1. Why does Jesus condemn Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum in v. 21-24?

2. Why will Tyre, Sidon, and even Sodom have a better time when Christ returns than Chroazin, Bethsaida, and even Capernaum?

3. What does this mean for our cities and even our churches?

4. What exactly does Jesus mean when he talks about the wise and infants in v. 25?

5. Why does no-one "know" the Father like Jesus and no-one "know" Jesus like the Father? (Hint: how is it that Adam "knew" Eve? Jesus is using that same kind of "know")

6. How is Jesus' burden give us rest? Often (like in the sermon on the mount, specifically Mt. 5:20) Jesus demands even more of us than what was originally required by the Pharisees and Scribes. So how is his yoke easy and his burden light?

7.  What does this mean for our personal practice as well as our church?

Hello everyone, as per usual make sure to pair off this lesson with intentional fellowship. Something like a meal, a game, or just chit chatting is crucial to continue maintaining vulnerability through genuine connection.

1. Why does Jesus condemn Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum in v. 21-24?

   • Jesus has, at this point, performed a multitude of miracles in all three of these cities, Capernaum even having been Jesus' base of operations up until this point. 

   • Miracles performed in Chorazin:

     • Nothing is explicitly mentioned in the gospels beyond Mt 11:21

   • Miracles performed in Bethsaida: 

     • Feeding of the 5,000 (Lk 9:10-17)

     • Healing of a blind man (Mk 8:22-26)

     • Walking on water (Mk 6:45-52)

   • Miracles performed in Capernaum

     • Healing of the Centurion's servant (Mt. 8:5-13)

     • Healing of Peter's Mother in Law (Mt 8:14-15)

     • Healing of a Paralytic (Mk. 2:1-12)

     • Raised a girl from the dead (Mk. 5:21-43)

     • Healing the bleeding woman (Mk. 5:25-34)

     • Casting out of a demon (Mk. 1:21-28)

     • Healing at a distance (Jn. 4:46-54)

   • Despite these miracles, these cities have not repented

2. Why will Tyre, Sidon, and even Sodom have a better time when Christ returns than Chroazin, Bethsaida, and even Capernaum?

   • Tyre and Sidon are notorious pagan cities throughout the Old Testament

     • Judges 10:6 identifies Baal and Ashteroth as gods of Sidon

     • 1 Kings 16:31 identifies Jezebel as being the daughter of the king of Sidon

     • Isaiah 23 is an oracle against Tyre specifically

     • Jeremiah 25:22, 27:3 mention both cities as facing God's wrath (via Babylon)

   • Then of course Sodom is the same Sodom from Abraham's day (the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis)

   • These cities were not informed of God's coming wrath, yet Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum were warned and refused to repent

3. What does this mean for our cities and even our churches?

   • We must heed the warning that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We cannot afford to refuse the opportunity at reconciliation afforded to us by Christ. Yet still many have refused this opportunity, in our cities and even some in our churches refuse to repent. 

4. What exactly does Jesus mean when he talks about the wise and infants in v. 25?

   • The wise and intelligent are the theologians of the day, most likely the Sadducees and Pharisees. These people, despite being religious leaders and experts in the law, and the very ones refusing their messiah, while simple men, likened to infants, are accepting their messiah (i.e. the disciples who are fishermen and whatnot).

5. Why does no-one "know" the Father like Jesus and no-one "know" Jesus like the Father? (Hint: how is it that Adam "knew" Eve? Jesus is using that same kind of "know")

   • The biblical idea of "knowing" someone does not mean an acquaintance nor an academic understanding. Rather it is a highly relational intimacy. A husband knows his wife initmately, both in the physical sense as well as the emotional sense. Similarly a parent knows their child intimately as well (though obviously not in that same physical sense). 

   • This being said, Jesus and the Father have a relationship unlike the relationship between God and any prophet, even that of Moses. This of course is by nature of the Trinity. Jesus and the Father both are members of the Godhead along with the Spirit. 

6. How is Jesus' burden give us rest? Often (like in the sermon on the mount, specifically Mt. 5:20) Jesus demands even more of us than what was originally required by the Pharisees and Scribes. So how is his yoke easy and his burden light?

   • It is true that Jesus internalized the law, and inevitably made it harder to follow because it's no longer "thou shalt not commit murder" but instead is now "don't even be angry with your brother." Yet Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf. We must repent of our sins and aim to lead sanctified and righteous lives, yet we have the safety net of Christ below us at all times. In addition to this we also now have the Spirit in us which empowers us to live that sanctified life as well. We are no longer expected to reconcile ourselves to God, instead God has seen fit to reconcile us to Himself. His burden is light specifically because He is doing the heavy lifting, not us.

7.  What does this mean for our personal practice as well as our church?

   • We must rely entirely on God for all things. My faith and righteousness are not my own. I have taken on the righteousness of Christ which is by nature freeing yet also all demanding. I am not my own, yet I am free to be the me that I was created to be! This is all to say that we enjoy freedom and rest only when we are fully devoted to God!

Hello everyone, welcome to session 19. This week we are finishing up Matthew 11. We have Jesus' address to cities that have rejected him as well as a general altar call as well. 

