still call themselves His disciples, for Jesus recognizes no peer nor rival. But His authority or right to rule is implicit in His knowledge and revelation of the Father. This claim must have been positively scandalous to Jesus Hebrew audience, for He is claiming a knowledge of God that no prophet, seer or sage either before or after Him, could pretend.

And he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him. Jesus own thanksgiving (Mat. 11:25-26) certifies that His own will is in perfect agreement with the Fathers good will, hence those to whom Jesus wills to reveal these mighty truths are the babes of Mat. 11:25. There is here no arbitrary selection of certain persons to Whom this knowledge is granted. Rather, Jesus graciously invites all men, trying to lead them to lay aside their prejudices, His grace is sincerely offered to every man, but He has chosen that only those who are humble shall receive it. His will remains a closed book to condemn those who can, but will not, study it, because their lives are occupied with other things, their minds already jammed with human wisdom. The Son willeth (boltai). There is a choice that has been made. Jesus decided not to give the same intimate revelation to those who prove themselves definitely wicked, as He would to those who submit to Him as trusting disciples. So this declaration is all of a piece with the presuppositions inherent in everything Jesus has been saying throughout this entire passage. That none are to be excluded, except by the exercise of their own will, is proved by the universality of the following invitation. (See on Mat. 11:28) Yet, as Carver (Self-Interpretation, 98) points out:

It is a thousand pities that men have paused at this point in the pouring out of His soul in anguish of longing to make men know the Fatherpaused to build metaphysical theories in theology while the Redeemers heart breaks with longing for lost men who will not heed. . . . He is as far as possible from thinking of barring any from the Father. He is setting before Himself the problem of how to get men to this knowledge that gives eternal life. It is the cry of the Savior, not the dogma of a theologian, that we hear from Him. He knows the Father, He is in a world in which He finds no man who knows Him, all men must know Him of they have missed the whole meaning of life and had better never have been born

He must make them know His Father. . . . How? . . . He offers Himself as the way to the Father.

D. PLEADING, UNIVERSAL INVITATION (11:2830)

How does this passage fit together with the sections preceding it? Only the fact that Jesus possesses full authority qualifies Him to issue this universal invitation. The connection is perfect, since Jesus has just described Himself as the only One qualified to reveal the Father. Now He invites all men to be His students.
To whom is this invitation addressed? All ye that labor and are heavy laden. Upon first reading, this attractive offer seems limited to a single, particular group: the down-trodden, oppressed masses. But reflection reveals that sooner or later every human being finds himself caught by unexpected changes in life that leave him sorrowing, burdened, anguished and frustrated. The ancient Hebrews had understood this, and they expressed themselves in what makes an excellent and striking background for Jesus bold declaration. (See Sir. 40:1-9) Life itself, with its seemingly interminable and apparently inevitable cares, becomes a galling yoke to those who have no choice but to keep their noses to the grindstone. Even those who are in some measure successful become aware of the fact that they must maintain their success with an even greater expenditure of strength, even though their resources are failing.

It is worthy of note that many of our trials are of our own choosing, because they are based upon some concept of life that holds us firm in that situation. We feel bound by our principles to remain in that situation and suffer the trial. But if it is a false concept of life for which we suffer, in Jesus discipleship it would lose its importance and power, as it would be submerged into reality as Jesus preaches it. Too often men measure life by an unreal standard and then scourge themselves mercilessly for failing to meet it. Ironically, such false standards are not the things that truly matter in the final analysis.
It is not physical work or mental activity that drains us, leaving us weak, frustrated and burdened for one days work. We were designed to workand work well. We function best when we are profitably and contentedly working. But here is the catch; much of our work is neither profitable nor pleasing. And even in our best work we fail to achieve all our goals. Our hopes far exceed our realization. The tedium of routine sets in to dull our interest and increase both our boredom and our fatigue. On the other hand, the goals that Jesus sets before us, and the prospects of realizing them, gives us direction, stimulation, security, and, as a consequence, real rest, even though we may have even more work to do and more responsibility as His disciples than ever before. Life takes on a new significance, even daily tasks glow with new meaning.
But in this Jewish context is Jesus talking about the aches and pains of everyday living? Yes, and more, for His emphasis is also a moral one,
1. He is talking about the moral struggle to live up to the divine standards.

This constant measuring oneself with Gods perfection is a discouraging, heart-breaking disappointment! (Cf. Gal. 5:1; Act. 15:10; Rom. 7:21-24) In the end, without the victory and power of Jesus, ours is a losing battle to be good enough. (See notes on Mat. 5:48 and Notes Introductory to the Sermon on the Mount, Vol. I, pp. 184ff., esp. 190.) This invitation, then, is Christs answer to the dubious and the desperate who are afraid that His ideals are un-reachable. Jesus knows that, without His life in us, there is even more bondage and frustration in trying to imitate Him, than there is in any other law. This is why He invites the hopeless and the skeptics to come to Him, so He can make them over, empowering them to be all that they dream.

But Jesus hearers were not merely struggling with Gods requirements. They were also measuring themselves by human standards mistaken for divine law. (Cf. Mat. 23:4; Luk. 11:46) Carver (Self-Interpretation, 102) describes this:

He was thinking of the drudging burden of the endless round of ceremonial exactions, petty negations, shallow dogmas, formal duties with which the religionists of the day loaded life down until it seemed impossible for the ordinary man to be godly. . . .

Plummer (Matthew, 169) summarizes it:

The scribes could not give rest to souls which He can promise (note the emphatic kag) They bind heavy burdens (phorta) and grievous to be borne, and lay them on mens shoulders (Mat. 23:4); but His burden (phorton) is light. This shows that heavy laden (pephortismnoi) does not refer primarily to the load of sin, but to the burdens which Pharisaic interpretations of the law imposed, and which, after all, gave no relief to mens conscience; . . . The heavy load of observances which gave no relief and perhaps also to the sorrows of life, which, apart from the consolations of a true faith, are so crushing. To those worn out with restless seeking . . . to those who are weighed down with unprofitable burdens . . . (Jesus offered His invitation.)

But that He includes also all of the weary, burdensome toil of sin and the suffering that accompanies it, is evident from the consideration that Jesus discipleship has a unifying power to make us at peace with ourselves. Most of us are walking civil wars, because of our divided heart. We are determined to try to serve both God and Mammon, have our fling with the flesh and still reap a harvest of righteousness in the Spirit. But this tension can only break us, since only Gods world is the true one, only His rules function and bring us true joy. The other name for that tension, wherein we try to live in Gods world and yet run it by our own rules, is sin!

All ye that labor and are heavy laden: here again Jesus shepherd heart expresses His full, deeply-felt compassion for the shepherdless, harassed and helpless sheep. (Cf. Mat. 9:36) And when He says all, He means it with that same generous universality found everywhere in His teaching: Whosoever will, may come. (Cf. Rev. 22:17; Mat. 10:32; Mat. 12:50; Mat. 16:25; Mat. 18:4; Joh. 3:16; Joh. 4:14; Joh. 6:37; Joh. 11:26) Here is your personal invitation: include yourself in this category of all ye that labor. Let no one imagine that he does not come under this invitation or that God might have other plans for saving him. This is it!

Come unto me. The great ones of earth maintain a strict reserve of inaccessibility around them. In contrast, Jesus is not only willing to be approached by just anybody, but even graciously invites us! Imagine a 30-year-old Jew spreading His arms to receive the entire human race, saying, All you who have any problems, come to me and I will help you! Said by any other person, these words either sound ludicrous or border on blasphemy. The Jews were accustomed to this invitation made by Wisdom personified in their literature. (Cf. Pro. 8:1 to Pro. 9:6; Sir. 24:19; Sir. 51:23-27) Further they had even heard great rabbis invite students to come for instruction. But never before had they heard anyone offer himself as the unique solution to all the deepest problems of the human race. As in the case of Jesus miracles, so also here with His claims, truth and justice demand that we dismiss. Him as a raving maniac, crucify Him as an imposter or bow before Him as our God. I will give you rest. This is just like Jesus to help the struggling, the unsuccessful, the weak and unworthy. (Mat. 12:20) Yet this is distinctly Gods work. (Exo. 33:14; Jer. 31:25) How ill the Nazarene conceals His identity, if He wants none to mistake Him for God come in the flesh!

Come to me . . . I will give you rest. The extremely personal nature of this invitation is absolutely amazing, for Jesus presents us no formal system of philosophy or theology, no writings containing abstract theories, no new legal system or package of simple answers to the worlds ills. He knows that we have had enough of that already. Instead, He is offering Himself! No doctrine or philosophy could ever do for us what our intimate fellowship with Jesus can.

Mat. 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. The yoke is a symbol well-known to the Hebrews, standing for control, discipline, obligation and even bondage. (Cf. Isa. 9:4; 1Ti. 6:1; 1Ki. 12:4; Psa. 2:3 LXX; Jer. 5:5; Jer. 27:1 to Jer. 28:17; Psalms of Solomon 7:9; 17:30; Act. 15:10; Gal. 5:1; 2Co. 6:14) We cannot help feeling the contrast in Jesus mind between MY yoke and all the other burdens borne by the weary and heavy-laden. But this very contrast suggests that even Jesus yoke is definitely a kind of control, an obligation, a discipline. If so, then He is making it crystal-clear that He is not merely our Friend and Example. He is to be our Lord and Master. Rather, our new relationship to Him requires of us that we be willing to learn truth from Him and obey His voice, in the same way that the Jews felt their obligation to the Law and discipline of Moses. Take my yoke upon you means that we are to submit to Him by our own free decision and deliberate resolve. Freedom in Christ cannot mean an absence of any control whatever, for that would mean antinomian anarchy. The greatest freedom from that tyranny that would enslave and destroy self is to be found by placing self completely under the dominion of Christ.

Learn of me, stated in clearer modern English is simply: Learn from me. (mthete apemo; cf. Col. 1:7 emthete ap Epafr) Obviously, the rest Jesus offers is not an eternity of boring inactivity, since He envisions a discipleship of learning and activity. The joy of comradeship with the Lord in doing Gods will, in our struggle with temptations and in our efforts to bring men into the Kingdom, is the very kind of labor that leaves our spirits rested and refreshed, even though our work is never completely or perfectly done. But before we could ever hope to begin such a task we must learn from him. Those who know not this fellowship nor this hope, cannot know the psychological strength that comes from it. They can but face the unabated frustrations of the present and the dark unknowns of the future.

What must we learn from Him? Frankly, everything. We see immediately that the righteousness which accords with Gods will is not a ritual consisting in certain external observances but rather a meek and lowly heart. Because He too is a human being, notwithstanding His undoubted deity, we can imitate Him. We find inspiration and motivation to attempt His challenging ideals, because He deliberately set us an example for imitation. (Php. 2:5-8; 1Pe. 2:21 ff.) The yoke and the burden He gives us are His exacting requirements, but with His power working in us, the possibilities of realization are by far so much greater. This Teacher is one who was first a learner Himself. (Heb. 2:14-18; Heb. 5:7-9) He Himself has submitted to the very yoke. He would have us wear. His example not only teaches us how to wear ours well, but, since we have seen the joyous result of His life, we are the more encouraged to shoulder it. (Cf. Heb. 12:3)

Learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart. Jesus is inviting us to investigate His method, meet Him personally and enroll in His school. Tenderly He motivates us to find in Him a Teacher that is kind and patient with slow students. I am meek and lowly in heart. (Cf. Mat. 5:5; Mat. 21:5; Num. 12:3; 2Co. 10:1) Scan the ministry of Jesus and count the times He proved this proposition true. In how many ways did He do things to which no ordinary oriental monarch would have stooped? How did He act in a manner unthinkable to the kind of typical rabbi described in Matthew 23 and Luke 11? Something of the importance of this observation can be felt by analyzing Jesus public reputation as the one who welcomes sinners and eats with them! (cf. Luk. 15:1-2) The Lord is not merely discussing His own personal character here, but also the methods He will use with His disciples, for His methods with each one, grow out of His own, nature. What a contrast He makes to those harsh teachers who only know how to demand that the pupil rise to his duty, but who do not know how to motivate the poor learner to desire above all else to learn how to do what he knows is right. Nor is the Lord satisfied to sit in the cathedra of heaven and dictate lectures on religion and ethics. He is personally concerned that the dullest students, as well as the most brilliant, achieve their own personal best.

These gentle, comforting words, so easy for us to accept now, must have been a message difficult to believe for many in Jesus audience. John the Baptist had hoped that the Christ would have seized the reins of government, destroyed the wicked leadership that was corrupting the nation, and usher in the Kingdom of the Messiah. This was the heart-cry of every Nationalist among Jesus hearers, it was an ambition not entirely absent from the breast of the Apostles. Instead of giving Himself out to be the mighty Messianic Warrior-King ready for violence and civil revolution, the Lord quietly but firmly insisted: I am meek and lowly in heart!

Rest for your souls. While the wise and godly Hebrew sought rest for his soul in the contemplation of wisdom (cf. Sir. 6:18-31, esp. Sir. 6:28; Sir. 51:27), Jesus boldly asserts that true rest is only available to those who learn from HIM. He presumes that only His Word is the true wisdom, the only ultimate truth of real permanence. (Cf. Mat. 11:27; Mat. 7:24-27; Mat. 24:35; Joh. 14:6) Learn from me (and) you will find rest for your souls is no empty promise if He has the right to say this, for one will find no satisfying rest outside of the reality represented in Jesus message. The easy way to do a difficult task is to use the proper methods and equipment. There is nothing so fatiguing, so frustrating and, ultimately, so unsatisfying as to struggle with the difficult task, using inadequate equipment. It is the Lords plan to equip us thoroughly for every good work. (2Ti. 3:16-17) By doing things His way, our struggle to accomplish the very same task, no matter how difficult, becomes easy by contrast to our own inadequate methods. We notice the repose when we change over to His system, because it rests us while we work. But even this simple promise puts to the test the reality of our confidence in Him, for we must decide whose world is real, whose instructions are the true ones. For so long as we continue to do things our way, we will continue to dash ourselves against the harsh realities that contradict our pet notions. So doing, we will never find peace and rest. This promise becomes also a test of our methods even in our service to Him, for if we do not find anything but frustration, disappointment and endless fatigue in the service of Jesus, we need to ask ourselves whether we have really learned His method, share His Spirit and, hence, know His power and victory.

To call this rest merely spiritual, as opposed to physical rest, is a false dichotomy, since man is all of a piece and his spirit lives in a body. Both his spirit and his physical life are involved in his psych, the word here translated soul. Jesus is offering rest for the whole man. This comes in two stages:

Upon simple faith in Jesus as we come to Him for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (cf. 1Co. 1:30-31), we rest from the struggle to prove ourselves good enough to satisfy God. We rest from the harassing guilt of our sins. Our distress and fears are mercifully eliminated as we commit ourselves to His grace. (Cf. Rom. 5:1; Rom. 8:1; 2Ti. 1:12)

There is greater rest in bearing the yoke of Christ, in imitating Him and in becoming conformed to His image, for in so doing, we deny ourselves. The natural result of this is that that selfish clamor for attention and those conflicting desires that kept us constantly at war with ourselves are devaluated and gradually eliminated. Rest from self is rest from every other struggle with temptation. Why? Because we have settled our fundamental question of priorities as to which is most important: what the Father wills for us, or what we demand for self. Obedience to His will liberates us from the indecision and unrest of self-will. Submission to His yoke brings us real rest, since it is the joyous deference to a King whom we know and love as our Father. To obey rests us from the despotism of our desires, the liabilities of liberty and from the conflicts of conscience.

