Luke 10:13-16

Baruch 1:15-22

Psalm 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9

Luke 10:13-16

Jesus said to them,

“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,

sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon

at the judgment than for you.

And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven?

You will go down to the netherworld.’

Whoever listens to you listens to me.

Whoever rejects you rejects me.

And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, the mystery of suffering surpasses my understanding. I am unable to fathom why you permit evil and suffering in this world. And yet I trust in you. You know all things and govern all things according to your eternal plan. Increase my faith and trust in you!

Encountering the Word of God

1. Chorazin and Bethsaida: In the Gospel, Jesus pronounces a woeful warning upon three cities in Galilee. All three cities have seen Jesus’ mighty works and deeds. All three cities have heard Jesus’ preaching about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Two of the cities – Chorazin and Bethsaida – are warned that the cities of Tyre and Sidon will be judged less harshly than they will because they did not witness Jesus’ mighty deeds like they did. We do not know much about Chorazin, but we do know something about Bethsaida. It was the hometown of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. About the time of Jesus’ ministry, in A.D. 30, Philip the tetrarch raised Bethsaida to the status of a city, made it the capital of his territory, introduced the Roman imperial religion there, and dedicated a pagan temple there, naming it Julia in honor of the wife of Caesar Augustus. This is possibly why the family of Simon and Andrew left their hometown of Bethsaida and moved to Capernaum. “Having a pagan temple in their village would have been extremely offensive to Peter and Andrew, who were devout Jews. […] Recent archaeological work around Bethsaida has unearthed many pig bones, which tells us that there were most likely Jews who compromised with Hellenistic culture and ate pork and other unclean (or unkosher) foods. But Peter wasn’t among them. You can imagine that faced with a pagan temple and Hellenistic culture, Peter and Andrew would have wanted to move to Capernaum, which was more pious and zealously Jewish” (Gray, Peter, 12).

2. The Refusal to Believe: With the coming of Jesus Christ and his Passion and death, a more complete understanding of the problem of suffering is possible. Because of their sin, human beings were in need of redemption. Jesus is the innocent one, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world and forges a New Covenant that can never be broken. The New Covenant includes the forgiveness of sins, the food for Eternal Life, and the purifying Blood of Christ. This is the Good News that Jesus brought and preached. Today, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus condemns the cities that rejected him and the message preached by the seventy disciples. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities that were often the object of judgment by the prophets of old. However, neither city was privileged to witness the mighty works that the towns of Galilee – Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum – saw. Had the Phoenician cities seen the mighty works of Jesus and his disciples, they would have repented. The three cities of Galilee, however, refused to believe. They heard the Word but did not understand it, and instead of welcoming the Word, they rejected it. 

3. Baruch and the Exiles’ Confession of Sin: Today and tomorrow, the First Reading is taken from the Book of Baruch. During the past week, we have been reading about the return of the exiles from Babylon. What the passage from Baruch offers us today is the prayer of the exiles during the Babylonian captivity, in which they repent from their sin and confess their sin. It is a humble acknowledgement of divine justice. God is just to punish sin and permit suffering on account of sin. In all things, God is faithful. Although we have broken the covenant through our sin, God has not abandoned us. As Baruch 1:21 acknowledges, God has sent us the prophets to call us back to him. And we know that, in the fullness of time, God sent his Son to redeem us and open to us the way to the Father.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I do not reject you. I welcome you today and ask that you reign in my heart, in my family, in my workplace, and in my community. You are everything to me. Without you, I can do nothing, but with you, I can do all things!

Living the Word of God: How am I participating in the evangelization of society and culture? How am I bringing the light of the Gospel to my family, coworkers, and friends?