Condemnation for the Unrepentant

Jesus offers condemnation for three cities in particular in this section and contrasts them against three from the Old Testament. He condemns Chorazin and Bethsaida, comparing them against Tyre and Sidon. Then He condemns Capernaum, comparing it to Sodom. It's to Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum that Jesus delivers a "woe to you" mirroring the same kind of language used of the prophets before declaring a coming judgment (see Num 21:29; Isa 3:9-11; and Ezek 24:-9).

Chorazin we don't actually see much of in the gospels beyond v. 21 here, but we do see plenty happen in Bethsaida. It is near Bethsaida that Jesus feeds the 5,000 in Luke 9:10-17 and then later walks on water in Mark 6:45-52. It is also in Bethsaida that Jesus heals a blind man with his spit (Mark 8:22-26). Considering that Chorazin is mentioned alongside Bethsaida, I would assume that a similar level of miracles were performed there as well.

Despite these miracles Jesus declares that when the final judgment comes (in His second coming) that Tyre and Sidon will fare better than Chorazin and Bethsaida. Tyre and Sidon are mentioned throughout the Old Testament as primarily sinful cities. Judges 10:6 tells us that Ba'al and Ashtaroth, foreign gods which had invaded Israel's religious life and stayed put all the way through to the Babylonian Exile, were gods of Sidon in particular. Not only this but Jezebel, the wife of Ahab who had brought in hundreds of priests of Ba'al (which Elijah would subsequently challenge and have killed, numbering at 450) was also the daughter of the king of Sidon (1 ki 16:31). Isaiah 23 also speaks directly against both Tyre and Sidon together, proclaiming judgement upon the cities. 

So the natural question is why would these cities, which Jesus had ministered to personally, fare worse than wicked Tyre and Sidon? Even more condemning is the next comparison. Capernaum was Jesus' home base for His ministry in Galilee, and the place where we see the majority of the healings we have read so far through Matthew. Don't forget one of those miracles that took place in Capernaum was literally raising a girl from the dead. Yet they will fare worse than Sodom itself, the very same city that had been condemned to judgment in the days of Abraham and is more or less regarded as perhaps the most sinful city where the biblical narrative is concerned. Mind you Sodom is the same city where the angels had met with Lot's family, yes that same city where the men had attempted to not just have have relations with these visitors, but rather had attempted to outright rape them as if it were a common practice. Why would this wicked city fare better than Jesus' home base?

The reality is this: Jesus had given signs to Chorazin, Bethsaida, and especially Capernaum. They have been thoroughly warned of the coming judgement, unlike Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom. Unlike these three wicked cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum has been given ample opportunity to repent and be changed, yet the people have rejected Christ and refused thier opportunity to repent and be saved. So therefore they will face a worse judgment because they were given ample chances, and they still refused God knowingly.

The Altar Call

Jesus then goes on to give a bit of an altar call. He starts by saying that the Father has revealed these things to the infants and yet has hidden them from the wise and intelligent. While guised in metaphor, a moment's thought reveals just who Jesus is speaking about here. Jesus is having increasing conflict with the religious leaders: the scribes, and pharisees (and eventually the Sadducees in the temple too). These are the wise and intelligent, the theologians who really should be the ones to recognize Jesus as the messiah. Despite that they are rejecting Jesus as the messiah, and quite idiotically are rejecting the very God they are claiming to serve.

Now let's look at Jesus' disciples, the infants. They consist of fisherman and some other unlikely subjects like Matthew, the tax collector. It is the unlearned, the not particularly religious nor theologically inclined that have clung to Jesus. Furthermore Jesus says that this is the Father's intentional design. Much like how God made Moses, a stutterer and a murderer, His mouthpiece and the founder of the Old Covenant. Similarly, Jesus has taken on a cohort that is quite unlearned if not outright offensive to the religious elites. 

Jesus goes on to explain that no one knows the Father like He does, not just intellectually but relationally. Now this isn't exactly surprising, but may have been to His audience. We have the hindsight (namely two thousand years of theological debate) that tells us that of course no one has ever had a relationship with the Father as closely as Jesus has because they are both members of the Trinity. But let us not forget that this fact wasn't clearly recognized by those to which Jesus is speaking. Jesus is claiming here to be greater than all the prophets here, and when you consider His divinity, of course He is because He is God. 

Then comes our proper altar call: the "come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden" (Mt. 11:25 NASB) which we have all heard a million times before. Now I do want to point out the seeming contradiction here. Jesus claims that His burden is light, His yoke is easy. Despite this when we actually examine what Jesus asks of us, he doesn't relent on commands from the Old Testament, but rather He demands more than what was already demanded of the Jews. Look no further than the Sermon on the Mount from previous sessions. Jesus took the law and made it internal. No longer are we asked to not murder, but instead He asks us to not even be angry. 

So how is His burden light if His burden exceeds that which came before? The answer is this: we are not expected to carry this burden alone. When we look throughout the Old Testament, we saw God amongst His people, yet there was still clear distinction. God resided in the Holy of Holies, but He sat admist Jerusalem. In the wilderness God lead the Jews by cloud and by fire, yet still only Moses was allowed the personal audience. This changes with Christ, however. Now we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. God no longer simple habitates among us, rather he dwells within us now. We no longer have need to go and visit God, He is with us every step now.

This is to say that the burden is light now because God is doing the heavy lifting. Jesus has, Himself, fulfilled the requirements of the law on our behalf. We have been reconciled to God by no power of our own. Yes Jesus demands even more out of us, yet He is helping us and advocating for us every step of the way.