Woe to you!
Published Jul 15, 2025 12:05 am
|
Updated Jul 14, 2025 06:10 pm
REFLECTIONS TODAY
The opposite of the benediction, “Blessed are you!” is the malediction, “Woe to you!” In Luke’s Beatitudes, the four blessings have their corresponding “Woes” (Lk 6:20-26). Here in Matthew, Jesus pronounces the “Woe” as a warning to towns who have witnessed his miracles but have not repented.
Jesus’ preaching and mighty deeds are not for people’s satisfaction as “privileged people” of God but as a call to repentance because these are signs that the Kingdom of God has come and must be received with a humble disposition. The lack of repentance of the Jewish residents of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum—towns by the Sea of Galilee—can be compared to the arrogance and indifference of pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon.
Since these are pagans and have not received the Law of God, their guilt is not as heavy as the Jewish towns. The inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon are not as privileged as the Jews. Supposedly, the Jews should feel “exalted” since a prophet appears from their midst; instead, the threat of an impending “judgment” is pronounced on them because they have not received properly the time of the visitation of Jesus the Messiah. “Oh, that today you would hear his voice: do not harden your hearts” (Ps 95:7-8).
The psalmist laments that although the Israelites had seen God’s mighty acts, they still strayed away from him. Let us open the “ears of our hearts” to hear God’s invitation for us to walk humbly before him and to love sincerely.
Gospel • Matthew 11:20-24
Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum: Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld. For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2025,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.