The Vulnerable God!

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Ex 2:1-15a; Mt 11:20-24

Today’s Gospel highlights the cry of a vulnerable God in Jesus over unrepentant cities.

How can we understand today’s passage that contains Jesus’ ‘woe’ messages against cities like Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum?

These three Jewish towns had the privilege of witnessing numerous miracles done by Jesus. However, those miracles did nothing to change their hearts. The message of Jesus may have won admirers for him but not disciples. They may have wondered at Jesus’ ability to perform miracles without bothering to change their lives, inspired by the transformative power of the Good News. In sum, they had the privilege of Divine Proximity in Jesus and yet remained unmoved. 

How does Jesus respond to their unrepentant behaviour?

This passage shows Jesus as a vulnerable God who cries over the rejection and indifference that his Gospel met with from the unrepentant city-dwellers. 

If Jesus reveals a vulnerable God in him, how can we understand his woe messages?

In my view, the woe messages of Jesus intend to hold the unrepentant city-dwellers accountable for their unresponsiveness toward the Good News. For this reason, we cannot strictly bring the ‘woe’ message under curse. The woe messages of Jesus reveal the anguish of a man who hoped that the townspeople would generously respond to the Good News but only found that he was let down by his own people. As such, the words of Jesus reveal not his hatred or vengeance but his grief or heartache because the people deliberately ignored the Good News. 

Hence, Jesus’ cry reveals the depth of their apathy to God’s message. It shows Jesus, who was personally wounded by their indifferent and unresponsive behaviour. It shows the lament of someone whose love went unreturned. 

How generous are we to respond to the transforming power of God’s message? 

Let us pray that we may overcome our indifference to God’s message and respond to it in love.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar