Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 11:20-24

"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." — Matthew 11:20-24 (ASV)

Glossa Ordinaria: Until now, He had brought His accusation against the Jews in general. Now He speaks against certain towns by name, in which He had especially preached, and yet they would not be converted. This is why it says, "Then he began to upbraid the cities in which most of his mighty works were done, because they had not repented."¹

St. Jerome: His upbraiding of the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum is set forth in this chapter. He upbraided them because, after He had performed such mighty works and wonders in them, they had not done repentance. Therefore, He adds, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!"

St. John Chrysostom: So that you do not say that they were evil by nature, He names Bethsaida, a town from which apostles had come—namely, Philip, and two pairs of the chief apostles: Peter and Andrew, James and John.

St. Jerome: In this word, "Woe," these towns of Galilee are mourned for by the Savior because, after so many signs and mighty works, they had not repented.

Rabanus Maurus: Chorazin, which is interpreted "my mystery," and Bethsaida, "the house of fruits" or "the house of hunters," are towns of Galilee situated on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The Lord therefore mourns for these towns, which once held the mystery of God and should have brought forth the fruit of virtues, and into which spiritual hunters had been sent.

St. Jerome: And to these are preferred Tyre and Sidon, cities given over to idolatry and vices: "For if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."

St. Gregory the Great: In "sackcloth" is the roughness that denotes the pricking of the conscience for sin; "ashes" denote the dust of the dead. Both are typically used in repentance, so that the pricking of the sackcloth may remind us of our sins, and the dust of the ashes may cause us to reflect on what we have become by judgment.²

Rabanus Maurus: Tyre and Sidon are cities of Phoenicia. Tyre is interpreted "narrowness," and Sidon "hunting," and they represent the Gentiles, whom the devil, like a hunter, drives into the narrows of sin; but Jesus the Savior sets them free by the Gospel.

St. Jerome: We ask where it is written that the Lord performed miracles in Chorazin and Bethsaida. We read above, "And he went about the towns and villages, healing all sicknesses, etc." (Matthew 9:35). Among the rest, therefore, we may suppose that He performed signs in Chorazin and Bethsaida.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is not true, then, that His Gospel was not preached in those times and places where He foreknew that all would be like the many in His actual presence, who would not even believe in Him when He raised men from the dead. For the Lord Himself testifies that the people of Tyre and Sidon would have repented in great humility if the wonders of divine power had been performed among them.³

Furthermore, if the dead are judged according to the deeds they would have done had they lived, then because these people would have believed if the Gospel had been preached to them with such great miracles, surely they should not be punished at all. And yet, in the day of judgment they will be punished, for it follows, "But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you." Therefore, the former will be punished more severely, and the latter less so.

St. Jerome: This is because Tyre and Sidon had trampled on the law of nature only, but these towns, after they had transgressed the natural and the written Law, also disregarded the wonders that had been performed among them.

Rabanus Maurus: Today we see the words of the Savior fulfilled. Chorazin and Bethsaida would not believe when the Lord came to them in person, but Tyre and Sidon have since believed through the preaching of the Apostles.

Remigius of Auxerre: Capernaum was the metropolis of Galilee and a prominent city of that province, and therefore the Lord mentions it specifically, saying, "And you, Capernaum, will you indeed be exalted to heaven? You will go down even to hell."

St. Jerome: In other copies we find, "And you, Capernaum, that are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to hell." This can be understood in two different ways. Either, you will go down to hell because you have proudly resisted my preaching; or, you that have been exalted to heaven by hosting me and having my mighty wonders done in you, will be visited with the heavier punishment because you would not believe even these.

Remigius of Auxerre: And they have made the sins not only of Sodom and Gomorrah but also of Tyre and Sidon seem light in comparison. Therefore it follows, "For if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would perhaps have remained to this day."

St. John Chrysostom: This makes the accusation even heavier, for it is a proof of extreme wickedness that they are worse, not only than any then living, but than the most wicked people of all past ages.

St. Jerome: In Capernaum, which is interpreted "the most beautiful town," Jerusalem is condemned, to which it is said by Ezekiel, "Sodom is justified by you" (Ezekiel 16:52).

Remigius of Auxerre: The Lord, who knows all things, here uses a word expressing uncertainty—"perhaps"—to show that freedom of choice is left to humanity. "But I say to you, it will be easier for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." And be it known that in speaking of the city or country, the Lord does not chide the buildings and walls, but the people who inhabit them, by the figure of metonymy, putting the container for the thing contained. The words, "It will be easier in the day of judgment," clearly prove that there are different punishments in hell, just as there are different mansions in the kingdom of heaven.

St. Jerome: The careful reader will pause here. If Tyre and Sidon could have repented at the preaching of the Savior and His miracles, it is not their fault that they did not believe; the sin belongs to the one who would not preach to bring them to repentance. To this there is a ready answer: we do not know God's judgments and are ignorant of the sacred mysteries of His particular plans.

It was determined by the Lord not to pass the borders of Judea, so that He might not give the Pharisees and Priests a just occasion for persecuting Him, just as He also gave the commandment to the Apostles, "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles." Chorazin and Bethsaida are condemned because they would not believe, though Christ Himself was among them. Tyre and Sidon are justified because they believed His Apostles. You should not question the timing when you see the salvation of those who believe.

Remigius of Auxerre: We may also answer in another way. There were many in Chorazin and Bethsaida who would believe, and many in Tyre and Sidon who would not believe, and therefore were not worthy of the Gospel. The Lord therefore preached to the inhabitants of Chorazin and Bethsaida so that those who were to believe might be able, and He did not preach in Tyre and Sidon, lest those who were not going to believe might be made worse by their contempt for the Gospel and thus be punished more severely.

St. Augustine of Hippo: A certain notable Catholic debater explained this place of the Gospel in the following way: that the Lord foreknew that the people of Tyre and Sidon would fall from the faith after they had believed the miracles done among them. Therefore, in mercy, He did not perform His miracles there, because they would have incurred a heavier penalty had they fallen away from the faith after having held it than if they had never held it at all.⁴

Alternatively, the Lord surely foreknew His mercies with which He deigns to deliver us. And this is the predestination of the saints: namely, the foreknowledge and preparation of God's mercies, by which they are most certainly saved, whoever are saved. The rest are left to the just judgment of God in the general body of the condemned, where the people of Tyre and Sidon are left. They might have believed had they seen Christ's many miracles; but since it was not given to them that they should believe, the means through which they might have believed was also withheld.

From this it appears that there are certain people who have by nature a divine gift of understanding by which they would be moved to faith, if they were to either hear words or see signs adapted to their minds. But if they are not, by the high judgment of God, set apart from the mass of perdition through the predestination of grace, then neither words nor works are set before them by God—even though they would have believed if they could have seen or heard them.

In this general mass of perdition, the Jews are also left, who could not believe such great and manifest wonders performed before their eyes. And the Gospel has not hidden the reason why they could not believe, speaking thus: "Though he did so great miracles before them, yet they could not believe, as Isaiah said, I have blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart" (John 12:37).

The eyes of the people of Tyre and Sidon were not blinded in this way, nor were their hearts hardened, for they would have believed had they seen such wonders as the others saw. But it did not profit them that they could have believed, because they were not predestined. Nor would it have hindered the others that they did not have the power to believe, had they been so predestined that God would have enlightened their blindness and taken away the heart of stone from within them.

Luke also presents this as spoken in continuation of some of the Lord's other discourses, from which it appears that he has followed the actual order of events, while Matthew has followed his recollection. Or, the words of Matthew, "Then he began to upbraid the towns," must be taken, as some think, as expressing a particular time by the word "then," but not referring generally to the time in which the many other things recorded here were done and said.⁵

Whoever, therefore, thinks this way must suppose that this was spoken twice. And when we find in the same Evangelist some things spoken by the Lord at two different times—like the passage in Luke concerning not taking a bag for their journey—what wonder is it if something else, which was spoken twice, is found separately in two different Gospels in the actual context in which it was spoken? That context is different because they are two different occasions on which it is related to have been spoken.

1. ap. Anselm
2. Mor., xxxv. 6
3. De Dom. Pers. 9
4. De Don. Pers. 10
5. De Cons. Ev., ii, 32