Luke 10:13-15 (NIV) “Woe to you, Korazin! 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, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.”
With great exposure to truth comes great responsibility to respond to that graciously revealed truth. And refusal to respond to the truth that God reveals to people carries with it great penalty.
The people of the towns listed here by Jesus, Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, had witnessed Jesus’ miracles in great quantities. Capernaum, especially singled out here by Jesus, had experienced more than the other two, because Capernaum was Jesus’ base of operations. He had spent far more time there, so he had done more miracles there.
It would be tempting for the people of someplace like Capernaum to try to establish a reputation based on Jesus’ presence alone; declaring that they must be a really great spiritual place because Jesus had chosen them to be His home base. It would be tempting for the people of Korazin and Bethsaida to tell about the miracles that Jesus did in their town, and to repeat the stories and teachings that they had heard from Jesus’ lips, and take pleasure in listening to the people they were talking to ooh and aah, wishing that they had been there to see and hear those things.
But those towns had not responded properly, either to Jesus’ presence, or to the miracles that He did. The proper response was to recognize God’s presence in Jesus, and to repent and get their lives back in line with His commandments. In fact, that was Jesus’ core message as He went about preaching, teaching, and healing (Matthew 4:17). But these people hadn’t repented; they hadn’t forsaken their sins; they hadn’t readjusted their lives. Instead, they had just laid additional expectations on Jesus to meet their needs with still more miracles, showing very clearly the hardness of their hearts.
Father, we can walk dangerously close to that same mindset, coming to You with our prayer lists day after day, but being unwilling to adjust our lives to Your requirements. When we do see answers, it doesn’t often fill us with holy awe. Instead it tends to feed our desire to bring You requests for more and greater miracles. Help me, Lord, to receive answers to my requests, and to read and hear Your teachings with a deep, heart-searching humility that leads me ever closer to Your heart. Amen.