Hi everyone. Welcome back again to the Daily
gospel exegesis podcast. We're all about helping you
understand? The literal sense of scripture.
So, what we do here every day in this podcast, is take a really
deep. Look at the scripture from
today's mass. So, particularly looking at the
Gospel reading from today's mass, we're going through verse
by verse This to help you understand what the text
probably meant in its original context.
So we're looking at the literal sense of the text which as
Catholics, that's where we need to start.
So if you go to mass today, you would hear from Luke chapter 10
verses 13 to 16. So, here's the text.
Jesus said to his disciples alas for you to raisin a less for you
bethsaida. For if the Miracles done in you
had been done in Tyre and sidon they would have repented long
ago sitting in sack cloth and Ashes and still it would not go
as hard with tyre and sidon at the Judgment as with you.
And as for you Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as
Heaven? You shall be thrown down to
Hell. Anyone who listens to you
listens to me, anyone who rejects, you rejects me.
And those who reject me. Reject the one who sent me So
that's our text today. Here we have some of Jesus,
strongest words, in all of the gospels.
What's the context when you want?
When you're doing an exegesis, if you want to find out the
literal sense of the text, you've always got to think about
what's happened, just prior to this.
So Jesus has just started moving towards Jerusalem and we're
actually getting pretty close to the end of Jesus life.
He's already done a whole lot of ministry in Galilee and now he's
beginning, what some Scholars, call the ministry to Judea and
perea. Now Jesus has just commissioned
his 72 disciples to go out on mission to the surrounding towns
and to preach the message of the Kingdom, you probably heard the
start of that yesterday. So what we have today is the end
of that speech. He's speaking to the 72
disciples, giving them some instructions before they go out
on their mission. Jesus here is going to start by
pronouncing woes on towns who so far have not received the gospel
message. So he's going to mention three
towns that he's already been to in Galilee that have not
accepted the gospel message and he's going to pronounce warriors
on them. So, keep in mind as we go here
because you'll probably be quite surprised by Jesus strong
language here. These towns of all her Jesus
teaching, they've all seen Jesus with their own eyes.
They've all seen Miracles with their own eyes.
Those Miracles were pretty clear and obvious, so it should have
been that. Those challenge who saw the
Miracles should have repented and turned to God.
That was what the Miracles should have made them do.
But on the whole these towns that Jesus mentions have chosen.
Not to repent. They might have been fascinated
by Jesus miracles but it hasn't actually brought about genuine
repentance. And it hasn't made them made
decisions to come to God in his kingdom.
Now, Matthews version of this text actually makes this quite
clear. So Matthew, introduces Jesus
words here, in Matthew chapter 11, verse 20, he is what Matthew
says, Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his
miracles had been worked because they refuse to repent.
So, that's the key thing here. The towns refuse to repent.
That's why Jesus is condemning them.
We should keep this in mind. If we see Miracles, if we see
genuine activity of God in our life even today.
It's supposed to lead to repentance, not just Fascination
but repentance, that's the goal of God's physical works.
In the world, verse 13. Jesus says, alas for you or more
literally woe to you. Now, this is an ancient Jewish
way of saying something like trouble is coming to you.
It's a phrase that's used a lot in the Old Testament,
particularly when the prophets of Israel are speaking about the
Lord's judgment on Sinners, who refuse to repent.
So if you look at Isaiah five, Micah to it's in habakkuk
Chapter 2 as well. The prophets often use this
language of War, oh, they pronounce woes on towns and
people who refuse to repent. So Jesus, you says, alas for
yuca raisin alas, for you bethsaida.
So, these are two towns qurayza, nor sometimes pronounced to
raisin and bethsaida. These are towns.
North of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus has already been there.
In fact, he spent a considerable amount of time.
They're probably in the first couple.
Years of his ministry. He spent some time there,
preaching, and doing Miracles, now corizon is only mentioned in
this passage in the entire New Testament here.
And the parallel passage in Matthew, is the only time this
town is mentioned. We don't know a whole lot about
it. Obviously, it's been visited by
Jesus at some point during his tours of Galilee.
