Seeds for 08/16/2023 - Matthew 11:20-24
Scripture: Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. “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. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 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. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Observation: This might be one of those passages in the Gospel that we’re less familiar with. Instead of two-dimensional meek and mild Jesus, we get a more robust picture. Truth-telling Jesus is in the house.
I get caught up in the towns that are getting called out and the pronouncements of judgment at first. But that’s only underlining the actual point that Jesus makes, which is this: The miracles had a message. They were for blessing the people who received them, of course. But they were more.
Remember the basic thrust of Jesus’ preaching? Matthew tells us in 4:17, “From that time on, Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
“The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Certainly those who were healed, fed, and delivered by miraculous means knew the nearness of God’s kingdom—His rule and will done in their lives. Everyone from family and friends to neighbors and bystanders were witnesses to the nearness of God’s kingdom in Jesus.
“Repent.” That’s the appropriate response to experiencing the nearness of God’s kingdom. When we know God has come near in Jesus, we experience the blessing of His nearness to us and the conviction of our distance from Him. Having “sinned and [fallen] short of His glory,” an authentic experience of His nearness should move us to repentance.
The miracles had a message. God was among them and that called for a response. To experience the miracles and miss the message was to miss the greater miracle—God drawing near in Jesus to forgive, redeem, restore, and save.
Application:
Have you seen or heard about God working a miracle in your life or someone near to you? How did you respond?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, give me a grateful heart to receive your merciful work in my life. Give me a discerning mind to see the message in that work, drawing me unto you. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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