Sermon for the week of Trinity 10
Jeremiah 7:1-15 + Matthew 11:16-24
Building off Sunday’s theme of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the warning about the fate of those who reject the Christ, we turn to the two lessons you heard this evening, from Jeremiah 7 and from Matthew 11.
In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus was actually alluding to Jeremiah’s prophecy when He said that the Jews had turned the temple into a “den of thieves.” Hear again Jeremiah’s words to the impenitent Jews in his day: Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’… Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? The Jews thought that, because God had attached His presence to the temple, having the temple automatically made them safe, so that they could go on sinning and rejecting God’s word. So, too, the Jews in Jesus’ day thought that their status as “God’s chosen people, the sons of Abraham” made them safe, so that they could go on sinning and rejecting Jesus’ word. In both cases, God came to them and said, “You think the temple makes you safe? Then I will destroy this temple, and this city, and everyone in it.” And He did. He did, at the time of Jeremiah. And then He did again, after Jerusalem rejected Jesus as the Christ.
In tonight’s reading from Matthew 11, you heard Jesus foretell just a portion of the coming judgment against the cities of Israel that had, as a whole, rejected Him.
First, He describes that “generation,” that is, the generation of unbelieving Jews. To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
In other words, they were like children, complaining that the other children never do what they want. They complained about John the Baptist because he lived alone, didn’t attend their parties, and stayed away from wine. Then they turned around and complained about Jesus because He did attend their parties and drank wine, and socialized with people. No one could make them happy. Because they weren’t happy with the God of Israel. And so they found a reason to complain about and reject anyone whom He sent. It wasn’t the outward behavior of John or of Jesus that they rejected. It was the God whom John and Jesus preached whom they rejected.
And so He began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
Some Christians think that, if Jesus were here today performing miracles, more people would believe. But that’s not what happened in Israel, is it? Even the cities in which He performed many great miracles rejected Him, for the most part. But that’s not Jesus’ only point.
His main point is that these were Jewish cities that rejected Him. Jewish cities that should have known better, because they had all the benefit of divine revelation, going back to Abraham and Moses. They had Jesus Himself visiting them, teaching them, performing miracles in them, and they still rejected Him. Which, He says, the Gentile cities, like Tyre and Sidon, and even Sodom wouldn’t have done! The wicked Gentile cities would have accepted Him on the basis of the miracles alone! It was the Jewish cities that were especially stubborn, especially “stiff-necked,” as God said about them repeatedly in the Old Testament, “You are a stiff-necked people!” And so it will be the people of those Jewish cities who receive a harsher punishment on the Last Day than even Sodom and Gomorrah received.
Yes, a harsher punishment. What a sobering teaching! That doesn’t mean that Judgment Day, or hell itself, will be pleasant for Tyre and Sidon, or for the rest of the Gentiles who didn’t have Jesus dwelling in their midst. All unbelievers will suffer hell for their sins. But according to Scripture, there will be degrees of punishment and suffering in hell, and the Jews who had such ready access to Jesus, and who still rejected Him, will have it worse than the Gentiles who never got to interact with Him or see His miracles.
What lesson are we to learn from that? This Gospel teaches us that there will be greater punishment for those who squandered greater gifts. Now, you and I didn’t get to see Jesus performing miracles. No one, apart from that generation in Israel at that time, ever did. They squandered that gift, rejected it, walked away from it, and will pay the price for it eternally. What gifts have we been given? A Bible in every house, on every smartphone, on every iPad, recording the history not only of Jesus’ miracles, but of His death, His resurrection, and all His teachings, at our fingertips. Two thousand years’ worth of Church history, of watching the Church expand across the world, just as Jesus said it would. A country that still protects religious freedom, allowing Christians to gather, and to worship, and to learn and confess God’s Word without fear of government persecution or intervention. And for those who have access to a church and a ministry that proclaims the whole truth of God, that acknowledges the whole Bible as true, and that centers on Jesus’ death for our sins and on the reliable promise of justification and eternal life to all who believe, we have been given an even greater gift.
And so the lesson is, don’t squander it! Don’t squander the great gifts you have been given! And if you look back and recognize that you have squandered some of them, or rejected some of them, repent and squander them no longer! In some ways, Americans have been given even greater gifts and opportunities than Chorazin or Capernaum were given, and, therefore, it will be more bearable in the judgment for the poorer Third World countries of the world than it will be for America. But you don’t have to be among the part that is judged. Christ offers you here and now all the benefits He earned for you on the cross, and He promises to provide all the opportunities you need to sustain the faith He has given. Since you know that there will be greater punishment for those who squandered greater gifts, make it your daily purpose not to squander any of the great gifts you have been given, but to make diligent use of them, and to give thanks for them! Amen.