Mat. 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. This is an astounding claim! Jesus is saying that, after all is examined, His way alone is best: Compare my demands upon your life, the discipline to which I call you, and its end results, with those required by any other discipline, and other yoke, any other worldview, and you will find that my discipline, in the long run, is the easiest and the load I place upon you the lightest, Carver (Self-Interpretation, 102) understands how the painfully exacting demands of Jesus can be considered light and easy,

He did not mean to tell us that being a disciple of His is not exacting, nor that true righteousness is an easy task. . . . (But) so soon as religion becomes really possible, it becomes in a sense easy, for when it is genuine its very essence is liberating. . . . No meaningless rules in the school of Jesus. . . . The lessons are light because they are enlightening. They put you in the way of learning deepest truths and highest realities. Pupilsreal studentsnever object to hard lessons; they glory in them. But they want their lessons to have some sense to them, to lead somewhere, to hold clues to lifes mysteries and natures riddles. Any lesson that does that is easy, fascinating.

Easy yoke? Light burden? No hard work seems joyful at the moment, but what training for greater things it produces in those who have been disciplined by it! (Heb. 12:3-11) AFTER he turned himself over to Christ, Paul had more work to do than ever before, but what a difference in the prospects of accomplishment his new attachment to Christ made! Christs yoke is easier, His burden lighter, not in the sense of less toil or difficulty, but in the sense of what is achieved for eternity. It is only the long-range view, which takes eternity into account, that permits one to see that His way really is best, though it be temporarily punctuated with crosses. (2Co. 4:16-18; Heb. 12:2; 1Jn. 5:3) Jesus has never lowered the standard of righteousness to make life easier for anyone. Rather, He actually raised the standard to absolute perfection. Despite this, the burden He places on our shoulders is actually lighter than any other we might choose, because He alters us. He alters our motives for bearing the load, thus giving us power to do it! W. M. Taylor (PHC, XXII 289) suggests that the yoke of Christ is easy:

Because our conscience approves of this burden.

Because love lightens our work, making us less conscious of a load that would otherwise be unendurable.

Because Jesus own Spirit empowers us to bear it.

Because the longer we submit to His discipline, the easier it becomes. What at first required a great deal of effort becomes easy and more enjoyable with time.

Because we are encouraged by a valid, unshaken hope which has power to keep us steady under our discipline, where otherwise we would break and fall.

FACT QUESTIONS

In what sense does Matthew mean that most of Jesus miracles were done in the area of the three Galilean cities?

Were there absolutely no converts made in these cities? Explain.

Locate the cities of Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin.

Locate the cities of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom, describing that part of Bible history regarding those cities that has bearing on Jesus use of them as a basis of comparison.

Explain the cosmology involved in the expression exalted to heaven and brought down to Hades. Is Hades down and heaven up? From what standpoint? If Jesus is really God, hence knows that the earth is spherical, then how can He conscientiously use these terms that are obviously oriented to a flat-earth concept? Or, does physics have anything to do with His basic meaning?

Define Hades, giving its varying shades of meaning, and tell how Jesus uses it to describe the fate of unrepentant cities. Explain how cities can go down to Hades.

What other passages of Scripture show in what sense the expression wise and understanding is to be understood?

What other passages of Scripture help to explain what Jesus means by the term babes?

List the declarations in this section that reveal the divine nature and, authority of Jesus.

10.

Explain how God hides truth and, at the same time, reveals it. Do this by drawing your illustrations from the ministry and results of Jesus.

11.

What is the full content of the expression: All things in the larger context of All things have been given to me by my Father?

12.

When were all things given to Jesus? For how long were they to be His?

13.

In what sense does Jesus mean that none really know Him?

14.

In what sense does only Jesus know the Father?

15.

What is the connection between Jesus grand claims that He makes for Himself and His great invitation offered to all?

16.

Explain the expressions take my yoke upon you and learn of me and my burden is light. What is the yoke and the burden in this context? To what sphere of human endeavor do they refer when used by One who presents Himself to all as Teacher?

EXPOSITORY SERMON CHAPTER ELEVEN LOOKING FOR ANOTHER CHRIST

Introduction:

WHY look for another Christ? Because some are disappointed in the Christ given to us! This is not so surprising in light of the experiences of the people described in this chapter:

THE PERPLEXITY OF THE LOYAL-HEARTED (Mat. 11:2-15)

John the Baptist: If you are really the Messiah, how is it that the world goes on more or less as before, as if you had never come?

This is the statement in other words of the problem of pain and evil: Why does not God DO something about evil in the world, especially about the wicked themselves?

It is similar to the question stabbing the conscience of our age: If you are really the Church of the living God, if you really proclaim a Gospel of salvation and moral transformation that really works, why have you not done more to eliminate evil and initiate a practical demonstration of the rule and love of God on earth? Our age just cannot ignore 2000 years of bad church history with its failures, corruptions and misrepresentations of Jesus.

As with all expressions of the problem of evil, these questions reveal an ignorance and a misapprehension of Gods plans.

In the patient, merciful ministry of Jesus, God WAS doing a great deal about the injustices in the world.

Human intellect had failed to decipher the designs of God.

Johns personal problem was the disproportional exaltation of Jesus divine office as Judge, to the detriment of His merciful human ministry as the Son of man come to seek and save the lost.

The Law, Prophets and John had prepared Israel for the glorious coming of the King.

Jesus had come but apparently nothing was happening that would square with Johns understanding of the coming Christ.

In desperation, John cries out: Are you the coming One?

But Johns faith in the Lord brought him to no other source for answers to his dilemma.

Jesus answer: He appreciated the honest perplexity of His loyal prophet. He corrected His understanding and vindicated him completely. Notice the correction (Mat. 11:6): Tell John that although human intellect has failed to give him complete understanding of his problem, his intellect must submit to the wisdom of my methods and results. If his intellect judges my way not to be the best, it must see what I am accomplishing, even if it means turning his back upon his prejudices about what I should be doing. John must be content to say, Gods methods are against my wisdom: I cannot understand why He does what He does, but I follow because HE leads me, for I have learned to trust Him.

II. THE FICKLENESS OF AN UNREASONABLE AGE (Mat. 11:16-19)

John had come protesting against the falsely-inspired merriment of his age.

Jesus had come refusing to sorrow over the things that made men of His age mourn.

Reaction of people in general: If you are really the Holy One of God, why do you fraternize so familiarly with the rest of us? You are not saintly enough!

One reason for this reaction was the exaggeration of Jesus divine character at the expense of His necessary and true humanity. Men thought that the great God would never so disturb Himself, so befoul Himself as to attend the banquet of a common sinner! Here again human intellect was at fault.

Another reason is that human emotion is falsely stimulated. Men sought the inspiration of their joys and sorrows in the wrong places.

Jesus answer: Human emotion must seek my inspiration, must learn to dance to my music, and mourn to my lamentation. The age must discover that the only way into the Kingdom of God is that of beginning to rejoice where hitherto there had been no joy; to mourn where hitherto there had been no mourning . . . Men must be done with dancing to the wrong music, with mourning over unimportant things.

E. The Lord committed to the judgment of time that age dissatisfied with wisdom contrary to its fickle tastes and capricious emotions.

III. THE IMPENITENCE OF THE MOST FAVORED CITIES (Mat. 11:20-24)

Their reaction: You cannot be taken too seriously as the voice of God. We plan to run our lives much as we have been doing it before you came along!

Here is the depreciation of Jesus divine authority and the demotion of the King to the level of any other human being.

Although these towns had personally witnessed Jesus triumph over sin and its results that were causing the suffering in their midst, they did not recognize in His mastery a perpetual protest against their own sins. They remained rebels against God.

Here is the refusal of the will to submit to the control of God in Christ.

Jesus answer: Your great opportunities make you so much more responsible before God for what you know, therefore your punishment for impenitence will be so much more severe! Change your mind about what I am teaching you: turn back upon your false concepts of the Kingdom of God and submit to His rule now!

IV. THE FOLLY OF THE WISE AND THE WISDOM OF THE BABES (Mat. 11:25-30)

The wise and prudent reaction: Any fool knows that yours is no way to establish a kingdom! Your program does not rhyme with any standard rabbinical formula of how the messianic kingdom has to be.

This is the refusal of human intellect to bow, acknowledging its own ignorance.

The net result is the reduction of Jesus to less than a human prophet, for the wise see in this Nazarene something less than a sage whose advice should at least be considered.

The reason for this reaction is that God gives His greatest blessings only to the humble, but the human heart protests against the thought of starting all over again by being born again. People demand a religion that may be grasped as a prize for intellectual achievement; a religion that permits them to give full vent to their passions; a religion that grants them the dignity of their own self-will. But Christ demands that man surrender his darkened intellect, his vulgarized emotions and his prostituted will, so that he might begin again as a little child. .

C. Who is a little child?

He is an ignorant man asking instruction.

He is an emotional person seeking proper inspiration.

He is a will searching for authority.

He is a weak one seeking power.

He is imperfect, but looking for perfection.

He trusts Jesus to lead him to find all this and more.

APPLICATION: How do people of our age look for another Christ?

By letting the disappointments and failures in our personal Christian life turn us aside from the Christ who actually came:

Do we have no assurance of forgiveness and relief from our guilt and sins?

Do we fail to find the joy and brightness we expected?

3. What kind of Christ did we expect? Does our image differ from the reality?

By letting the general condition of the world blind us to the real Christ and His purposes.

Jesus came to save the world and yet the larger portion of it not only remains unsaved but is also growing larger in proportion to the total population. How can He let this go on?

If you look for another Christ, what kind of Messiah could alleviate the human predicament better than Jesus is now doing?

We are not actually expecting the coming of another Christ that is not to be identified with Jesus of Nazareth, but the Jesus Christ whom we know will return in another form! (See Act. 1:11; Php. 3:20-21)

When He comes, He will only seem to be another Christ different from the humble Galilean we once knew.

He will be a Christ whom most men had never believed in.

He will be a Christ whom most never expected to see come.

But He will be the very Christ whom John the Baptist said would come in blazing glory.

But He will appear in His power and majesty to bring to a glorious conclusion the mission which He undertook in shame and weakness.

He has never changed His mission: it has ever been His intention to make righteousness to triumph over sin and get Gods will done.

The same Jesus who was crucified in shame, raised in glory and now reigns at the Fathers right hand, is even now perfecting His mission with an eye to that day when He will come for His saints.

D. What then is to be our reaction?

We must ask ourselves, Am I willing to admit my ignorance and ask instruction; am I willing to yield my emotional nature and take only His inspiration, dancing only to His piping, and mourning only to His lamentation; am I willing to take my will and submit it wholly to His authority; am I willing to take the place of unutterable weakness and depend upon His strength? Am I willing to confess my absolute and utter imperfection and give myself to Him for perfecting of all that concerns me?

This is the passage from proud independence to simple confession of weakness. So men enter into this Kingdom. So men find their rest. . . . Our very pre-eminent respectability prevents the definite daring necessary to get into Gods Kingdom. We are prone to drift upon easy seas, to admire the visions of the beautific land, consent to the beauties of the great ideal, and never enter in because we will not . . . consent to yield to the claim of the King..

Let this be the hour when you have done with your dilettante fooling with sacred things. Let this be the night when you translate your sickly anemic imagination into grip, force, go and determination.

(The above outline and some of its points were suggested by G. C. Morgans sermon The Kingdom By Violence in 26 Sermons by Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, Vol. II, p. 229ff.)

Another outline of this chapter might be:

JESUS JUDGES HIS CONTEMPORARIES AND HIMSELF

John the Baptist (Mat. 11:2-15): More than a prophet!

II.

His people in general (Mat. 11:16-19): Like children!

III.

The most favored cities (Mat. 11:20-24): Damned!

IV.

The simple disciples (Mat. 11:25-30): Learned!

Himself (Mat. 11:20-30): The Unique Hope of the Race!

EXPOSITORY SERMON CHAPTER ELEVEN
REST IN A RESTLESS WORLD (11:2030)

Introduction:

The newspapers of the world report riots that picture the great unrest of our world. In the great cities of the world every day is heard news of strikes, riots, protest movements, wars and famines. We wonder where this will all lead to or when it will end. Mens hearts faint for the fear and anxiety over the things that are coming over the world. And why should that be?

There is NO REST IN OUR RESTLESS WORLD, BECAUSE THERE IS NO CERTAINTY.

One woman is uncertain, because another woman could take her husband away from her, and she is not sure that he would not like to go with the other woman!

The student is not sure that he can pass his exams, in order to find a small place in our society,

The worker can not be sure that tomorrow a machine will not take away his position and work for him.

The big industrialist can not be sure that he can hold his wealth.

The politicians can only try to establish a better government, but they can never be sure of the outcome.

In whatever other area we can discuss, there exists no rest-bringing security. We can certainly say that the one thing in our world that is certain, is our UNCERTAINTY! And our uncertainty troubles us!

But over the centuries we hear a mighty voice that says: Come to me! I will give you rest! In our dark world full of care and strife, difficulties and problems, anxieties and fear, these words bring us comfort, inspiration, encouragement and rest.
Let us listen to this voice from a bit closer by. What does Jesus mean to say to us?

JESUS CONDEMNS THE UNBELIEVING BECAUSE THEY DID NOT REPENT (Mat. 11:20-24)

Even though Jesus had fulfilled His commission in this world, yet His own people did not accept Him: they did not repent!

Even though He had done His greatest miracles in their presence, miracles that established His message as Gods personal revelation:

Even though He had revealed Gods will to them, yet they did not repent.

There was no one more joyfully seen, heard and received than Jesus of Nazareth!

They were all ready to make Him their King and establish a worldly messianic kingdom.

They were willing to risk everything to follow Him, rising up against the Roman government, against the hypocritical religion of the Pharisees and chief priests, against all political authority.

They wanted to have a King who could give them bread, miracles and wealth, a place among the greatest empires of the world!

They wanted the SECURITY, that could come through His miraculous power. They wanted His providence and protection, His conquest of all enemies and His divine defence. They wanted to have all this, while THEY REMAINED UNCHANGED IN HEART AND LIFE.

But Jesus sees that they have not understood Him:

He had called them to repentance; they wanted to make Him their servant.

He wanted to put God in them; they wanted Him and God in THEIR service.

Jesus heart is broken over their deep need of repentance and over their unwillingness to repent.

Jesus has so strenuously, so faithfully, so unselfishly, so carefully tried to give them God! And they have neither seen it nor understood!

Is this not a picture of our world?

We want God on OUR conditions: all His blessings, all His goodness, but He does not dare demand our repentance nor our obedience!

Jesus wants to bring us to reality and truth; He wants to create God in us; He wants to put real rest and peace in our heart, but UNDER HIS CONDITIONS: I tell you, unless you all likewise repent, you shall all likewise perish!

But to whom did Jesus say that?

To people that thought that simply to be in the vicinity of Jesus was the same thing as faith and repentance.

To people who thought that common goodness was the same as deep-felt repentance:

(1)

These were more or less better people than those of Sodom, Tyre and Sidon

(2)

But Jesus did not want to make people more or less good, but just as perfect as God Himself! (Mat. 5:48)

To people who thought that culture and enlightenment were sufficient to enjoy the better life.

(1)

They had had the best enlightenment, because they could hear the Truth itself and revelation of Gods will, preached by Jesus Himself!

(2)

But the light against which we sin, will be the measure whereby we will be judged!

(3)

The greatness of the quantity of information that we have received concerning Gods truth, does not release us from the responsibility to repent and trust Jesus!

To people who thought that to do nothing was as sufficient as repenting. Their sin was the sin of refusing to take a positive stand for Jesus Christ!

(1)

How many people today exalt Jesus as a Superman, a Man born before His time, perhaps a great Prophet, yes, even as Gods Son?

(2)

And yet they do nothing with Him! They take no responsibility for what they know about Jesus of Nazareth!

So why does our world have unrest, insecurity, desperation? BECAUSE WE WILL NOT TRUST JESUS AND REPENT!

Let us listen further to His words:

JESUS LAYS DOWN HIS OWN CONDITIONS, WHEREBY WE CAN RECEIVE GODS TRUST AND REST. (Mat. 11:25-26)

Even though He gives us conditions that are absolutely necessary to which we must render whole-hearted and immediate obedience, yet He gives us also His own personal example how we should understand the conditions He requires. What does He do?

He thanks God and rejoices with the Father over the method whereby God chose to reveal His will. This is the grateful acceptance of the will and plans of His Father.

Even though He could not reach the unrepentant people and cities, after thousands of attempts, yet He gives God thanks that God had used this method to reveal Himself and that it was Gods idea.

Even though there were a very few simple people that truly accepted Jesus, yet Jesus THANKS the Father for them.

Jesus recognizes the universal Lordship of His Father. This too is an anchor for our souls, if we acknowledge that there is no place in this universe, no problem in our world over which our God is not fully Master and fully in charge!

Jesus praised and thanked God that His plan really works to save those people who can be taught.

But what is Gods method to save the world? By revealing these eternal truths to humble seekers, to little children.

Who are the wise and understanding of this world, from whom God has hidden His will? These are the people who are wise in their own eyes and proud of their own understanding.

So far as the world could see it was Pilate who was a greater man than Peter, but Jesus could do much more with a Peter than with Pilate!
The high priest Caiaphas went far higher in the human society than Matthew, but that publican could become an Apostle for eternity, because he could forsake everything to follow Jesus!

Who are the little children, to whom God has given great revelations of His will? These are the humble people who open their lives to follow Jesus leadership and accept His teaching.

The doors of Gods Kingdom remain open for those who repent and become little children.

These are the people who admit their ignorance, confess their sins and come to Jesus for forgiveness. (1Co. 1:18-31)

Yes, this is Gods plan and Jesus thanks Him for it.

III

JESUS ACCEPTS THE MORAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE AND PRESENTS HIMSELF AS THE ONLY POSSIBLE REVEALER OF GOD (Mat. 11:27)

All things have been committed to me by my Father.

Perhaps we are caused to think immediately of the glory and royalty of Gods Son, because we know that, at the end of the world, everything will be the inheritance of Jesus.

But here Jesus is not speaking about the glory and wealth that shall be His,

He understands very clearly that the weight of the sins of the whole world have been laid upon HIM!

There is no arrogance here, but an honest bending of the Lord Jesus Himself to take upon Himself the gigantic weight of a lost mankind upon Himself.

He had just seen people, that had had the best possible opportunity to be saved, refuse the call of God.

Perhaps He is reminded of the ancient words of Isaiah: All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned every one to his own way;

And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:6)

Our own unwillingness to repent was laid upon Gods Son!

Yes, the government will be upon his shoulder, but the insignia thereof are not the colorful flags and marching eagles of a great empire, but the bleeding stripes by which we are healed!

Yes, all things have been committed to Jesus by His Father: the moral responsibility for all men just like they are: in their sins, their dying and in their deep need for repentance and redemption!

This is why we are not surprised about what Jesus says next:

No one knows the Son but the Father!

Here is a cry that comes out of the loneliness of the Lord Jesus.

There is no man on earth that realizes the greatness of the burden of the Son of God.

Jesus has not found anyone who really understands how He feels among sinners, nor shares His burden.

Jesus has had thousands of followers, but very few of them continued to follow Him, even though those few themselves were deeply unaware of His mission, His purpose, and His Person. Even so late as the last week of His life, before going to the cross, Jesus had to say to them, Have I been so long with you, and you do not yet know me?

Jesus feels deeply His loneliness on earth: no one really knows or understands Him.

But people must understand Him in order to be saved!

But we must understand His message, in order thereby to be able to know the Father.

No one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

Jesus finds Himself in a world where no one really knows God!

This means that all the great inventors of religion are liars, if they contradict, diminish or deny the Word of Jesus!

This means that all the lesser religious lights who have led men away from Gods Will are thieves and robbers! (Joh. 10:1)

This is a world, in Jesus day and in our own as well, wherein people have lost the very key to life, because they live as if God does not exist. But Jesus knows that God is the central fact of all reality, the greatest, most important fact of all.

Jesus prayed: This is eternal life, that men might know you, the only true God, AND JESUS CHRIST, whom you have sent! (Joh. 17:3)

Only, JESUS knew God. Here Jesus expressed the longing to make God known to men.

He MUST make God known, but how can He go about the task of revealing God?

Here is His method whereby He reveals the Father.

IV.

JESUS INVITES HUMBLE DISCIPLES TO COME TO HIM AND LEARN (Mat. 11:28-30)

This young Jew, not more than 33 years old, invites the entire human race to come to Him to learn. He promises that every one, however great his problems might be, shall find rest for his soul! Let the stupendous nature of this invitation sink deep into your heart: feel the gigantic nature of the fraud if the claims implicit in this invitation are false. Feel the power of Gods loving mercy, if these claims are true! Here we must decide what we think about Jesus!

But Jesus has to be the teacher, if we are to find rest for our souls. The only ones whom Jesus can help are the little children. We must be willing to learn EVERYTHING from Him.

Jesus has already had too many theologians and professors, who molded His ideas according to their own conceptions! He wants disciples, or followers, who are willing to follow Him and live under His discipline. The so-called great preachers, professors, priests, bishops, popes, councils, theologians and universities are not what Jesus is looking for! He seeks men and women, boys and girls who are willing to enroll themselves in His school and learn under HIM.

Even though Jesus Himself is the Revealer of the eternal God, even though He Himself is the Creator of heaven and earth, even though He is the Judge before whom all must give account, yet He is gentle and lowly in heart.

He is not a teacher that His students need to be afraid of.

He does not boss His students around; they do not need to be afraid to expose their ignorance before Him.

My friend, He could become your Teacher: with Jesus you need fear no ridicule or contempt in His school.

If you are an eager student, you will find Jesus ready to help you, sharing with you the same spirit of joy in knowledge. He will help you at whatever level you find yourself, in order to bring you up to His level of full knowledge of the entire universe! You will find Him a wise and sympathetic Teacher, who will lead you into truth.

How many times has Jesus already shown Himself this kind of Teacher? How many times did the sinners and publicans come to Jesus, even though they had run away from the proud, strict Pharisees? They knew that Jesus was different, so, friend, do not put Jesus in the same class with religious leaders that you know, because He is not at all like any teacher you ever knew. He is in a class all by Himself, but you will enjoy enrolling in the class!

The publicans and sinners of Jesus day felt the attraction of His gentleness, and they knew that He could help free them from sins that they had for years taken for granted.

In Jesus school you find SECURITY and rest for your soul!

To the tired worker, Jesus gives genuine rest for the body, nerves and mind, because Jesus gives true rest for his SPIRIT. Such a person can now sleep, because he has a forgiven conscience.

To the tired and heavy-laden worshipper, Jesus gives rest also.

Tired of religious ceremonies, duties, norms and empty forms? Then, Jesus offers you devotion to a Person.

Tired of defeats and disappointments in the struggle against sin? Then Jesus gives you the refreshment of forgiveness and power to overcome.

To the tired worldling who has found everything to be futile and empty, Jesus offers His fullness, all His friendship and companionship.

INVITATION:

Friend, you know your own cares, your own sins, and problems. Let Jesus take your difficulties and free you. Lay all your difficulties down at the feet of Jesus. Enroll yourself in His school: He invites you now.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(20) Then began he to upbraid.The rebuke is inserted by St. Luke in our Lords charge to the Seventy (Luk. 10:13-15). As in the case of the passages common to both Evangelists in Matthew 10 and Luke 10, we need not assume that the former has compiled a discourse from fragments collected separately. It is far more natural and probable to believe that our Lord in this case, as in others, used at different times the same, or nearly the same, forms of speech.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

40. UPBRAIDING OF THE IMPENITENT CITIES, Mat 11:20-24 .

20. The cities The children who justified divine wisdom were but the few. Whole cities rejected it, to whom it had been offered in all its beauty and power. Upbraid Rebuke, reprove. Repented not Our Lord upbraided not the bare walls or buildings of the cities, but the individuals in them who could repent of sin, but would not. As the Lord passed from considering John’s wavering faith to the faithlessness of that generation, so now he passes from that generation to the cities who had been most favoured, and were therefore most guilty of want of faith. Mighty works There are those who maintain that miracles, even if performed, are no proof of a divine message. But this is as contrary to common sense as it is to Scripture. Mankind fully believe with their ordinary common sense that if a man in the name of God perform undoubted miracles, he is a messenger from God. Such is the doctrine of our Lord in this and many other passages.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Then he began to upbraid the cities in which most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent.’

Note here the difference between His approach to John and His approach to these people. To the seeking heart of John He had pointed to His works with a promise of blessing (Mat 11:5-6), but to these people whose hearts were hardened He pointed to His works with a promise of judgment. His words did, of course, still contain within them an offer of mercy. It was still not too late to repent. But He did not see much chance of many of them doing so.

The cities or towns mentioned here were on the north west corner of the Sea of Galilee, not far from each other. Capernaum was the place where Jesus’ family were now living, and which He had seemingly established as a kind of headquarters. The Bethsaida mentioned here was probably a different one from Bethsaida Julius. Chorazin is mentioned nowhere else. But necessarily in view of the prominence of Capernaum in His life these were the towns in which in His earlier days He operated most, and who had thus brought their sick to Him for healing in most abundance.

Thus these towns had also beheld in most abundance the mighty works which were evidence of His Messiahship (compare Luk 4:23). People often say, ‘If only I could see signs, I would believe.’ These towns give them the lie. They had seen signs in abundance, but they had still not repented and believed. They had accepted all that God would give them, but they had not genuinely responded. Many probably still admired Jesus, and they no doubt discussed Him with some awe, (although less as time went by), but what they had heard and seen had not sufficiently moved their hearts. They still went about their ordinary lives unchanged. So Jesus now turns and delivers His verdict on them. They have had their opportunity and now He will move on to others.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Castigates His Local Towns For Their Failure To Repent In View Of The Fact That They Too Have Seen The Messianic Signs, But Without Responding (11:20-24).

In this chapter Jesus has already been faced with two examples of men’s attitudes towards Him, the puzzlement of John, whose heart was right towards God, and was genuine in its search for truth, even though he could not understand His ways, and the childishness of the people, whose hearts were not right towards anyone, whose attitude towards truth was casual, and who did not want to understand His ways. To the first He sent His gentle response, pointing to the Messianic signs that He had performed, knowing that John would respond in return. The second he dismissed with a proverb, in the same way as they had dismissed John and Himself. They would receive what they deserved.

But now Matthew wants to bring out and contrast the difference between all who were like John and all who were like the people, and that will take up the remainder of the chapter, and he does it in reverse order. He deals first with the people who have not responded to His works (Mat 11:20-24), and he will then follow that with Jesus’ words about those who have truly heard His voice and followed Him (Mat 11:25-30). The verdicts are in total contrast, and it will be noted that while having passed His verdict on the towns He makes no further appeal to them, as He had made no appeal to ‘this generation’ who sang their childish songs in Mat 11:16-19, He does make an appeal to those who have had their eyes opened. They are called to join Him in His own relationship with God (Mat 11:28-30), as John also had been called to trust Him (Mat 11:6), in the case of John followed by his full vindication. Note the deliberate contrast of ‘blessed –’ in Mat 11:6 with ‘woe’ in Mat 11:21, which is a mini-picture of the blessings and woes of the Old Testament (e.g. Deuteronomy 28). Compare also Mat 5:3-9 with chapter 23. John may have wondered why Jesus was not acting in judgment, but Jesus is making clear that one day He will.

It may also be that we are to see in these words to His three local towns a parallel to the disciples shaking off the dust of the feet against unresponsive towns (Mat 10:14). That instruction too ended in a contrasting reference to Sodom. From now on His main ministry will not be in these towns. He is moving on. They have had their opportunity. So first Nazareth rejected Him (Luk 4:28-30), and now the area in which His family had taken up residence. He is being driven out to other places. (A similar thing is recorded in Acts where the Apostles are finally driven out of Jerusalem). But the idea is selective. This is not a rejection of Israel as a whole, but of unresponsive towns, and even then He will visit at least Capernaum again (Mat 17:24; compare Mar 9:33 which is after the visit to Caesarea Philippi). In a sense therefore the rejection is symbolic, but nevertheless serious for all that.

Analysis.

a Then he began to upbraid the cities in which most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent (Mat 11:20).

b “Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you , Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Mat 11:21).

c “ But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you” (Mat 11:22).

b “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until this day” (Mat 11:23).

a “But I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you” (Mat 11:24).

As so often in Matthew we have here both a chiasmus and a sequence. Note that in ‘a’ the cities are upbraided because they did not repent, and in the parallel the warning is given of the judgment that will come. In ‘b’ and its parallel are two similarly worded condemnations. Centrally in ‘c’ is the certainty of judgment. But even more effective are the sequences. ‘b’ and ‘c’ are sequentially parallel with the following ‘b’ and ‘a’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Rebukes the Cities that Reject Him ( Luk 10:13-15 ) Mat 11:20-24 continues to place emphasis upon persecutions that come against the Kingdom of Heaven when certain cities reject Jesus’ public ministry. In this passage of Scripture Jesus rebukes the cities who have rejected His ministry and that of John the Baptist.

The Preaching of Righteousness – The book of Deuteronomy offers us one of the first recorded sermons in human history. Prior to the time of Moses, the Scriptures tell us that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” (2Pe 2:5), and the preaching of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, is believed to be recorded in the Book of Enoch (Jud 1:14-15). However, the sermons of Moses stand tallest in Jewish history because he was a man who preached with mighty signs and wonders accompanying his ministry as his sermons shook nations and brought multitudes to their knees in repentance and faith in God (Deu 34:10-12). The powerful effects of such preaching throughout history are expressed by the Lord Jesus Christ when He was upbraiding those cities of Galilee that rejected His Gospel. He told them that the cities of Tyre and Sidon would have repented had someone stood and preached the Gospel to them. He added that the wicked city of Sodom would still be standing today had someone came a preached to those people with signs and wonders (Mat 11:20-24). How we need someone to stand up and shout from the mountain tops the unspeakable grace and forgiveness of God coupled with His impending judgment.

