Woes on Rejections (Luke 10:13-15)

John Martin "Sodom and Gomorrah"

Jesus continues His instructions to His sent-out ones and talks about those who will reject them. The bottom line is that it will not go well for them! Compared to evil cities from Old Testament times, that were destroyed for their wickedness, these cities are worse off. The idea being that, if those wicked cities had seen Jesus and the things He did and the message He proclaimed, they would have repented of their ways. To be wicked and reject God’s authority in life is one thing. However, to reject the incarnate Son of God performing signs and wonders and declaring the truth of God verbally is quite another!

This begs the question today. How bad is the rejection of God after the cross? In some ways, people today are more like the Old Testament people. They are not seeing Jesus personally acting in their midst. They do have the Church, the Body of Christ, however we can be such a poor reflection of Him. However, the Holy Spirit is embodying and acting in His people. So, even if people today are not seeing the miracles of Jesus directly, they are in a world where God is active in His people.

Maybe the scale is Old Testament Wickedness < Today’s Wickedness < The Wickedness in Jesus’s day.

However, the argument can be made a couple of other ways:

Jesus has departed physically so that the Spirit could be poured out on humanity, and the church is an even stronger demonstration of God’s love today. Today’s people have less excuse.

Or, rejecting God is rejecting God and, who cares what degree of separation from God one is at, when it is all prevent-ably terrible!