Q: In Matthew 11:21-24, Jesus condemns entire cities to dreadful death and eternal torment because they did not repent when he visited them. That is cruel.
A: Matthew 11:20 plainly says why these cities and villages (i.e., metonymically, the mature inhabitants of these cities to whom Jesus had preached) were condemned: they did not repent. Gods own Son had preached there. He had also performed many might works there. And the thing which Jesus was calling them to do -- repent -- wasnt dependent on some new theological paradigm. The call to repent rings loud and long throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, which these Israelite cities had had access to for a long time.
But they did not repent. Jesus cry here is like Isaiahs Song of the Vineyard: What more could have been done to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? These cities were exceptionally well-cultivated, but did not even produce a sprout of repentance.
As Jesus says in 11:21 and 23, if Sodom and the other cities had received the level of spiritual cultivation that the people in the Galilean villages had received, they would have repented. Since the Galilean cities did not repent, even when given ample opportunity and visible demonstrations of the divine power behind the invitation, they were condemned.
This isnt an injustice; its justice. If Jesus had said, God destroyed Sodom, though its citizens had no prophet and only the light of conscience and human law to guide them, but the cities of Galilee, which refused to repent even when the Son of God came preaching repentance and performing many mighty works, will escape retribution, /that/ would be an injustice.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: Matthew 11:20 plainly says why these cities and villages (i.e., metonymically, the mature inhabitants of these cities to whom Jesus had preached) were condemned: they did not repent. Gods own Son had preached there. He had also performed many might works there. And the thing which Jesus was calling them to do -- repent -- wasnt dependent on some new theological paradigm. The call to repent rings loud and long throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, which these Israelite cities had had access to for a long time.
But they did not repent. Jesus cry here is like Isaiahs Song of the Vineyard: What more could have been done to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? These cities were exceptionally well-cultivated, but did not even produce a sprout of repentance.
As Jesus says in 11:21 and 23, if Sodom and the other cities had received the level of spiritual cultivation that the people in the Galilean villages had received, they would have repented. Since the Galilean cities did not repent, even when given ample opportunity and visible demonstrations of the divine power behind the invitation, they were condemned.
This isnt an injustice; its justice. If Jesus had said, God destroyed Sodom, though its citizens had no prophet and only the light of conscience and human law to guide them, but the cities of Galilee, which refused to repent even when the Son of God came preaching repentance and performing many mighty works, will escape retribution, /that/ would be an injustice.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