Mat 11:20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

Mat 11:20 Comments – Jesus was able to upbraid these cities because we see in Mat 11:1 that Jesus not only sent his disciples to all the cities, but He also went Himself to many of these cities preaching and teaching the Gospel. These cities had heard the Good News confirmed with signs and wonders and many had rejected this message.

Mat 11:1, “And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.”

Mat 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Mat 11:21 Comments – We see from this verse that Jesus had been to many unrecorded places by this time by this time in His ministry (Joh 21:25).

Joh 21:25, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”

Mat 11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

Mat 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

Mat 11:24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Woe upon the Galilean Cities.
v. 20. Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not.
The historical occasion upon which Jesus said these words is not known. He may have used the same words here, in connection with His censure of the Pharisees, and also in His instructions to the seventy disciples, Luk 10:3-15. In order to avoid useless difficulties, it is a simple matter to remember that Jesus more than once found need and occasion to say the same things twice and oftener. He found Himself here obliged to objurgate, earnestly to scold the Galilean cities whose inhabitants had seen so many evidences of His divine power, in whose midst the majority of His signs and wonders in the northern country had been performed. They had marveled, they had been filled with astonishment, with amazement, they had praised the manifest glory of God, they had proclaimed Him a wonder, they had eagerly sought His help for their diseases, and welcomed Him as the Savior of the body. But they had not repented, there was no change of mind and heart. They were just as far from the kingdom of God as they had been before the coming of Christ.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 11:20-24. Then began he to upbraid the cities After reproving the Pharisees, Jesus pronounced heavy judgments against Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, cities which he had often blessed with his presence; for though they had heard him preach many awakening sermons, and seen him perform many astonishing miracles, such as would have converted Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom, cities infamous for their impiety, contempt of religion, pride, luxury, and debauchery; yet so great was their obstinacy, that they persisted in their wickedness, notwithstanding all that he had done to reclaim them. The words woe unto thee, do not contain an imprecation against those cities, but only a denunciation of the judgments which they were bringing down upon themselves by their impenitence. The expression long ago, or long since, Mat 11:21., seems to refer to the time when Ezekiel reproved the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon for their enormous crimes; and intimates, that if Ezekiel had enforced his remonstrances by the aid of such miracles as he himself had wrought in the cities of Judaea, they would have been as exemplary for their penitence as the Ninevites were. See Jon 3:5; Jon 3:10. Hence our Lord infers the guilt of those who rejected his doctrine, although it was supported by such miraculous powers. But though the obduracyof the Tyrians and Sidonians in the time of Ezekiel was not comparable with the Galileans in the time of Christ, their punishment was nevertheless just and equitable; for they violated every principle of morality and humanity. In their commerce they were guilty of the greatest frauds, and insulted the Jews, their confederates and allies, in their distresses, when subdued by the Chaldeans. Their nearnessto Judaea, their common language, their daily commerce, could not but bring them acquainted with the worship of the true God, especially as prophets were raised to correct their faults. These and other advantages were sufficient to have converted the Phoenicians, if they would have yielded to the grace of God; and, on the other hand,weresufficient to manifest their obduracy, if they disregarded them, though they had not the benefit of those extraordinary miracles which infinite Wisdom had reserved for the times of the Messiah. See Grotius’s excellent note. By the day of judgment, Mat 11:22., Dr. Hammond understands the temporal calamities to be brought on the places by the Romans, who didindeed shortly after overrun the whole country, and make dreadful ravages in some of these cities; but there is no evidence that the destruction of these Jewish cities was more dreadful than that of Tyre and Sidon, and it certainly was less so than that of Sodom and Gomorrah: besides, our Lord plainly speaks of a judgment which was yet to come on all these places before mentioned. Capernaum, Mat 11:23., was famous for its fishery, commerce, and every other advantage of a maritime situation. Here our Lord had fixed his abode for some time, and frequently conversed with its inhabitants. It was in the most flourishing condition, and exalted to a very high pitch of earthly glory, as the phrase which art exalted to heaven implies. Compare Dan 4:22. Brought down to hell is a scripture phrase, used to denote an utter destruction, a total overthrow. See Isa 14:13; Isa 14:15; Isa 57:9. 1Sa 2:6. Dr. Heylin renders it, shalt be brought to utter destruction. “This prophesy has been so exactly fulfilled, say Beausobre and Lenfant, in the destruction of Capernaum, that, according to the relation of travellers, there are not now above eight cottages where it stood.” The word hell, , does not signify here the place of the damned, but only the condition and place of the dead; the sepulchre. See Eph 4:9. In sackcloth and ashes means the deepest contrition and sorrow. Sackcloth and ashes were the outward signs of penitence in those days.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 11:20 ff. Then He began , and so on ( ). Luke introduces this upbraiding of the cities at a later stage that is, on the occasion when the instructions were addressed to the Seventy (Mat 10:13-15 ), for which he is assigned the preference by Schleiermacher, Schneckenburger, Holtzmann; while de Wette and Keim are justified in going against Luke, who generally uses considerable freedom as to the connection in which he introduces the sayings which in this chapter are all connected with the same subject.
The Gospels make no further mention of the miracles in Chorazin and Bethsaida (not far from Capernaum; Robinson, neuere Forsch . p. 457 ff.), Joh 20:30 .
. ., . . .] Even these wicked heathen cities would have been brought to amendment long ago with deep sorrow for their sins. The penitent sorrow is represented by . . , a form of mourning in popular use among the Jews (comp. on Mat 6:16 ).
] i.e . in the dark, sack-shaped mourning attire, made of coarse cloth, and drawn over the naked body; Gesenius, Thes . III. p. 1336.
Mat 11:22 . ] however , in the sense of ceterum , that is, to add nothing more, I tell you . Frequently used in this way by classical writers, and comp. note on Eph 5:33 .
Mat 11:23 . And thou, Capernaum, who hast been exalted to heaven, i.e . raised to the highest distinction through my dwelling and labouring within thee, wilt be brought down to Hades , namely, on the day of judgment, to undergo punishment in Gehenna; see Mat 11:24 . Grotius, Kuinoel, Fritzsche interpret the exaltation of Capernaum as referring to its prosperity , derived from trade, the fisheries, and so on. But this is not in keeping with the connection as indicated by in Mat 11:20 .
Still more humiliating than the comparison with Tyre and Sidon, is that with Sodom; because the responsibility was greatest in the case of Capernaum.
] This , here and in Mat 11:21 , is simply according to rule, because the antecedent clauses contain a sumtio ficta (Ellendt, Lex. Soph . I. p. 488).
Mat 11:24 . Comp. on Mat 10:15 .
] Euth. Zigabenus: . The , that is, does not refer to the audience (see Mat 11:22 ).
Observe further in Mat 11:21-24 , first, how the passage assumes the form of a weighty climax; and then, secondly, the solemn parallelism of the antecedent clauses in Mat 11:21 ; Mat 11:23 , and of the threatened punishments in Mat 11:22 ; Mat 11:24 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

4. Royal denunciation of Judgment on the cities of Galilee. Mat 11:20-24
20Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works [wonderful] works, or miracles]27 were done, because they repented not: 21Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works [miracles], which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 23And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven,28 shalt be brought down [go down]29 to hell [hades]Matt 30: for if the mighty works [miracles], which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat 11:20. Then began He.The accent lies on , not on . According to the account of Luke, the decisive denunciations of Christ on the cities of Galilee occurred at a later period, when He took final leave of them. This is quite in accordance with what we would have expected at the close of His ministry. But even at this stage, partial predictions of judgment must have been uttered, which Matthew, according to his systematic plan, here records in their final and complete form.
Mat 11:21. Chorazin.The name occurs neither in the Old Testament nor in Josephus, and in the New Testament only in this place and in Luke 13. According to Jerome, it was situate two miles from Capernaum. See the different conjectures as to its unknown locality in the Encycls., and Robinson, 2:405.Bethsaida == commonly rendered, house of fishes; or, home of hunting, or catching. A city of Galilee (Joh 12:21), on the western shore of the lake (Mar 6:45; Mar 8:22). The home of Peter, of Andrew, and of Philip, Joh 1:44; Joh 12:21.Another town of this name was situate in Lower Gaulonitis, on the eastern side of the lake. Philip the tetrarch elevated it to the rank of a city, giving it the name of Julias, after the daughter of the Emperor Augustus (Luk 9:10). The situation of Bethsaida is not marked by any ruins, and wholly unknown.
[According to this passage, most of the miracles of Christ were done in these cities of Galilee, and yet not one is recorded in the Gospels as having been done in Chorazin and Bethsaida. A confirmation of Joh 21:25.P. S.]
Tyre and Sidon.Heathen cities in the immediate neighborhood. The point of the comparison lay in their being inhabited by a large, busy, heathen population, whose corruptness had been exposed even in the writings of the prophets. The original seats of the service of Baal.
[They would have repented.The knowledge of our Saviour extended also to contingencies, i. e., to things which would have happened under certain conditions. Comp. Henry and Wordsworth, in loc.P. S.]
In sackcloth and ashes.In the East, it was common for mourners to put on a black garment which resembled a sack, with holes for the arms, and to strew ashes upon the head. Hence this was regarded as the symbol of mourning and of repentance.Luke: sitting: . Mourners and pentents were wont to sit on the ground.
Mat 11:23. Exalted unto heaven, or highly glorified.Not by its rich produce of fishes (Grotius,31 Kuinoel, Fritzsche), but by the residence and works of Jesus (Bengel, Paulus). De Wette.
To hades.In opposition to heaventhe lowest depth (comp. Eze 31:16). The temporal judgments which soon afterward passed over these cities, till their every trace has been swept from the earth, are here referred to, as well as the final judgment.The Greek word is equivalent to, though not quite identical with, the Hebrew sheol, . On the doctrine of Sheol, compare the article Hades by Gder, in Herzogs Encycl. This must not be confounded with hell or gehenna. The essential ideas attaching to hades are: (1) Habitation of the dead before the completion of redemption; (2) contrast between the higher and the lower region, between the place of rest and that of torment, Luk 16:19-31; (3) state of imperfectness of the souls in hadesdisembodied state, longing, waiting for final decision, 1Pe 3:19; (4) continuance as an intermediate kingdom till the end of the world. Popular views concerning it: It was a subterranean place, etc. Symbolical import: Depth of misery or of judgment, intermediate states, purifications, to the end of the world.
[J. J. Owen in loc.: The word here rendered hell, is not gehenna, but hades, the invisible or lower world, where dwell, according to the ancient conception, the shades of the dead. It does not here signify the place of future punishment any more than heaven, in the preceding clause, means the seat of bliss where God dwells. Both are figuratively used, to denote great spiritual privileges as well as temporal prosperity [?], and the depth of ruin into which they would fall through the abuse of these privileges.J. A. Alexander in loc.: Heli here means the unseen world, the state of the dead, the world of spirits, without regard to difference of character and condition. It is here used simply in antithesis to heaven, and must be explained, accordingly, as meaning the extremest degradation and debasement of a moral kind, but not perhaps without allusion to the loss of all external greatness, and oblivion of the very spot on which the city stood.]
Mat 11:24. Unto youcomp. in thee, Mat 11:23.Euthymius Zigal., very correctly: , .
For the land of Sodom.Compare the history of Sodom in the Book of Genesis, and the art in the Bibl. Cyclops. Nor must we overlook the contrast between the Dead Sea and the Lake of Tiberias, as, in the former comparison, that between the cities of Galilee and Tyre and Sidon. Lake Gennesareth shall, from the wickedness of the people, descend in judgment to a lower level than the cities of the Dead Sea. The two comparisons are taken from different periods: the one from the present, the other from antiquity; the one from a region over which judgment has already passed, the other from cities which were yet to be judged. But the cities of Galilee had experienced a much more gracious visitation than either the doomed region of the Dead Sea, or heathen Tyre and Sidon. They had been the scene of most of His mighty deeds, and Capernaum had even been chosen as His abode.
[It is a remarkable fact, that the very names and ruins of these three cities on the Lake of Gennesareth have utterly disappeared, and their locality is a matter of dispute among travellers, while even that of Sodom and Gomorrha is pointed out on the shores of the Dead Sea. Thus the fearful prediction of our Saviour has already been literally fulfilled on these cities; but a more terrible spiritual fulfilment is awaiting its inhabitants on the great day of judgment.P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The woe which Christ here pronounces on the cities of Galilee is a proof that the judgment of hardening had already passed upon them. But clear evidence of this only appeared when Jesus finally forsook Galilee. Still, every woe of judgment pronounced by Christ is the echo of a woe of pity in His heart, and indicates that outward judgments are now unavoidable, since the inward judgment of hardening had already commenced.
2. The Lord here evidently assigns to His miracles the highest power and import in quickening and strengthening faith. Similarly, He knows and perceives that Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom would have repented sooner than those cities of Galilee, which implicitly yielded themselves to the deadening influences of Pharisaism. History has confirmed this prediction so far as this was possible. Tyre became a Christian city; while, by the Lake of Galilee, sprang up Tiberias, the capital of Jewish Talmudism.
[3. Import of the passage, especially the words: It will be more tolerable, etc., Mat 11:22; Mat 11:24, on the doctrine of different degrees of punishment, corresponding to the measure of opportunity enjoyed, and of ingratitude manifested in this life. Comp. Mat 5:21-22; Mat 10:15; Luk 12:47-48; Joh 9:41; Joh 15:22; Joh 15:24; Rom 2:12. This distinction removes many popular objections to the doctrine of eternal punishment.P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
How the royal dignity of Christ appeared, both in His compassion and in His indignation about the hardness of His contemporaries.The woe pronounced by the Lord: 1. A cry of woe in His heart; 2. a cry of woe in the heart of those cities (their judicial hardening); 3. a cry of woe in the dispensation of outward judgments. Or, 1. a verdict; 2. a prediction; 3. an earnest of judgment.Jesus taking leave from Galilee, and His taking leave from the temple and from Jerusalem.The predictions of the Lord confirming His Divine character, even as His miracles had done.The height of privileges despised, leading to the depth of Divine judgments.Three chosen cities sunk so low (among them, Bethsaida, the city of the Apostles, and especially Capernaum, that of the Lord Himself).Christs mild judgment on the heathen world: 1. An evidence of His unfathomable Wisdom 2. of His inexhaustible mercy; 3. of His Divine penetration.The different degrees of judgment and of punishment.The final judgment will throw light on the import of temporal judgments.
[Quesnel: Mat 11:20. We cannot complain that we have seen no miracles, since all those of our Creator are exposed to the eyes of our mind and our body, and all those of our Saviour to the eyes of our faith. Let us take to ourselves these reproaches of our Lord, since His miracles also are designed for us.
Mat 11:21. An impenitent Christian is worse than a pagan.
Mat 11:22. How terrible are Gods judgments on the impenitent! Everything will help to overwhelm them at the tribunal of God; the benefits and favors which they have received, as well as the sins which they have committed.
Mat 11:23. The proud, who of all sinners are the most difficult to be converted, shall likewise be the most humbled. Pride hardens the heart even more than the greatest sins of impurity. There is nothing more opposite to the Christian religion, the whole design of which is to make us humble. Lord, humble us at present, rather than reserve us for the eternal humiliation of the reprobate!P. S.]
Starke:Zeisius: The brighter the summer-day, the louder the thunder-storm.The greater grace, the heavier judgment, Joh 12:48; 2Pe 2:21.Open and notorious sinners will more readily be converted than hypocrites.As some sins are more heinous that others, so also shall they receive greater condemnation.Many a nominal Christian will receive heavier punishment than the poor heathen.
Heubner:Great is the guilt of those who despise the means of grace.Sometimes places which experience the most gracious visitations are the most barren.Every one shall be judged according to the measure of the means of grace which he has enjoyed.Fallacious prosperity of great cities.The higher they stand in their own imaginations, the lower shall they be cast down.
Footnotes:
[27] Mat 11:20.[Lange, with de Wette, translates : Wunder, justly differing from Luther, who renders simply: Thaten. The N. T. has three words for miracles (in the general sense) or supernatural deeds and events: 1) , which occurs 16 times and is uniformly and correctly rendered in the E. V. wonder (an extraordinary, mysterious, and inexplicable phenomenon, portent); 2) is, miracles proper, as the effect of a supernatural power, which is variously translated: wonderful works (Mat 7:22), more frequently: mighty works, and still oftener: miracles (Mar 9:39; Act 2:22; Act 8:13; 1Co 12:10; 1Co 12:28-29; Gal 3:5); 3) , sign, pointing to the moral aim of the supernatural act; here the E. V. varies somewhat arbitrarily between sign (about 40 times), miracle (about 20 times), and wonder (3 times). Comp. Langes doctrinal comments on Mat 8:1-13, p. 154, and the dictionaries sub verbis.P. S.]
[28] Mat 11:23.The reading: in K., M., X.; in Griosbach. Tischendorf; on the authority of E., F., G., etc.; in Lachmann with B., C., D. The last gives no good sense. Meyer. [It gives good sense if we regard it as a question with the expectation of a negative answer (): Shalt thou be exalted to heaven? Nay; thou shalt go down to the underworld, or as Irenus quotes the passage (Adv. hr. iv. 36): Et tu Capernaum, numquid usque ad clum exaltaberis? Usque ad inferos descendes. The reading: is now also sustained by Cod. Sinaiticus, and adopted by Tregelles, Conant, and Alford in the 4th edition.P. S.]
[29] Mat 11:23.Lachmann, Tischendorf [Alford]: , descend, go down, after B., D., Vulg., Itala. The lectio recepta is taken from Luk 10:15. [Cod. Sinait. sustains the passive , thou shalt be brought down.P. S.]
[30] Mat 11:23.[Lange: Unterw lt, i. e., underworld. So also Dr. Conant, and the revised version of the Am. B. U. throughout. I prefer Todtenreich for the German, and hades for the English. The English language, owing to its cosmopolitan or (sit venia verbo!) panlinguistic composition, can much easier retain and appropriate for popular use the Greek term than the German. Why should we not use it as well as the terms paradise, Eden, and many other foreign words which have become perfectly familiar to the reader of the Bible? This translation cuts off all disputes about locality (of which we know nothing certain), and the different renderings which might be proposed, as underworld, spirit world, region, or rather state of the dead or departed, etc. The important distinction between hades () i. e., the world of all the dead, the intermediate spirit world, and hell (), i. e., the final abode and state of the lost, should be restored in the English Bible, if it should ever be revised. (Comp. footnote on p. 114.) In this passage hades, with its gloomy depth below, is contrasted with the heaven or the blessed height above; comp. Psa 139:8; Job 11:8; Rom 10:6-7, and especially Isa 14:15, to which our passage seems to allude; (Babylon). See Com.P. S.]
[31][It seems improbable that such a man as Grotius should give such a low and silly interpretation. But so it is. He says in loc.: Hoc non dubito quin ad res huius vit pertineat, ut in his qu sequuntur assurgat oratio. Florebat Capernaumum piscatu, mercatu et qu alia esse solent commoda ad mare sitarum urbium. Even Barnes still speaks in this connection of the successful commerce, temporal wealth and prosperity of Capernaum, although he rises above Grotius by emphasizing the spiritual privileges, which here alone are meant. Stier (Reden Jesu, i., p. 491) refers the expression to the lofty situation of Capernaum, which is not much better and besides a matter of geographical uncertainty.P. S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

“Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: (21) Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (22) But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. (23) And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (24) But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”
Reader! in the view of Chorazin and Bethsaida, and the awful woe pronounced upon those cities, which had been favoured with such high privileges, and regarded them not, think what will be the final condemnation of Great Britain in this particular? Would Jesus find faith, real saving faith, were he now to come among us? It is an awful thought! Luk 18:8 ; Mat 7:22-23 ; Heb 2:3 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 47
Prayer

Almighty God, do thou be pleased, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, to come to every one of us with some new revelation of thyself. Thou hast poured out thine heart upon us, and behold we have not been contrite: thou hast urged us, by every appeal known to thy tender love, and behold some of us are still far away from thee, as if we had forgotten our father’s house. May we ask thee now for some light to fall upon our heart which has not yet fallen, for some tender strain to seek the heart which has sought it in vain through years gone by! All things are possible unto thee. We know not what more thou canst do: thou hast thyself inquired, What can I do to my vineyard more than I have done? If thou canst not answer the question, behold there is no reply in us. Thou hast gathered the clouds into the heavens, and poured them down upon us in a plentiful rain, thou hast made all thy heaven quick with light, thou hast filled the air with angels, thou hast sent thy son to die for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God, thou hast granted to strive with men the Holy Spirit what thou canst do more we know not, but if thou canst do anything, now save us, every one.
We are weary of the world; we have sounded the hollowness of time and space and sense there is nothing in them to satisfy our inward hunger, there is in them no water for our soul’s thirst. Thou hast opened in the house of David a fountain for sin and for uncleanness: the blood of Jesus Christ thy Son cleanseth from all sin: at thy table is satisfaction, in thy truth is rest for the soul may we take upon ourselves Christ’s yoke and Christ’s burden, and be the glad slaves of the Son of God!
We thank thee for every man whose heart is attuned to thy praise, and whose life is a daily sacrifice offered upon the altar of the sanctuary; we bless thee for every man who can move us to prayer, to holy tears, to noble endeavours, to sacred heroisms encourage all such men, yea, do thou give them a plentiful reward, and every day renew their inspiration, that they weary not nor fail in their great mission.
Here are worn lives, tired, bruised, and weary men, travellers that long for the time of lying down and to be at final rest, men who have seen great things which have not moved them in the right direction, lives that have made shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience, men in whom there is hardly any good thing left. Make to-night the gospel of Christ heard by them to the rekindling of their hope and the re-animation of their best desires and purposes. Here are silent sufferers, carrying their burden wearily, whose grief is too sacred for speech, whose wounds are all in the heart. A wounded spirit who can bear? O Healer of mankind, Gentle One, Physician of souls, Redeemer of the whole human race, come thou in all thy tender power, in all thy healing gentleness, and speak a word in season to him that is ill at ease. Amen.
Mat 11:20-24
20. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works (unrecorded miracles) were done, because they repented not:
21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin (or town of Galilee, two miles from Capernaum), woe unto thee, Bethsaida (the birthplace of Peter, Andrew, and Philip): for if the mighty works which were done in you (chastised by Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander) had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
23. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven (as the frequent residence of Christ), shalt be brought down to hell: for if the works which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
24. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
Seeking Fruit and Finding None

This is a new tone in the voice of Jesus Christ. All that has yet come out of him has been an utterance of love and hope and hospitality, great offers of healing and peace and joy. Now comes the tone of reproach. It must come sooner or later in all human training. Every man who is deeply interested in the race has had occasion to utter a keen voice of reproach at some period of his generous toil. It is important to observe that in this instance the reproach is founded upon absolute reasonableness. It is not petulance; it is the result of labour not misapplied, but unworthily received. And we are accustomed amongst ourselves to utter reproach under precisely the same circumstances. Sometimes there is a whining and unreasonable reproach among men, but, as a general rule, in the deeper experience of life our upbraidings and reproaches are founded upon reason.
How do you address the boy upon whom you have lavished all your care; upon whom you have spent a fortune, little or great; whose well-being has been the one object of your desire; for whom you would gladly have suffered the loss of all things that he might be wise and good and useful; and who, when everything has been done for him human love could devise and human sacrifice provide, has turned out ungrateful, unfilial, a disappointment, a wreck? Is it possible for you to look on with complacency? Do you feel no pang of the heart as you look upon the result of all your prayer and toil and care? What if there break from the tongue of the most patient some bitter cry of regret, some tone of parental disappointment would it be unreasonable? Its pathos would be in its reasonableness.
You speak of the land you toil upon, and on which you bestow money and labour and care, and which does not reward your industry, in almost anger and contempt. You look for results; you have a right to do so; you have laboured, and you say where is the produce? Yet the land will drink up all you pour upon it, eat it, and be as lean as ever; and if you visit that land with a judgment of condemnation you are acting reasonably in so doing.
These illustrations may help us to understand in some degree the pathos of this reproach, the bitterness of this cry, and the more so because the object of Jesus Christ in all his labour is distinctly laid down here. The reason given is, Because they repented not. It was not petulance on the part of Christ; there was no tone of merely personal disappointment; it seemed as if he had made the cities worse rather than better; it seemed as if they would have been better if they had never seen him, for having seen him, they rejected him with despite and contempt. Surely it would have been better for some of us if we had never heard of Christ. No man can hear of Christ and be just the same after hearing concerning him and his gospel as before hearing the revelation of his person and ministry. The gospel makes a man better or it makes him worse; it is a savour of life unto life or of death unto death. No man is the same after church as he was before church; the prayer is an event in his history; any offer of divine mercy, any display of divine love, is a crisis in the man’s personal history, and if he accept not the offer that was made, it were better for him that the offer had never been presented to his attention.
We may no longer then doubt the one purpose of Christ in working his miracles. The object which Christ had in view in working miracles was to bring men to repentance. He upbraided the cities that had seen his mighty works because they repented not, the argument being that the miracles were wrought for the purpose of bringing the people to repentance, and that object having failed, the whole purpose of Christ came to nothing. They were not wrought to startle, to please, to amuse, or to gratify curiosity, but to bring the heart to contrition; they were assaults upon unbelief, they were appeals to obduracy, they were so many forms and methods of gospel preaching.
The miracles will be a continual stumbling-block to us if we do not seize this view of them. Regarded by themselves, they stun the mind and excite many eager questions, but placed in their right atmosphere and read in the high light of their generous purpose, the miracles are but the emphasis with which divine messages were delivered. No miracle is to be torn out of its setting, Wrenched away from its proper atmosphere, and judged as a thing complete in itself. Every miracle belongs to something else, and if you do not bring that something else within your purview, and add that in the consummation of your argument, you will miss the whole purpose and meaning of Christ’s miracles. Yet this is how the miracles have been treated. They have been taken out one by one, brought away from their natural atmosphere and proper surroundings, and each has been judged as a thing that had no relation to anything else. Now Jesus Christ adds, in one utterance of reproach, the miracles to a grand moral purpose. He upbraided the cities, and cried in terms of bitter reproach because the miracles had not produced repentance. They might have excited the cities to applause, roused the cities to admiration and delight, as mere feats of power; Christ would not have found, in such external enthusiasm, the result of his purpose.
Understand therefore, in reading the miracles, that every one of them has a moral issue in view in the scheme and providence of God, and we must not detach the miracle from the moral and beneficent purpose which God had in view in working that wonder in the sight of Man. Take the Incarnation of our Lord himself. As a mere incident in human history, it is incredible. But the Incarnation of our Lord is never set before us as a mere incident in human history. It is not an anecdote complete in itself, it brings up the ages with it, it sums infinite processes into one grand manifestation. As a divine method of coming into the race, it was from the point of reason the only method of approaching the solemn work which was to be done. Given, God’s purpose to manifest himself unto the world in visible form, and the gospel method of incarnation was not only the best possible, but the only possible method. I wish we had the opportunity of working out that theorem to its fullest issues. It needs to be stated over and over again until men become perfectly familiar with its terms. Not only was the Incarnation of our Lord the best possible method of coming into the human race, but the only method of doing so. And this I undertake to show on the ground of natural reason itself.
God could not come into any common man as he came into Christ without first destroying that man’s identity, altering the centre and the weight of that man’s responsibility, and placing that man in a totally false relation to every other member of the human race. The Incarnation of God in Christ exactly as it is stated in the gospel alone fills my imagination and satisfies my reason in its sternest mood. It would have amounted, had God come into any common man as he came into Christ, to an invidiousness which would have insulted every intelligent creature, and would have set up a perpetual irritation in every process of moral reasoning. He chose one of ourselves, and out of the lips of that elect man he rebuked every one of us. Why did he not choose every one of us, why did he not come a million strong, why not incarnate himself in every creature that bore his image? He incarnated himself in one common man, picked up one of ourselves, dwelt in all the fulness of his deity in him bodily. Why did he not repeat the miracle according to the number of millions of human creatures upon the earth, and then the whole work would have been done? But to tell me that he incarnated himself in a creature precisely of my own kind and standing precisely on a level with myself, and then left me out and spoke to me through the man whom he had thus made his own tabernacle, insults my reason, annoys my sense of justice, fills me with contempt. But take the gospel method, coming as Christ came into the world, begotten by the Holy Ghost, conceived of the Virgin Mary, made like unto us yet without sin, and it becomes a mystery indeed, but a mystery before which our reason uncovers its head and bows down in lowly wonder and worship. As it is, I can say, Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, but upon any other theory I should say, Great is the injustice of godliness; a common man is chosen and purified as a vessel of God, whilst other men are left to be touched and moved by his inferior ministry.
Do not detach the miracles from their atmosphere, above all things do not create any space between the miracle and its moral purpose; the moral purpose of every miracle was to bring men to consideration, to spiritual softening, to individual repentance, and it is through that moral purpose that the whole scheme of the miracles must be viewed and estimated.
Jesus Christ tells us that judgment is to be in proportion to opportunities. Tyre and Sidon will not have to answer for more than their own advantages. But this law, so simple and so just, adds to the gravity of living now. If we grow in responsibility as we grow in age, what arithmetician in all this house shall add up the sum of our obligation? He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace? It is an awful thing to live now. We live longer than Methusaleh lived; we are astounded by patriarchal statistics as to human age, but there is not a child living who has not lived longer than Methusaleh lived. We live longer in a week than Methusaleh lived in a century; his age was but a span to ours; everything is made ready to our hands, the whole world is now a grand machine for the instantaneous doing of things; there is nothing more possible in our case. If I were called upon to say what more could be done I should be at an utter loss to reply.
What more could be done in your case? Let me for a moment ask, individualising any one of you. Tell me wherein you have been neglected. Have you heard every variety of human voice, have you heard the son of thunder and the son of consolation, have you the open Scripture in your house, written in your mother tongue, is not the air full of sacred ministry, in every street is there not a sanctuary throwing open its hospitable doors and inviting you to its hospitable refreshment? Have you not been reared in a Christian home, taught the prayers that Jesus breathed, have you not been prayed over, cared for, watched, written to in many a tender motherly epistle, spoken to, and had the advantage of much fatherly counsel? Have not your friends gathered round you and bidden you welcome to some higher life and nobler purpose what more can be done? What if the next voice shall rend the air and a bitter wail of reproach shall fall upon your ear, God’s own upbraiding, because you have returned to him the prophets and minstrels, the holy books, the cross, his son, the Holy Ghost, as unequal to the breaking up of the obduracy of your selfishness and the fortification of your selfish will. If you were to ask me what more could be done I should be, I repeat, at a loss to reply; you have heard the thunder, seen the light, listened to the music, had an opportunity of entering the open door of hope a thousand new chances have come to you and offered you new light, to every one of these appeals and opportunities you have returned a sullen No, a selfish denial, and God has nothing else. He said, “I will send my Son, they will reverence my Son, they will see me in my Son,” and we have taken his Son and stoned him and slain him and have bound our oaths with his sacred name. O the tragedy, O the awfulness beyond all human speech! It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for us, if we have refused the gracious offers of God.
To me there is a glowing and final proof of the eternal truthfulness of Christ in the fact that he never concealed his own failures. No impostor can afford to make the worst of his case. Impostors magnify their successes; through one success impostors try to force their way to others. Impostors live in grand reports, they publish their statistics to an admiring world they never tell you of their failures. Truth alone loves truth. Jesus Christ never gave us a coloured picture of the successes of his ministry. He did not hide his disappointment, he did not tell the disciples round about him that Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum were much better than they looked, and there were instances of encouragement and germs of promise, and he did not tell three of the disciples that they themselves came out of the very Bethsaida on which they were looking. No, he was true, he spoke the truth, he confessed the terrific tragedy of his soul’s disappointment. “And when he came near the city he wept over it, and said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” “We will not have this man to reign over us,” say you. He upbraided the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not.
You will always find Christ consistent with his own truthfulness. He has nothing to colour, pervert, distort, tinge with glowing tints, in order that he may win further support. He says, “I have laboured and I have reaped nothing. I have toiled and my labour has been my only reward. I came unto my own, and my own received me not.” There is a ring of solemn truthfulness in all these declarations. Impostors would have seen the glitter and called it gold. Christ saw the failure, and upbraided those who had caused his ministry to return to himself as a bitter disappointment.
But this question arises: Is it possible for Jesus Christ to have come into any city and to have preached the gospel, and to have shown his mighty works, and yet for that city not to repent? Let me tell you that we have too many analogies in our own common life to allow us to doubt of that possibility for one moment. Some of us have sinned away the very highest advantages of secular life. Here is a man of the highest education; he has passed through a university career and brought out after him all the prizes the university could offer. He is adorned at every point, the very ripest specimen of the most modern culture, so far as his intelligence is concerned. It would be impossible for that man to do the dishonourable deed, to speak the dishonourable word, to play falsely, to be guilty of malfeasance; he will be true, upright, noble, pure, beautiful as a beam of light. Not necessarily so. We have known such men use their intelligence as an increased facility for doing mischief.
Here is a man surrounded by all that art can do for the adornment and the enlivenment of his home, every panel a picture, every window a, hint of beauty, the whole surrounding a triumph of the highest art. As the man sits there, his thoughts will correspond with his surroundings. He will say, “It will be impossible in this sanctuary of beauty to be other than beautiful myself; my soul sings in this palace of colour, and my heart is at ease amid all this harmony of architectural and artistic relationships. There can be no unrest here; all the lines fall into one another; all the colours hold sweet fellowship; the whole house is all but alive; it will be a sacred place.” Not necessarily. In that palace of beauty plots of iniquity may be hatched; under that fair ceiling sin may perpetrate its most cunning victory; amid all that beauty there may be a moral hideousness which may make the angels weep. The life of that man may be a daily insult to every soft colour, to all the blended lights and shadows, and to the very genius of the sanctuary of art and loveliness. In many a humble cot, in many a lowly home, with hardly a little engraving in it, you will find a moral loveliness which would turn that debased palace into a scene of ghastliest hideousness.
Yes, it is possible to sin away music, beauty, love, life, light; possible to sin away all the ministry of wife, child, friend, picture, and all that makes life deep, solemn, lovely. If it be so, then it is but a step to the other possibility of sinning Christ out of the life, urging him away, rebuking him and bidding him depart out of the region of our thought and love. My friend, I know of no ghastlier sight than grand external exaltation associated with moral perversity and putridity. Men would be shocked if they found under royal purple and regalia a skeleton propped up at the feast, with a foaming glass fastened in its bony and icy fingers. That would drive them mad; that would be intolerable irony; yet that is a commonplace in the moral world. If you could go into the banqueting-house, and sit down next the royal purple, and feel your face flushing with pride because of the association, and could then turn round and see that under the purple there was a dead carcass, you would never forget the sight, and you would refer to it as the most tragic of your experiences. You would shudder in horror every time you recalled the instance. My friends, ’tis nothing a gibe, a joke, a thing to laugh at, compared with the moral skeletons that are around the table of the world every day. Fine coats do not make fine characters; fine houses do not always mean splendid tenants; the basest metal may have a covering of gold. I wonder not that Jesus Christ, looking upon some men, said, “Whited sepulchres, full of dead men’s bones, and men walk over them, and are not aware of them.” It required his eye, the eye in which is the light that shall make the glory of the resurrection morning, to see those whited sepulchres, and count those dead men’s bones.
He sees us as we are; he conceals nothing of the ghastly reality; he prophesies no smooth things to sinners that are living lies. Thank God for the truthfulness of Christ. If you want to know what you are, go to him; he makes no false reading of character; he makes no miscalculation of human force and value; he is the one character that tests every other living man. O that upbraiding face, may we never see it! O that upbraiding voice, may we never hear it! Every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him shall look upon him and mourn, and shall call to the rocks and to the mountains, saying, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face and the wrath of the Lamb.”
I have seen faces so laden with sorrow that to look upon them was to feel an intolerable burden of self-accusation resting upon and distressing the soul, without a word spoken, just as your mother looked when, after a thousand prayers, you came home a wreck. She said, “Speech is useless; I have spoken, and my throat is sore.” But O the look, the reddened eyes, the wet eyelids, the swollen face, the trembling lips, the whole look! It said, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is, to have a thankless child.” And the old man, as he looked up off his book, and saw you, said nothing; but his eyes were judgment, his glance was hell.
O that upbraiding face, O that upbraiding voice may they never come within our experience!
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

Ver. 20. Then began he to upbraid ] Haply, because these cities, drawn by the authority of the Pharisees, made less account of our Saviour’s doctrine or miracles, by them maliciously depraved and disparaged. The blind led the blind, but both fell into the ditch, though their leaders lay undermost.
Because they repented not ] There is a heart that cannot repent; that hath lost all passive power of coming out of the snare of the devil; that is, become such through long trading in sin, as neither ministry, nor misery, nor miracle, nor mercy can possibly mollify,Rom 2:5Rom 2:5 . Upon such you may write, “Lord, have mercy upon them.” “Oh!” said a reverend man, “if I must be put to my option, I had rather be in hell with a sensible heart than live on earth with a reprobate mind.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

20 30. ] SECOND PART OF THE DISCOURSE. See on Mat 11:7 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

20. ] This expression betokens a change of subject, but not of locality or time. The whole chapter stands in such close connexion, one part arising out of another (e.g. this out of Mat 11:16-19 ), and all pervaded by the same great undertone, which sounds forth in Mat 11:28-30 , that it is quite impossible that this should be a collection of our Lord’s sayings uttered at different times. I would rather regard the as a token of the report of an ear-witness, and as pointing to a pause or change of manner on the part of our Lord. See note on Luk 10:13 .
. ] Connect this with the first subject of our Lord’s preaching, ch. Mat 4:17 . The reference is to some unrecorded miracles, of which we know (Luk 4:23 ; Joh 21:25 ) that there were many.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 11:20-24 . Reflections by Jesus on the reception given to Him by the towns of Galilee (Luk 10:13-15 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 11:20 . , then , cannot be pressed. Luke gives the following words in instructions to the Seventy. The real historical occasion is unknown. It may be a reminiscence from the preaching tour in the synagogues of Galilee (Mat 4:23 ). The reflections were made after Jesus had visited many towns and wrought many wonderful works ( ). : this the general fact; no deep, permanent change of mind and heart. Christ appearing among them a nine days’ wonder, then forgotten by the majority preoccupied with material interests.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 11:20-24
20Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. 21″Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. 24Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
Mat 11:20-24 “He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done” This showed the universal truth that to whom much is given, much is required (cf. Luk 12:48). The cities of Jesus’ day are compared with the OT cities. They had seen His miracles and heard His teachings. Nineveh had repented at the preaching of Jonah, while Tyre, Sidon, Sodom, and Gomorrah did not, yet the Galilean cities of Jesus’ day had much greater light by which to respond. Those who have greater light are more responsible!
Jesus’ comments were introduced by “woe” (cf. Mat 18:7; Mat 23:13; Mat 23:15-16; Mat 23:23; Mat 23:25; Mat 23:27; Mat 23:29; Mat 24:19; Mat 26:24). This was one of the three usual literary forms by which the OT prophets communicated their messages (promise oracle, court scene, and funeral dirge or lament). This form represented a funeral dirge (lament).
“repent” Repentance is a turning from sin and self, the negative aspect of salvation, while faith is a turning to God in Christ, the positive aspect of salvation (cf. Mar 1:15; Act 3:16; Act 3:19; Act 20:21). By combining the meanings of the Greek and Hebrew words, the meaning of repentance is a change of mind followed by a change of action. Repentance is more than feelings (cf. 2Co 7:8-11). It must result in a lifestyle change. See complete note at Mat 4:17.
Mat 11:21; Mat 11:23 “if” This is a second class conditional sentence which is called “contrary to fact,” a false statement is made to show the false premise drawn from it.
Mat 11:21 “Chorazin” This shows our limited knowledge of the works of Jesus, for we have no Gospel record of Jesus’ miracles in this town. We must remember that the Gospels are selected theological truths to reveal Jesus to selected audiences (i.e., Jews, Romans, Gentiles), and not western histories (cf. Joh 20:30-31).
“Bethsaida” There were two Bethsaidas. One was somewhere close to Capernaum and one at the place where the Jordan River flowed into the Sea of Galilee.
“if” This is a second class conditional sentence , see note at Mat 11:23.
“Tyre and Sidon” Tyre and Sidon were OT types of sinful, prideful nations or mankind. The phrase found in Mat 11:23 related this to Isa 14:13-15 and Eze 28:12-16. In these verses the pride of the Kings of Babylon and Tyre were used as examples of the pride of Satan.
“in sackcloth and ashes” In context this may refer to a sign of repentance (cf. Jon 3:5-8).
SPECIAL TOPIC: GRIEVING RITES
Mat 11:22 There are degrees of both reward and punishment based on the amount of light to which the hearers have been exposed (cf. Luk 12:47-48; Mat 10:15). See Special topic at Mat 5:12.
Mat 11:23 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you” This grammatical construction expects a “no” answer. This may be an allusion to Isa 14:13-14 and Eze 28:2; Eze 28:5-6; Eze 28:17, which magnifies the pride of the kings of Babylon and Tyre.
“descend to Hades” This may be an allusion to Isa 14:15 or Eze 26:20; Eze 28:8; Eze 31:14; Eze 32:18; Eze 32:24. This referred to the realm of the dead (cf. Luk 16:23) in Hebrew Sheol. According to the rabbis, there was a righteous part, called Paradise and a wicked part, called Tartarus. This may be true. Jesus’ words to one of the criminals crucified with Him in Luk 23:43 seem to imply a righteous part of Hades because Jesus did not return to heaven until Pentecost. At Jesus’ resurrection He took the righteous part of Hades (Sheol) to be with Him. Therefore, Paul can now say in 2Co 5:8 b that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Be careful not to combine the concepts of Hades and Gehenna. They are distinct in the New Testament. See SPECIAL TOPIC: Where Are the Dead? at Mat 5:22.
“if” This is a second class conditional sentence which is called “contrary to fact” (as was Mat 11:21). This should then be translated, “If the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you (but they did not), then it would have remained to this day, (which it did not).”
Mat 11:24 “the land of Sodom” The word “land” may be the Aramaic phrase for “the city.” Modern archaeologists believe this OT city was located on the southern end of the Dead Sea.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Then. Marking another stage of His rejection. Figure of speech Chronographia.
cities. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Subject) for their inhabitants. App-6.
wherein = in which. Greek. en, as in Mat 11:1.
mighty works. Greek plural of dunamis (App-172.) See note on Joh 2:18.
were done = had taken place.
repented. Greek. metanoeo. App-111.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

