Daily Reflection Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

For weeks, the gospel has been all about our loving, healing, sweet Jesus and then this passage comes along filled with condemnation. It certainly commands our attention.

Jesus was directly comparing three Jewish towns where he walked among the people to three towns that were known for sinfulness. For Jesus to say that the sinful towns would be judged more favorably than their own would have been unthinkable to the Jewish community.

Bethsaida was the home of Simon, Andrew, and Philip. Capernaum was the town Jesus chose to be his home base during his ministry. Unlike Tyre, Sidon and Sodom the Jewish towns knew of Jesus’ teaching firsthand. They were the towns where he preached and performed many miracles. Even after seeing and hearing what he did the people, especially the leaders of these Jewish communities, ignored Jesus’ teachings. They were not heeding the message to repent and believe the good news. When Jesus was condemning the towns, he was also condemning the leaders who ignored his teaching.

I used to watch American Idol and occasionally, a bad singer would get on stage and one of the judges would be merciless in their critique. I would think to myself, is there no one who loved that person enough to tell them the truth about their singing? Fortunately we have Jesus who loves us enough to tell us the truth about sinning.

One day we will face judgement and stand before Jesus. The same Jesus who loved us so much he died to save us. The same Jesus who gives us countless chances to seek his forgiveness. Thankfully, if we follow Jesus’ teachings, we will not have to face a merciless judge but a loving and forgiving judge.