And it appears that we have found this town.
There's ruins of a town near Capernaum that have been
discovered, a couple of miles from Capernaum, and most
Scholars have identified, this as Oscar, a reason and we know
that Jesus has been to bethsaida earlier.
If you go to chapter 9, just one chapter before this Jesus is in
bethsaida. So, these are towns that Jesus
has already been to. He says, alas for yuca raisin,
alas, for you bethsaida, for, if the Miracles done in you had
been done in Tyre and sidon, Now, tyre and sidon would
Gentile towns, just north of Galilee in the region of
Phoenicia. In fact, there are only a couple
of days Away From Galilee by foot, but the Jews at the time
of Jesus avoided tyre, and sidon because they're Gentile areas
and the Gentiles, particularly tyre and sidon were believed to
be corrupt and far from God. So that's why the Jews avoided
them. And in addition in the Old
Testament tyre and sidon a specifically mentioned, as God's
enemies, Is that are going to be judged in Isaiah 23 and Jeremiah
25. So Jesus he says, alas for you,
corrosion are less for you bethsaida for if the Miracles
done in you had been done in Tyre and sidon they would have
repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and Ashes.
Now, most of you would know sackcloth and Ashes is kind of a
traditional Old Testament, way of doing public mourning and
public repentance. That was in the Old Testament.
That was the way that they repented, they had this
Collection of wearing sackcloth and Ashes.
So Jesus, he says that even though these towns tyre and
sidon generally, don't follow God on the whole because they're
Gentile. Jesus says that even they would
have repented if they had seen the Miracles that had been done
in chorazin and bethsaida. So Jesus, he says that, even
these Gentile towns are far better than chorazin and
bethsaida think about how shocking that would have been
for his mostly Jewish audience. He's here, correct.
Qurayza, number Seda are worse off than tyre and sidon.
Now, there's probably exceptions to this.
In terms of in the town, we wouldn't want to say that every
single person in chorazin and bethsaida doesn't follow Jesus
or didn't repent, those probably exceptions.
But on the whole, the town's people in these towns, refuse to
commit themselves to the kingdom of God, they refuse to repent.
And in fact, it does look like at least some people from tyre
and sidon were open to Jesus. So in Luke chapter 6, verse 17,
it mentions people who are coming to Jesus from these
towns. But most likely, if we're
looking at the literal sense here, when Jesus, he is says, if
the Miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and sidon,
they would have repented, he's probably using hyperbole here.
Jesus might not be literally affirming that he actually knows
how tyre and sidon would have responded.
I mean, maybe he is saying that maybe He's using his Divine
knowledge and he can see her tyre and sidon would have
responded, but he could just be using a Jewish way of
exaggerating. It might just be a way of saying
how Wicked the Galilean towns are.
It's a way of exaggerating to make a point, but Jesus is now
going to intensify it further verse 14 and still, it will not
go as hard. That's probably not a great
translation, a better way of phrasing.
This would be, it will be more tolerable for tyre and sidon at
the A judgment than with you. So what's the Judgment here?
Jesus here, thinking of the final judgment on Judgment Day,
Jesus says, it will be more tolerable on Judgment Day for
tyre and sidon than 42 raisin and bethsaida.
So at the end of time, all people will be judged for how
they ought to have responded to God.
That's Catholic teaching. And Jesus says, the given that
the towns of Tyre and sidon will receive a lesser punishment than
to raisin and Because tyre and sidon were much more open to God
and were more likely to repent if they had seen the Miracles.
This is a pretty incredible statement and it shows how
important the kingdom of God is that Jesus has come to reveal.
The whole Old Testament, was pointing towards the coming of
the kingdom of God, and the Messiah, and the Jews, including
those in Galilee, were accountable to know that it was
coming. And they were accountable to
know what it should look like. So if they reject it, when it
does come via Jesus, And the apostles preaching, then really.
It's their own fault. It's out of willful ignorance.
That's what Jesus says here. There's no excuse for the towns
of Galilee their dues. They knew that the kingdom of
God was coming. So if they're rejected when it
comes, it's their own fault. Now, Jesus here is not
necessarily teaching that every single town will be judged on
Judgement Day. He might just be using this as
like a visual image to illustrate the kind of thing
that will go on on Judgement Day verse 15, Jesus.
Now mentions the third town As for you Capernaum now, Capernaum
is a very famous town. This is the town on the Northern
side of the Sea of Galilee, that's where Jesus lived, and
spent most of his own time. Now, you're not remember,
there's a scene earlier in the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus was
in Capernaum, and Capernaum, was genuinely amazed at Jesus and
they saw some Miracles and they tried to prevent him from
leaving though, with that amazed.
That's in Luke chapter 4. So on the whole, you might get
the impression that Capernaum had a positive response to Jesus
but he Here, Jesus tells us that actually, although, there were
fascinated by Jesus, they didn't repent.
And that's the problem. So Jesus you says, as for you
Capernaum. Did you want to be exalted high
as heaven now more, literally, a better translation would be,
will you be exalted to heaven? So, Jesus.
Here is saying something like, Capernaum, do you think God will
honor you? He grows on, you shall be thrown
down to Hell and the Greek word there is Hades.
So it looks like Jesus is probably not referring to the
place of final. Punishment.
But rather to the general Dwelling Place of the Dead Hades
or she ol, he says, Capernaum, you shall be thrown down tissue
roll. Now this is actually a direct
quote from Isaiah chapter, 14 verses 13 to 15 and their it's
used in reference to Babylon. It says Babylon.
You shall be brought down to Hades.
And here, he says to Capernaum, you shall be brought down to
Hades. So, Jesus, here is Kaepernick as
comparing Capernaum to Babylon. One of the most wicked cities in
the entire Old Testament. That's a pretty be strong
comparison. And in that Isaiah passage about
Babylon, the idea there is that Babylon is very prideful, but
they will be humbled by God. So when Isaiah says, Babylon
will be brought down to Hades. It seems to be an image of being
humbled, and that's probably the way that we should take this
passage here. Jesus did doesn't use the word
gehenna here, which is his preferred word for Eternal
punishment. So he's not necessarily saying
the Capernaum will receive Eternal punishment, but they
will have a harsh judgement on Judgement Day.
They will be humbled by Odd for rejecting, the gospel message.
He's certainly teaching that. So maybe the meaning here is
something like this Capernaum. Do you think God will be honored
with your works and give you glory in the Kingdom rather?
You will not be glorified at all because you have rejected the
kingdom. And again, Jesus here might be
using a bit of her purple here. We should always be sensitive to
this. Jesus is probably not trying to
teach the specifics of how the afterlife works or what
judgement day is exactly going to look like, he's just Making a
general comparison between Capernaum and Babylon.
They both saw God's works. Like both should have repented
and they both didn't now in Matthews version of this.
Same passage Jesus goes on to intensified further.
He says, Capernaum is like Sodom which is an even more wicked
town that was destroyed by God. The overall point of these
verses is the Jesus is reproaching.
The towns of Galilee for their unbelief, they were filled with
choose who should have been prepared for the Messiah.
The Messiah came. He lived in their towns.
He spent time amongst them. He did Miracles with them but
We're still not willing to repent.
That's the whole point of this passage.
There's an important lesson for us here as well.
This teaches us that religious background or even knowledge of
the Bible does. Not guarantee that God is
pleased with us. Knowledge about God and
fascination with God is Not Enough.
We have to repent. This is a sober warning to us
because we have even more Revelation about God, than the
people in Jesus time did. So we're more accountable than
they are in a sense and we should keep that in mind.
Verse 16. Jesus now changes his focus a
little bit. He says anyone who listens to
you listens to me or another translation here is he who hears
you hears me? Remember here that Jesus is
speaking to his inner disciples, he's 72 disciples.
Anyone who listens to you listens to me?
He's not speaking to all Christians here.