20-30.] SECOND PART OF THE DISCOURSE. See on Mat 11:7.
Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 11:20. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
They listened; sometimes, they applauded; but they repented not; and there is nothing really accomplished until men have repented. In vain have we preached until men are brought to repent; so the Master said:
Mat 11:21-22. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
Listen to that, you gospel-hardened sinners, you who have heard, and heard, and heard, but have not repented. See how great is your sin, for you have rejected what others would have received if it had been presented to them. See how your guilt accumulates, and its punishment also.
Mat 11:23-24. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
Sodom! that is the blackest place of all. Ah, me! will that verse ever fall, like a millstone, upon any one of my hearers, to grind him to powder, because you heard the gospel, and rejected if, intending always to receive it, but never receiving it at all? From such a doom, may God in mercy deliver you!
Mat 11:25-30. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father. and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Just by way of contrast to what I am going to say in my sermon, let us read a few verses in Revelation 7.
This exposition consisted of readings from Matthew 3, and Mat 11:20-30; and Rev 7:9-17.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Mat 11:20. , then He began) He had not previously upbraided them. This upbraiding is the prelude to the Last Judgment. Every hearer of the New Testament is either much more blessed (v. 11) or much more miserable than them of old time.-, mighty works) See Mat 11:5. [Repentance and the knowledge of Jesus Christ are always conjoined.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 11:20-30
6. CERTAIN CITIES CONDEMNED;
A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Mat 11:20-30
20-24 Then began he to upbraid the cities.-The preceding verses naturally suggest Jesus’ condemnation on certain cities; he did not “upbraid” all cities, but he did those “wherein most of his mighty works were done.” To “upbraid” means to blame publicly, to denounce the conduct of those cities publicly. He reproached the inhabitants of certain cities; “most of his mighty works were done” in these cities that he publicly condemned. “Mighty works” means works of might or power, miraculous works by divine power; only a few of his “mighty works” are recorded. (Luk 4:23 Joh 21:25.) The principle is that if any one does the work of God by divine aid, he is a messenger from God; when people see such demonstrations, and fail to believe the message that accompanies such mighty works, they are not consistent and justly fall under the condemnation of God.
Next, Jesus specified some of the cities which he condemns. “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!” These were small towns on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum. Jesus had been present in them at different times, and the people there had been able to judge his miracles. Bethsaida was the town of Philip, Andrew, and Peter. (Joh 1:44.) The name means a “place of hunting or fishing”; the woe denounced against it was soon fulfilled, it is claimed, and it is now a poor village consisting of a few miserable cottages. Chorazin is thought to have been more on the west side of the sea; its site is not known. Some think that it was located about two miles from Capernaum. We see in the condemnation of these cities a condemnation of all who refuse to accept Jesus on the testimony that has been given. “If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon” which had been done in Chorazin and Bethsaida, “they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” The reason the condemnation was pronounced on these cities was “they repented not.” “Tyre and Sidon” were cities of the Philistines or Phoenicians, situated on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. They were heathen cities, famous for great wealth, commerce and luxury, and also great vices. Tyre was about one hundred miles northwest of Jerusalem and was often mentioned in the Old Testament; it was denounced by the prophets for its pride and wickedness. (Isa 23:7-18; Eze 26:14; Eze 27:1-11; Eze 28:1-10.) Sidon was twenty miles north of Tyre; it was in the bounds of the tribe of Asher. (Jos 19:28.) It waa also a commercial city, and famous for its valuable timber and skillful workmen. These cities were condemned by the prophets; Chorazin and Bethsaida had greater opportunities for repentance than did Tyre and Sidon; the latter had the pronouncement of the prophets, but the former had the testimony of Jesus confirmed by his “mighty works.” If Tyre and Sidon had heard and seen what Chorazin and Bethsaida had heard and seen, they would have repented in the long ago “in sackcloth and ashes”; these were marks of contrition and humiliation. (Isa 58:5.) “Sackcloth” was the coarsest fabric for garments then known and was used only by the poorest people. When any one or a city desired to express sorrow for sin, and to deprecate the anger of God, they repented in “sackcloth and ashes.” (Jon 3:5.) They put off their rich and soft garments, threw ashes on their heads, and sat in the dust. (Job 2:8; Job 2:12; Jon 3:5.)
But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.-For the reasons mentioned above, “it shall be more tolerable” for these cities “in the day of judgment” than for Chorazin and Bethsaida; Tyre and Sidon had fewer opportunities for knowing the truth; some see in this different degrees of retribution for guilt. The clearness of the light against which sin is committed aggravates the guilt. “The day of judgment” seems to point to the general judgment, and at that time a more severe fate will be visited on the inhabitants of Chorazin and Bethsaida, because they sinned against so much more light than did Tyre and Sidon. Some think that “the day of judgment” may have reference to the time when the cities shall be destroyed;there is no good reason assigned for such a view.
And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? -Capernaum is “upbraided” with Chorazin and Bethsaida. It is the city to which Peter removed from Bethsaida, and was the dwelling place of Jesus after he left Nazareth. (Mat 4:13.) It was located on the seacoast of Galilee and was one of the principal cities on the Sea of Galilee. It boasted of its great fame; it was “exalted unto heaven” in the estimation of its citizens. Not only did Jesus dwell there for a time, but many miracles were performed within its borders; its inhabitants had opportunity to hear much of the teachings of Jesus, yet they had not repented and did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. The inhabitants forfeited their claim to exaltation by their impenitence and because of their impenitence it should be brought “down unto Hades.” “Hades” means a vast abyss in the lower parts of the earth opposed to the heavens or the firmament over our heads; it is the opposite of “exalted unto heaven”; Hades means an unseen place, the invisible world; hence it is applied to the state of the dead-the grave, and the unseen world of separate spirits, whether of torment (Luk 16:23) or in general (Rev 1:18). Capernaum has been literally reduced to “Hades,” for no one can with certainty now tell where it was located. Jesus further pronounces Capernaum’s condemnation by saying, “If the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee,” Sodom “would have remained until this day.” (Gen 19:24 Eze 16:48-49.) Carpernaum, like Chorazin and Bethsaida, had better opportunities with more light to turn from wickedness than did Sodom. Sodom was destroyed for its wickedness, but had it had such advantages as Capernaum, it would not have been destroyed, “it would have remained until this day.” Jesus pronounces the same condemnation on Capernaum as he did on Chorazin and Bethsaida by saying that “it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” The climax is here to be observed: Chorazin and Bethsaida are compared to Tyre and Sidon; Capernaum, greater in sin and punishment, is singled out, and compared to Sodom, whose sin and punishment were greater than those of Sidon. (Deu 32:32; Isa 1:9-10; Lam 4:6; Eze 16:46-57.)
[The surest of temporal punishments had been meted out to Sodom and Gomorrah; but their punishment was temporal. Capernaum had not been guilty of the fleshly depravity which was common to them of Sodom;but great spiritual truths had been presented. Capernaum had rejected these; the punishment is of the spirit and is far-reaching. Capernaum had been the center of the public ministrations, works and teachings of Jesus; she had been exalted to heaven by these privileges; she had rejected them all, and, by her rejection, she brought herself down to hell.]
25-27 At that season Jesus answered and said.-In quick succession the upbraiding of some of the cities of Galilee is followed by a prayer of thanksgiving by Jesus. There is a wide break in the thought here as if it would make a good division between chapters. (See Mat 12:1; Mat 14:1.) He “answered.” This word is frequently used where no question is recorded. (Mat 22:1; Mar 9:5; Mar 9:38; Mar 11:14; Luk 13:14.) However there is usually a reference in the mind of the speaker or hearer, and the question is suppressed for brevity or one which might arise from certain actions. Its frequent occurrence indicates the perfection of Jesus’ teaching, as he could speak to the unspoken thoughts and feelings as well as to the words and actions of those who waited on his ministry. At this time it seems that he responded to the thoughts and inquiries elicited by his discourse concerning the things which have just been studied. Jesus frequently prayed; so at this time he addressed God as “Father, Lord of heaven and earth.”
This expresses his relation to God as his Son, and therefore, his divinity; it also ascribes to God the Ruler of heaven and earth. The object of his prayer was a thanksgiving because God had hidden “these things from the wise and understanding,” and had revealed “them unto babes.” Frequently what God permits to be done, it is said that he does, hence having permitted these things to be hidden to the wise, he now reveals them unto children in knowledge. (Exo 7:3-4; 2Sa 12:11-12; Isa 12:1; Rom 6:17.) Jesus does not so much thank God for concealing the gospel truths from the worldly-minded, as for revealing them to simple believers; these words describe the wisdom of the world which “is foolishness with God.” “The wise and understanding” means those who are skilled in abstract questions. The wise men of Athens called Paul “a babbler” because he preached “Jesus and the resurrection.” “Babes” means disciples of Christ, unlearned, yet believing men. (1Co 1:27.) The mysteries of the gospel require faith; we cannot fathom them; we can know them only by faith in the word of God. In speaking of “the wise and understanding” men, Jesus simply called them what they claimed to be, and not simply what they were. It is well-pleasing to God to do this; hence Jesus praises the equity and wisdom of God in this mystery. (Mat 18:14; 1Co 1:21.) There was a perfect mutual understanding between the Father and the Son, and the Son always did that which was well-pleasing in the sight of God. No one knows the Son perfectly but the Father; no one knows the Father but the Son and those to whom the Son reveals him. This implies that the great scheme of God’s spiritual kingdom over which Jesus is to reign as king and the administering of which is committed by the Father to the Son is revealed to man only through Jesus the Christ.
28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labor.-This is an invitation to all the Jews and to all who labor under burdens of any kind; it is a universal invitation. It is a fitting close for the discourse that Jesus has just delivered. It may possibly refer to all who were suffering from any disease and were burdened by moral and mental stresses, but its deeper significance is those who are weary, being heavily burdened with sin and spiritual defects it would embrace those described in Mat 23:4, Act 15:10, and Gal 5:1, and all others who are burdened in soul. Jesus assures them that he will give them rest; rest from their labors and burdens whatever they may be; if burdened with sin, he will give them remission of sins. This invitation opens the door to the kingdom of heaven and goes into effect when his kingdom is established. All whose souls are sighing for rest and groaning under burdens are to come to him. There is no other source for them, and his assurance is positive, “I will give you rest.”
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.-The yoke is the emblem of subjection and service, whether oppressive and painful (Deu 28:48; Jer 28:14; Lam 1:14; Gal 5:1), or easy and pleasant, as “the law of Christ,” whose service is perfect freedom (1Jn 5:3). One must take the yoke of Christ. Some think that this figure means that we are yoked with Christ and are to become colaborers with him; others think that it symbolizes the government of Jesus and that one is to place oneself under the discipline of the principles of Christianity; it may be either. The “yoke is easy”; it is of no great weight, yet it enables one to do much service. To take the yoke of Christ is simply to become his disciple and to keep his commandment. Jesus is “meek and lowly in heart”; he is gentle and condescending as teacher, and is meek and quiet in loving-kindness. (2Co 10:1; 2Ti 2:24-25.) “Ye shall find rest unto your souls.” “Rest” in verse twenty-eight may be equal to forgiveness of sin, and “rest” in verse twenty-nine may refer to the rest that faithful ones have in heaven. If one comes to Jesus and lives as he teaches that one to live, he shall have rest from all sins and have a home in heaven at last.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Woe or Welcome
Mat 11:20-30
The voice of upbraiding, Mat 11:20-24. The Judge weeps as he pronounces the doom of those who reject Him. They would have crowned Him king, but refused to repent. See Joh 6:15. These cities did not crucify Him, but they had been deaf to His warnings and indifferent to His mighty works. Even where there is no direct opposition, indifference will be sufficient to seal our doom.
The voice of thanksgiving, Mat 11:25-27. He answered the voice of God within His breast. Babes are those who mistrust the reasonings of their intellect, but trust the instincts and intuitions of their hearts. The child-heart looks open-eyed into all the mysteries of God. Learn to say Yea to all Gods dealings. The Spirit reveals the Son, and the Son the Father. Our Lord must be divine, if only God can know him.
The voice of pleading mercy, Mat 11:28-30. Labor is for active manhood; heavy-laden for suffering, patient womanhood. The invitation is to commit and submit; to come and to bow under the yoke of the Fathers will. Submission and obedience are the secrets of the blessed life.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

The King’s Warnings, Rejoicings, and Invitations
[The wonderful portion of Scripture which makes up the rest of this chapter deals with three things, about which there has been great disputing: namely, the responsibility of man, the sovereign election of God, and the free invitations of the gospel. They are all here in happy combination.]
Mat 11:20. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not.
Some cities were more favoured with the Lord’s presence than others, and therefore he looked for more from them. These cities ought to have repented, or Christ would not have upbraided them: repentance is a duty. The more men hear and see of the Lord’s work, the greater is their obligation to repent. Where most is given most is required. Men are responsible for the way in which they treat the Lord Jesus and “his mighty works.”
There is a time for upbraiding: “Then began he.” The most loving preacher will see cause for complaining of his impenitent hearers: ME upbraids, even he who also wept. Repentance is what we who are preachers drive at; and where we do not see it, we are sore troubled. Our trouble is not that our hearers did not applaud our ability, but because they repented not. They have enough to repent of, and without repentance woe is upon them, and therefore we mourn that they do not repent.
Mat 11:21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin I woe -unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Jesus knew what the doom of certain Jewish towns would be; and he knew what certain heathen cities would have done if they had been placed in their favourable circumstances.
He spoke infallibly. Great privileges were lost on Chorazin and Bethsaida, but would have been effectual had they been granted to Tyre and Sidon. According to our Lord’s declaration, God gave the opportunity where it was rejected, and it was not given where it would have been accepted. This is true, but how mysterious! The practical point was the guilt of these favoured cities, in that they remained unmoved by visitations which would have converted the heathen Sidonians; yes, and would have made them repent quickly “long ago”; and in the most humiliating manner, “in sackcloth and ashes.” It is a sad fact that our impenitent hearers do despite to a grace which would have brought cannibals to the Saviour’s feet!
Mat 11:22. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
Terrible as the hell of these two sinful cities will be, their punishment will be more bearable than the sentence passed on cities of Galilee where Jesus taught and wrought miracles of love. The sin is in proportion to the light. Those who perish with salvation sounding in their ears perish with a vengeance. Assuredly the day of judgment will be notable for surprises. Who would have thought to see Bethsaida sink lower than Sidon? Believers will not in the day of judgment be surprised, for they will remember in that day our Lord’s ” I say unto you.”
Mat 11:23. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
The warning to Capernaum is, if possible, still more emphatic, for Sodom was actually destroyed by fire from heaven. Capernaum, his own city, the headquarters of the army of salvation, had seen and heard the Son of God: he had done in it that which even Sodomites would have felt; and yet it remained unmoved. Those foul sinners of the accursed Sodom, had they beheld the miracles of Christ, would have so forsaken their sins that their city would have been spared. Jesus knew that it would have been so; and therefore ho mourned to see Capernaum remain as hardened as ever. Because of this rejection of special privilege, the city which had been exalted unto heaven would be brought as low in punishment as it had been raised high in privilege. May none of our favoured English race perish in the same condemnation! Alas, how much we fear that millions of them will do so!
Mat 11:24. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
What Sodom will endure when the great Judge of all appoints the doom of the wicked, we may not try to realize; but it will be somewhat less than the penalty inflicted upon those who have sinned against the light, and rejected the testimony of the Lord from heaven. To reject the gospel of the Son of God is to create for one’s self a sevenfold hell. Here, again, our Lord speaks from his own full authority, with “I say unto you.” He speaks what he knows: he will himself be the Judge.
So far our Lord spake in heaviness of heart; but his brow cleared when he came to the glorious doctrine of election in the next verse.
Mat 11:25-26. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
He turned to the other side of truth. ” Jesus answered”: one doctrine answers to another: sovereign grace is the answer to abounding guilt. With rejoicing spirit Jesus sees how sovereign grace meets the unreasonable aboundings of human sin, and chooses out its own, according to the good pleasure of the Father’s will. Here is the spirit in which to regard the electing grace of God: “I thank thee.” It is cause for deepest gratitude. Here is the author of election: “O Father.” It is the Father who makes the choice, and reveals the blessings. Here is his right to act as he does: he is “Lord of heaven and earth.” Who shall question the good pleasure of his will? Here we see the objects of election, under both aspects; the chosen and the passed-over. Babes see because sacred truths are revealed to them, and not otherwise. They are weak and inexperienced. They are simple and unsophisticated. They can cling, and trust, and cry, and love; and to such the Lord opens up the treasures of wisdom. The objects of divine choice are such as these. Lord, let me be one among them! The truths of the heavenly kingdom are hid, by a judicial act of God, from men who, in their own esteem, are “the wise and prudent.” They cannot see, because they trust their own dim light, and will not accept the light of God.
Here we see, also, the reason of election, the divine will: “So it seemed good in thy sight.” We can go no further than this. The choice seemed good to Him who never errs, and therefore it is good. This stands to the children of God as the reason which is above all reason. Deus vult is enough for us. If God wills it, so must it be, and so ought it to be.
Mat 11:27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Here we have the channel through which electing love works towards men: “All things are delivered unto me of my Father.” All things are put into the Mediator’s hands; fit hands both towards God and towards man; for he alone knows both to perfection. Jesus reveals the Father to the babes whom he has chosen. Only the Father can fill the Son with benediction, and only through the Son can that benediction flow to any one of the race of men. Know Christ, and you know the Father, and know that the Father himself loveth you. There is no other way of knowing the Father but through the Son. In this our Lord rejoiced; for his office of Mediator is dear to him, and he loves to be the way of communication between the Father whom he loves, and the people whom he loves for the Father’s sake.
Observe the intimate fellowship between the Father and the Son, and how they know each other as none else ever can. Oh, to see all things in Jesus by the Father’s appointment, and so to find the Father’s love and grace in finding Christ.
My soul, there are great mysteries here! Enjoy what thou canst not explain.
Mat 11:28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Here is the gracious invitation of the gospel in which the Saviour’s tears and smiles were blended, as in a covenant rainbow of promise.
“Come “; he drives none away: he calls them to himself. His favourite word is “Come.” Not,-go to Moses, “Come unto me.” To Jesus himself we must come, by a personal trust. Not to doctrine, ordinance, or ministry are we to come first; but to the personal Saviour. All labouring and laden ones may come: he does not limit the call to the spiritually labouring, but every working and wearied one is called. It is well to give the largest sense to all that mercy speaks. Jesus calls me. Jesus promises “rest”, as his gift: his immediate, personal, effectual rest he freely gives to all who come to him by faith.
To come to him is the first step, and he entreats us to take it. In himself, as the great sacrifice for sin, the conscience, the heart, the understanding obtain complete rest. When we have obtained the rest he gives, we shall be ready to hear of a further rest which we find.
Mat 11:29-30. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am, meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
“Take my yoke, and learn”: this is the second instruction; it brings with it a further rest which we “find.” The first rest he gives through his death; the second we find in copying his life. This is no correction of the former statement, but an addition thereto. First, we rest by faith in Jesus, and next we rest through obedience to him. Rest from fear is followed by rest from the turbulence of inward passion, and the drudgery of self. We are not only to bear a yoke, but his yoke; and we are not only to submit to it when it is laid upon us, but we are to take it upon us. We are to be workers, and take his yoke; and at the same time we are to be scholars, and learn from him as our Teacher. We are to learn of Christ and also to learn Christ. He is both teacher and lesson. His gentleness of heart fits him to teach, to be the illustration of his own teaching, and to work in us his great design. If we can become as he is, we shall rest as he does. We shall not only rest from the guilt of sin-this he gives us; but we shall rest in the peace of holiness, which we find through obedience to him. It is the heart which makes or mars the rest of the man. Lord, make us “lowly in heart”, and we shall be restful of heart.
“Take my yoke” The yoke in which we draw with Christ must needs be a happy one, and the burden which we carry for him is a blessed one. We rest in the fullest sense when we serve, if Jesus is the Master. We are unloaded by bearing his burden; we are rested by running on his errands.
“Come unto me”, is thus a divine prescription, curing our ills by the pardon of sin through our Lord’s sacrifice, and causing us the greatest peace by sanctifying us to his service. Oh for grace to be always coming to Jesus, and to be constantly inviting others to do the same! Always free, yet always bearing his yoke; always having the rest once given, yet always finding more: this is the experience of those who come to Jesus always, and for everything. Blessed heritage; and it is ours!
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom

Then
The kingdom of heaven announced as “at hand” by John the Baptist, by the King Himself, and by the twelve, and attested by mighty works, has been morally rejected. The places chosen for the testing of the nation, Chorazin, Bethsaida, etc. having rejected both John and Jesus, the rejected King now speaks of judgment. The final official rejection is later. Mat 27:31-37.
For Another Point of View: See Topic 301190
For Additional Factors See Topic 301199
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

began: Luk 10:13-15
upbraid: Psa 81:11-13, Isa 1:2-5, Mic 6:1-5, Mar 9:19, Mar 16:14, Jam 1:5
because: Mat 12:41, Mat 21:28-32, Jer 8:6, Act 17:20, 2Ti 2:25, 2Ti 2:26, Rev 2:21, Rev 9:20, Rev 9:21, Rev 16:9, Rev 16:11
Reciprocal: Lev 21:9 – the daughter Psa 95:9 – saw Eze 3:6 – of a strange speech and of an hard language Amo 3:2 – therefore Mat 3:2 – Repent Mat 9:13 – but Mar 6:11 – It shall Mar 6:12 – preached Joh 3:19 – this Joh 4:30 – General Joh 10:37 – General Joh 12:37 – General Joh 15:24 – If Rom 2:9 – of the Jew 1Pe 4:17 – what
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1:20
The key to this verse is that they repented not. God does not condemn unrighteous persons rashly on the mere fact of their sinfulness, but it is when they have been admonished and refuse to repent. (See Rev 2:5; Rev 2:16; Rev 3:3.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 11:20. Then began he. Probably pointing to a pause or change of manner of our Lord.
To upbraid. Often used of men in a bad sense, here, implying moral disapproval and righteous indignation.
Wherein most of his mighty works were done. Probably only the smallest part of our Lords miracles are detailed by the Evangelists (comp. Joh 21:25). We have no account of any miracles in Chorazin and Bethsaida (Mat 11:21).
Because they repented not. The object of the miracles was to lead to repentance.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our Saviour having gone through the cities of Galilee, preaching the doctrine of repentance, and confirming his doctrine with miracles, and finding multitudes, after all his endeavours, remain in their impenitence, he proceeds to upbraid them severely for their contempt of gospel-grace: Then began he to upbraid their cities, &c.
Where observe, 1. The cities upbraided, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum: in their pulpits he daily preached, and those places were the theatres upon which his miracles were wrought; other cities onlyheard these saw; but where he preached most, he prevailed least; like some fishermen, he catched least in his own pond.
Observe, 2. What he upbraids them for; not for disrespect to his person, but disobedience to his doctrine; because they repented not. The great design of Christ both in the doctrine which he preached, and in the miracles which he wrought was to bring men to repentance; that is, to forsake their sins, and live well.
Observe, 3. Whom he upbraids them with; Tyre and Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah, nations rude and barbarous, out of the pale of the church, ignorant of a Saviour, and of the ways to salvation by him.
Learn, that the higher a people rise under the means, the lower they fall if they miscarry. They who have been nearest to conversion, and not yet converted, shall have the greatest condemnation when they are judged. Capernaum’s sentence shall exceed Sodom’s for severity, because she exceeded Sodom in the enjoyment of means and mercy. The case of those who are impenitent under the gospel, is of all others the most dangerous, and their damnation shall be heaviest and most severe. Sodom, the stain of mankind, a city soaked in the dregs of villainy: yet this hell upon earth shall have a milder hell at the last day of judgment, than unbelieving Capernaum, as the next verse informs us, Mat 11:23.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 11:20-24. Then began he to upbraid the cities Which he had often blessed with his presence, and in which he had preached many awakening sermons, and performed many astonishing miracles. It is observable, he had never upbraided them before. Indeed, at first they had received him with all gladness, Capernaum in particular. Wo unto thee, Chorazin, &c. That is, miserable art thou. For these are not curses or imprecations, as has been commonly supposed; but a solemn, compassionate declaration of the misery they were bringing on themselves. Chorazin and Bethsaida were cities of Galilee, standing by the lake of Gennesareth, in which and the neighbouring places Jesus spent a great part of his public life. See notes on chap. Mat 4:13-16. If the mighty works The great miracles, which were done in you, had been done [of old] in Tyre and Sidon Though cities inhabited by heathen, and remarkable for their luxury, pride, and contempt of religion, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes That is, they would have exercised the deepest repentance, for sackcloth and ashes were used by the Jews in token of the bitterest grief. But I say unto you Besides this general denunciation of wo to those stubborn unbelievers, I declare particularly that the degree of their misery will be greater than even that of Tyre and Sidon, yea, of Sodom. And thou, Capernaum, &c. He mentions Capernaum separately by itself, and last of all, because, being the place of his ordinary residence, it had been blessed with more of his sermons and miracles than any other town. Nevertheless it abounded with wickedness of all kinds, and therefore he compared it to that city which, on account of the greatness of its crimes, had been the most terrible example of the divine displeasure that ever the world had beheld. It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, &c. That is, the condition of the inhabitants even of the land of Sodom, in the day of the final judgment, shall be more tolerable than thy condition. For thy condemnation shall rise in proportion to thy more aggravated guilt, and to those more valuable mercies and privileges which thou hast abused. Dr. Hammond understands this passage as referring to the temporal calamities to come on those places by the Romans; who did indeed shortly after overrun the whole country, and made dreadful ravages in some of those cities. But, as Doddridge justly observes, There is no evidence that the destruction of those cities was more dreadful than that of Tyre and Sidon, and it was certainly less so than that of Sodom and Gomorrah: besides, our Lord plainly speaks of a judgment that was yet to come on all these places that he mentions. From this passage, therefore, we learn two important particulars: 1st, That the punishments to be inflicted upon wicked men in the life to come shall not be all equal, but in exact proportion to the demerit of the sins of each. 2d, That great and signal punishments, befalling sinners in this life, will not screen them from the wrath of God in the life to come; for Jesus Christ, the judge, here declares that Sodom, though burned by fire and brimstone from heaven, shall suffer such dreadful things, that, in speaking of the pains of the damned, he mentions this city as an example of very great punishment. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

SOVEREIGN, DISCRIMINATING MERCY OF GOD
Mat 11:20-30. Then He began to upbraid the cities, in which most of His mighty works were wrought, because they did not repent: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! because if the mighty works which have been wrought in you were in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Moreover I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. Chorazin was a magnificent city, twenty miles to the northwest of the Galilean Sea, on a mountain slope, and very conspicuous. We saw it almost constantly while sailing on that sea. This prophecy has been literally and signally fulfilled in the utter ruin of that city, which remained without an inhabitant through the intervening centuries, till about twenty years ago a Jewish colony reached the old site. It is now a very flourishing city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, one of the cheering omens of the swiftly approaching end of Israels long desolation, and inspiringly ominous of the Lords near coming. (Mat 24:29-30.) Bethsaida stood on the northwestern shore of that sea, the home of Peter, Andrew, and Philip. Signally has this woe been fulfilled in its utter destruction. This day it is without an inhabitant, though rather a favorite camping-ground for travelers, as the great spring, which evidently originally determined the location, still rolls its clear, limpid waters into the sea. We spent an hour, lunched, and fed our horses, enjoying copious draughts from this spring.
Of course, this city will be rebuilt in the good time coming. Tyre and Sidon are among the most ancient cities in the world, situated in Phenicia, on the Mediterranean coast, twenty miles apart. They were the inventors of the royal purple, which erelong became the uniform of all the kings throughout the known world, thus making these cities immensely rich by their patronage, as they enjoyed a monopoly of the costly and gaudy apparel worn by the royal families in all the earth. They suffered terribly in the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar, 600 B. C. Having somewhat revived, they again suffered awfully in the conquest of Alexander, 325 B. C., in after ages being conquered by the Romans, so that in the Saviors time, though they still existed, scarcely a vestige of their former grandeur existed. These were Gentile cities. Jesus says that with the opportunities enjoyed by those Jewish cities, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes.
And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted up to heaven, shall be cast down to Hades; because, if the mighty works which have been performed in thee, were among the Sodomites, they would have remained until this day. Moreover I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of the Sodomites in the day of judgment than for thee. Why was Capernaum exalted up to heaven? Because she enjoyed the residence and the ministry of Jesus, the richest blessing in all the earth; no city on the globe ever so signally favored. How plain the preaching of Jesus! Remember, He was in that city when he pronounced this awful, withering woe, which has been literally verified in the utter destruction of the city, remaining through the ages without an inhabitant. They are now beginning to rebuild that memorable city. When I reached the sea of Galilee, and embarked in a boat to go sailing all around, I said to them, Take me, first of all, to Capernaum, which is about ten miles from Tiberias, whence we sailed. O how I enjoyed walking on the ground where Jesus had walked, and standing where He preached to the multitudes. The revival of this city is of very recent date; a Latin convent, claiming to occupy the site of Peters house, which was the home of Jesus, being the principal interest. Hades means the unseen world, which we all enter when we evacuate these tenements. There are two words in the Greek, Hades and Gehenna, both translated hell in E.V.; the latter always meaning hell, and the former simply meaning the eternal world, including both heaven and hell. Sodom and Gomorrah were Gentile cities, so awfully wicked that God rained on them fire and brimstone, thus destroying them. Here our Savior says that with the opportunities enjoyed by these Hebrew cities, they would have repented. I have met many idle and foolish talkers who even dare to impeach the Divine benignity, saying that it is unfair to give the millennial generations an earthly paradise, with no devil to tempt them, when all the premillennial ages have to pass through Satans flint-mills, taking chances for heaven. Who art thou that repliest against God? Hath not the Almighty a perfect right to dispense His sovereign mercy pursuant to His infallible will? We know He makes no mistakes. Here, Jesus says that if these great Gentile cities, Tyre and Sidon and Sodom, had enjoyed gospel privileges, they would have repented. Let us thank God for our opportunities, and be sure that we appreciate them.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Mat 11:20-24. Woe to Unbelieving Cities (Luk 10:13-16; in the address to the Seventy). We should rather have expected to find this passage in Matthew 10. Some scholars regard the denunciation as the product of a later generation rather than an utterance of Jesus. The Galilean cities had been comparatively receptive of His teaching, and it is not like Him to make miracles the basis of faith. Note, too, the contrast with the gentleness of Mat 11:29. Still the passage may well reflect the tragic sense of failure experienced by Jesus at the crisis of His work in Galilee, when He had to leave to save Himself from Herod (Luk 13:1), and because of the changing attitude of the people. As He set out on the road to Phnicia, the scene of His work lay spread out before Him. Here He had long laboured to lay the corner-stone of the new Kingdom, to banish pain and ignorance and sin, and to show men the way to the Father and to each other. The utterance is less a curse than a statement of fact put in the form of a dirge or lament, so characteristic of the East.
Mat 11:21. Chorazin: the modern Kerzeh, two miles NNW. of Tell Hm (p. 29). The Gospels do not mention any incident as taking place here. An ancient Christian tradition (Pseudo-Methodius) connects it with Antichrist (ET, 15:524). Tyre and Sidon were often denounced by the OT prophets for their luxury and wickedness. So was Babylon, with which Capernaum (Mat 11:23) is implicitly compared. See Isa 13:19 f.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

11:20 {5} Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
(5) The proud reject the gospel offered to them (to their great hurt and pain) which leads to the salvation of the simple.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

2. Indifference to the King’s message 11:20-24
One indication of Israel’s opposition to her King was the antagonism she displayed toward John and Jesus’ methods (Mat 11:2-19). Another was her indifference to Jesus’ message. Jesus and His disciples had preached and healed throughout Galilee. However most of the people did not repent. Therefore Jesus pronounced judgment on their cities that had witnessed many mighty miracles. Jesus had the residents of the cities in view when He spoke of the cities.
"Those who really wish to know their Bibles should see that we are in new country from this verse forward. Draw a thick black line between the nineteenth and the twentieth verses. There is a great divide here. Truth flows down to opposite oceans from this point. We are face to face with a new aspect of the work of Christ. The Lord Jesus was henceforth a different Man in His action and in His speech. The One Who was the meek and lowly Jesus was about to exhibit His strong wrath in no uncertain way." [Note: Barnhouse, p. 77.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The Greek word oneidizein translated "reproach" (NASB) and "denounce" (NIV) is a strong word that conveys deep indignation (cf. Mat 5:11; Mat 27:44). Jesus did not denounce these cities because they actively opposed His ministry. He did so because the residents refused to repent in spite of the many miracles that Jesus and His disciples had performed there (cf. Mat 3:2; Mat 4:17). The verb "to be done" (Gr. egenonto) looks at Jesus’ Galilean ministry as completed (cf. Mat 11:21). [Note: M’Neile, p. 159.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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