Last week we ended with Jesus’ denunciation of the people through his little parable of the children at play, as we continue to read in Matthew the denunciation becomes sharper. In these five verses of Matt 11:20-24 there is a double warning, explanation and comparison of the story of judgement on towns in Israel’s past and these towns in Jesus’ day.
God’s Word is important to the conduct of our lives, character forming and transforming us to the likeness of Christ.
The towns of Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, where Jesus did so many miracles, did not oppose Jesus as others had, but neither did they respond to his teaching and demonstration of the Kingdom of God with repentance. They simply observed, shrugged their apathetic shoulders and carried on – and these were God’s people!
We can see in Zechariah 7 that refusing to hear the word of God causes the human heart to become as hard as flint, these New testament people refused to hear God’s word or even take note of Jesus’ demonstration with power.