It's actually just his inner disciples and it's quite an
interesting passage of fascinating one, but we need to
get it, right. So when Jesus says, anyone who
listens to you listens to me, he's saying but the Your
disciples have received a unique commission from him to preach
the kingdom in his name. So they're officially delegated
by Jesus to be his official representatives.
And in that culture, a representative of a person was
basically considered to be equal to the person.
So the 72 have a special commission from Jesus in this
time period to act on his behalf.
So if anyone listens to them from the surrounding towns,
they're in effect. Listening to Jesus, the way they
treat the 72 will be Be a reflection on the way they feel
about Jesus. So, Jesus says, anyone who
listens to you listens to me, that's the level of authority,
he gives them their effectively, his mouth pieces on this
mission, that is about to send them on and then there's the
flip side, anyone who rejects, you, rejects me.
So on the other hand, any Village or individual, which
does not listen to. The disciples preaching is
considered to have rejected Jesus and that matches with some
things he said earlier, that's her closely United, the Whose
mission is to Jesus mission. If they reject the disciples and
they're preaching, they're rejecting Jesus.
And in fact it's worse than that.
Jesus says anyone who rejects, you rejects me, and those who
reject me, reject, the one who sent me.
So Jesus is the representative of the father.
So anyone who rejects the disciples reject Jesus.
And since Jesus is the representative of the father,
they're also rejecting the father and that's quite serious.
This is Amplified. Equally in the Gospel of John,
if you read the Gospel of John, Jesus is constantly saying I am
the representative of the father, if you reject me, you
reject the father as well. So the overall message here, is
that in Jesus time, anyone in his time, who heard the message
from Jesus, or from the 72 disciples, but who refused to
accept it, they were accountable for it because they should have
resect accepted it. So therefore, if they didn't
accept it, they were considered to have rejected, the father,
and they were there for Under his judgment.
That's what this text is telling us.
And this verse is actually really important in Catholic
teaching. You can extend this principle
out to think about how the church and the church leaders
today represent Jesus as well. So, the Catholic teaching is
that the capacity that will given to the Twelve Apostles?
Remember the Twelve Apostles, officially delegated to be Jesus
Representatives. They have Jesus Authority.
Well, the Catholic teaching, is that in a sense, some of that
Authority was passed on from the apostles, To their successes,
the Bishops. So therefore even today the
Bishops in the Catholic church because they because of
apostolic succession they have the authority in certain
circumstances to speak for Jesus.
So this principle of the church leaders speaking for Jesus does
count come in to Catholic teaching at in certain
circumstances the Catholic church is leaders can speak on
behalf of Jesus. It's really interesting.
Now at this point, the 72 disciples they leave and they go
on their missions. In the next section of text, we
get to hear the results of their mission.
They come back and tell Jesus, how the mission won't let us now
turn to the catechism. There's two paragraphs.
Really interesting ones. Which reference what we've heard
today. Paragraph 87, which is about how
the heritage of the faith is entrusted to the whole of the
church's says, mindful of Christ's word to his Apostles,
he who hears you, he is me the faithful receive with docility,
the teachings and directives that their It is give them in
different forms. So here, the Catholic teaching,
is that? Because of what Jesus says here
to the disciples, he who hears you hears me?
And in a sense, the Bishops and the priests in the Catholic
Church continue that same Authority.
When we get directives from our Bishops and our priests, the
faithful should receive these teachings because in a sense
it's an extension of Jesus own words, so that's an interesting
link there. And then the same passage gets
referenced here in paragraph 8. 58 which is about the apostles.
Jesus is the Father's the father's Emissary, from the
beginning of his ministry, he called to him, Those whom he
desired and he appointed twelve whom he named Apostles to be
with him and to be sent out to preach.
From then on, they would also be his emissaries, Greek.
Apostille oi in them, Christ, continues, his own mission.
As the father has sent me even. So I send you, the apostles
Ministry is the continuation of his mission.
Jesus said to the twelve, he who receives you receives me?
So hopefully today's exegesis has helped you understand the
passage a bit better. We'll continue to look through
Luke chapter 10, in the coming days.