Slices
Prepare
‘The secret of spiritual success is a hunger that persists… It is an awful condition to be satisfied with one’s spiritual attainments… God was and is looking for hungry, thirsty people’* (Smith Wigglesworth). How’s your desire for God today?
*Smith Wigglesworth, in Hungering and Thirsting after God, compiler: Dr MH Yeager, Amazon, 2019
Bible passage
Woe on unrepentant towns
20 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.’
Explore
Here, Jesus sounds more like the Messianic judge of Malachi 4:1 than the Suffering Servant. Why is he so enraged (v 20)? He is the Saviour, delivering the good news of freedom in the kingdom of heaven and backing it up with the physical, emotional and spiritual manifestations of that freedom. What’s not to like?
How would we respond to being healed by Jesus? Could we stop at receiving restoration to bodies that will still age and die, whilst rejecting spiritual regeneration through repentance that lays hold of the promise of eternal life (Romans 6:22)? But ‘the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9). We are left to wonder how people can taste God’s goodness through Jesus, yet reject peace with God.
God’s grace is such that healing is not conditional on accepting Jesus as Saviour and Lord (Luke 17:11–19). Although, Jesus’ words to the man who had been healed of leprosy, suggest his salvation as well as healing (Luke 17:19).
Respond
CS Lewis writes of two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done’, and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done’.** Pray for someone you know who is rejecting Jesus.
**The Great Divorce, Geoffrey Bles (UK), 1945
Deeper Bible study
Reflect on any mission activities you have been involved in. How successful were they and how do you measure success in this area?
It’s natural to assume that everyone who met Jesus, heard his teaching and witnessed his miracles was persuaded and instantly followed him. However, today’s reading makes it clear that this was far from so. It appears that even the towns at the very centre of his ministry were unreceptive, for Jesus berates these places. Bethsaida, for instance, is where Luke claims the feeding of the five thousand happened and Jesus also healed a blind man there. Capernaum was the base for much of his work in Galilee. This was where residents lowered a paralysed man through a roof, so Jesus could heal him – and many other wonders happened there. Jesus performed further miracles that are not described in the Gospels:1 we know nothing about what he did in Chorazin (v 21), for instance.
The people in these places do not appear to have rejected Jesus, but to have been indifferent to him.2 We may be shocked that they could be apathetic about a man like Jesus. Because these places had been privileged to see so much of Jesus, they would be held more accountable on the day of judgement than pagan cities such as Tyre and Sidon, condemned by the Old Testament prophets, and the notoriously wicked Sodom destroyed by God with fire and brimstone.
Many came to watch Jesus, but it seems that few went on to follow him. What does this teach us about what to expect from mission? We should remember, though, that while most people ignored Jesus, there were some from these places who did follow him and they would become hugely significant: the apostles Peter, Philip and Andrew all came from Bethsaida and went on to change the world.3 What matters most: numbers of converts or depth of discipleship?
Dear Lord, help us not to be discouraged when people are not interested in the gospel but rejoice as your angels do over even one person that comes to you.
1 John 20:30 2 William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume II, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, p14,15 3 John 1:44
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Esther 6,7; Luke 12
Pray for Scripture Union
This week's prayers relate to this story. Give thanks to God for all the partners that deliver Amplify – Scripture Union, Youth For Christ, The Message, Pais Movement, Church of England, Alpha, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Advance, Luis Palau, Evangelical Alliance and HOPE Together. Praise him for the different gifts that each organisation is able to offer through its staff and volunteers.
