Jesus expresses frustration and disappointment with the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. Although they were God’s chosen people, they had lost their bearings and no longer followed the way of the Lord. They cherished their sins in a way that made them hard of heart and spiritually blind. They no longer saw a need to repent. Jesus performed many miracles in their cities to persuade them of God’s love for them, but their hearts remained closed. As a result, they did not recognize God among them and refused to repent of their sins (Jn 9:41).
To express his anguish over their being pigheaded, Jesus compared their response to the response of many people in the cities of Tyre and Sidon, who were pagans. Although Jesus did not perform his mighty deeds in those cities, many there heard about his miracles and went to him for healing. Their spiritual hunger generated hearts eager to receive the love of God. With that goal in mind, they embraced the words of Jesus and came to believe in him (Mk 3:8; Lk 6:17). Jesus indicates that many more would have repented had they seen the mighty deeds performed for God’s own people.
The fact that those who witnessed the signs and wonders of Jesus, and yet, did not repent, reveals an everyday shortcoming of human nature. We often tend to make ourselves spiritually blind to the extent that eventually we no longer recognize the love of God in our lives. The reasons are many, but the end result comes about over time as a consequence of keeping our hearts closed (Rm 1:19-23). We grab hold and hang on to those sins we cherish as rationally justified. We no longer see them as sins, and we no longer see ourselves as rejecting the love of God. We have made ourselves spiritually blind.
St. Paul seems to have understood more than most how to avoid this outcome. In his letter to the Ephesians, for example, Paul claims we guard against such results by choosing to put on a new self in imitation of Christ (Eph 4:22-24). In Paul’s view, such a choice puts us in harmony with the Holy Spirit. By deliberately renouncing our cherished sins—our anger, bitterness, jealousy, prejudice, injustice, and many others—we abandon that way of thinking and create room in our hearts for the love of God. We free ourselves to follow Christ, and the love of God then motivates us to be more kind to one another, understanding, compassionate, and forgiving (Eph 4:30-32). In the words of the prophet Ezequiel, we are transformed with new hearts made of flesh rather than stone (Ez 36:26).
We do not want to be like the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida who knew how to “judge the appearance of the sky” but could not judge the signs of the times (Mt 16:3). That happens to all of us when we turn a deaf ear to the Holy Spirit. We can say no to the Holy Spirit and go about our own way of doing things (Heb 3:7-9). On the other hand, we can choose the right road with the light of Christ.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (Jn 8:12). The light of Christ nourishes us and opens our hearts to perceive him whenever and wherever he shows himself. With his light, we can see the way to imitate his love for others (Ps 119:105).
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