We knew better

We have been blessed by the revelation of God in his only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We have been blessed by our Lord’s presence, in word and most especially in Sacrament.

The people of Capernaum and the other places in today’s Gospel (Matthew 11:20-24) were blessed by the Lord’s physical presence in their midst and blessed to hear, for hours and hours and hours, the words of Christ from his own sacred lips.

But where much is given, much is required, and so our Lord calls these places to account:

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 nether world.
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 ancient cities of legendary evils, while culpable, did not know as much of God and the ways of goodness as those who have heard our Lord.

We have heard. We have known. And yet we have sinned, even though we knew better.

May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ give us the grace to repent more fully and to follow his word more perfectly in everything we say and everything we do.