Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!

17 JULY (Mt 11,20-24)

Tyre and Sidon are proud, haughty cities; they were destroyed by their own sin.

Thus the word of the Lord came to me: As for you, son of man, utter a lament over Tyre, and say to Tyre that is situated at the approaches of the sea, that brought the trade of the peoples to many a coastland: Thus says the Lord God: Tyre, you said, “I am a ship, perfect in beauty.” In the midst of the sea your builders placed you, perfected your beauty. With cypress from Senir they built for you all of your decks; Cedar from Lebanon they took to make you a mast; From the highest oaks of Bashan they made your oars; Your bridge they made of cypress wood from the coasts of Kittim. Fine embroidered linen from Egypt became your sail (to serve you as a banner). Purple and scarlet from the coasts of Elishah covered your cabin. Citizens of Sidon and Arvad served as your oarsmen; Skilled men of Zemer were in you to be your mariners; The elders and experts of Gebal were in you to caulk your seams. Every ship and sailor on the sea came to you to carry trade. Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as warriors; shield and helmet they hung upon you, increasing your splendor. The men of Arvad were all about your walls, and the Gamadites were in your towers; they hung their bucklers all around on your walls, and made perfect your beauty. (Cfr. Ez 27,1-28.26).

Sodom and Gomorrah are cities of unnatural lust. The request that is made to Lot, on the night before their destruction, attests to it. It is a gruesome story.

The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground, he said, “Please, gentlemen, come aside into your servant’s house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey.” But they replied, “No, we shall pass the night in the town square.” He urged them so strongly, however, that they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking cakes without leaven, and they dined. Before they went to bed, all the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old – all the people to the last man – closed in on the house. They called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them.” Lot went out to meet them at the entrance. When he had shut the door behind him, he said, “I beg you, my brothers, not to do this wicked thing. I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please. But don’t do anything to these men, for you know they have come under the shelter of my roof.” They replied, “Stand back! This fellow,” they sneered, “came here as an immigrant, and now he dares to give orders! We’ll treat you worse than them!” With that, they pressed hard against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door. But his guests put out their hands, pulled Lot inside with them, and closed the door; at the same time they struck the men at the entrance of the house, one and all, with such a blinding light that they were utterly unable to reach the doorway. (Gen 19,1-14).

These proud, haughty, lustful unnatural cities on the day of judgment will have a lot less hard than the cities of Galilee. Jesus teaches this truth.

Then he began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

The Lord, the righteous judge, judges man according to the grace received and to the ministry that was entrusted him. One is God’s judgment on the Pope, the Cardinal, the Bishop, the Priest, the Deacon, the Religious persons, the Consecrated men and women; and another is the judgment on the Christian Layman. There is difference of judgment between who knew Christ and rejected him, and among those who have never heard talking of Jesus the Lord. Everyone needs to know on what he will be judged by the Lord, so that he can prepare a judgment of salvation and not of perdition, of eternal life and not of damnation forever.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints give us this wisdom.