I want to begin our message with a sermon illustration: “All too many Christians today go to church to find fault, to gossip, and to criticize . . . An incident in the life of Joseph Parker, the great British preacher, illustrates this tragic truth. He was preaching at the City Temple in London. After the service, one of the listeners came up to him and said, ‘Dr. Parker, you made a grammatical error in your sermon.’ He then proceeded to point out the error to the pastor. Joseph Parker looked at the man and said, ‘And what else did you get out of the message?’”(1) There are way too many people who miss God’s message for them, and even Jesus Himself, as they are focused on finding fault. This behavior resulted in the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum being rebuked.
A Contrary and Dissatisfied People (vv. 16-19)
16 But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, 17 and saying: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not lament.” 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.
In verse 16, Jesus used the imagery of “children sitting in the marketplaces” (agorais). The marketplace was the agora, which was the public square where people gathered for trade or discussion, as in Athens.(2) This was also the place where children came out to play.(3) To Jesus, those who rejected His message were like children playing games.(4) Now, His words might seem derogatory, but in Matthew 18:3, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus had a high regard for children; but right here, He was using an analogy to describe His own generation as being very childish. There is a big difference between having a “childlike” spirit and being “childish.”(5)
According to commentator John Gill, verse 17 is an allusion “to Jewish children, who having seen their parents and friends at their festivals and weddings, some [playing] upon the pipe and others [dancing] to [their songs], mimicked the same in their [playtime]; and also having observed at funerals the mourning women making their [laments], and others answering to them, acted the part of these persons, expecting their [playmates] would make their responses, but [they] did not: hence the complaint.”(6) “Jesus compared His own generation to children who criticized their friends for not playing games their way. They had played music for the wedding game, but their friends had not danced. They had wailed for the funeral game, but their friends had not joined the mourning.”(7)
In verse 18, Jesus said, “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’.” The phrase “eating and drinking” is to be understood as eating a meal with other people and socializing. John the Baptist lived a strict, withdrawn life as a prophet of God. He had little contact with others and did not socialize with the rest of society; and so, they gave an explanation as to why. In Jewish thought, one that was unsociable and melancholy was seen as being under the influence of Satan.(8) Needless to say, it was a bad thing to be introverted during that day and time. “In the imagery used by Jesus in this passage, John had angered the people [and religious leaders] by being unwilling to dance to their [cheerful] music.”(9) They complained that John was just too somber. He needed to dance!
In verse 19a, Jesus said, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” “Jesus, the Son of Man, had been the opposite of John. His attitude toward life had been a joyful one. He had enjoyed fellowship with others.”(10) But as they did with John, the people and religious leaders provided a slanderous description of Jesus’ activities, calling Him “a glutton and a winebibber” (v. 19). “They were enraged by His friendship with religious outcasts and the tax collectors.”(11) “They could not understand why Jesus refused to play the funeral game they were demanding that He play.”(12) They complained that Jesus was just too happy. He needed to mourn.
So, to summarize their complaints, John was too somber and needed to cheer up, and Jesus needed to tone it down a bit. This is what you call being contrary and always dissatisfied. Commentator William Barclay says, “The plain fact is that when people do not want to listen to the truth, they will easily enough find an excuse for not listening to it. They do not even try to be consistent in their criticisms; they will criticize the same person and the same institution, from quite opposite grounds and reasons. If people are determined to make no response, they will remain stubbornly and sullenly unresponsive no matter what invitation is made to them. Grown men and women can be very [much] like spoiled children who refuse to play no matter what the game is.”(13)
If you are someone who tends to jump around from church to church, and you never seem satisfied, then perhaps you are running from the Lord. Maybe you have fallen under conviction; and rather than facing your sins and repenting, you have found it easier to just run away. Perhaps you know a lost person whom you have tried to invite to church. Rather than accepting your invitation, that individual might have said, “Why do I need to go to church? Those people are a bunch of hypocrites! I am just as good as they are!” This is just another way of evading the voice of conviction, to avoid having to repent and come to Jesus. Like Barclay said, “When people do not want to listen to the truth, they will easily enough find an excuse for not listening to it.”
In verse 19b, Jesus addressed those who criticized John’s ministry and His own by saying, “Wisdom is justified by her children.” The New International Version says, “Wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” The proof is in the pudding, as they say. “Both John and Jesus were necessary to God’s plan. It was necessary for John to bring people to see their need for repentance and the reality of the coming judgement. It was [also] necessary for Jesus to take the message of salvation to those who had come to realize their need. The [work] of God in acting through John and Jesus was vindicated by the results. Through these [two] men many had found new life.”(14)
Allow me to wrap up this section with an observation. Commentator Clair M. Crissey says, “Neither Jesus nor John . . . fit the mold of what many people expected the Messiah and His forerunner to be like.”(15) Understand that God can use anyone for His kingdom purposes. He can use an introvert, like John the Baptist, just as He can use an extrovert, like Jesus. We each have our place and purpose in God’s design. God can also take a sinner and make Him a saint, so do not allow any excuses to keep you from serving the Lord. The Bible says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Condemned for Not Repenting (vv. 20-24)
20 Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”
Verse 20 says that Jesus “began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.” In verse 21, He began His rebuke of Chorazin and Bethsaida with the phrase “woe to you.” The Greek word for “woe” is ouai, which expresses sorrowful pity, as much as it does anger.(16) This is not the accent of one who is angry because He has been personally insulted. It is the accent of sorrow, the accent of one who offered people the most precious thing in the world, and who saw it completely disregarded. Note that true righteous and holy anger comes not from a place of outraged pride; but rather, from a broken heart.(17)
Jesus said, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!” (v. 21). Chorazin is possibly the modern-day ruin of Kerazeh, just over two miles northwest of Capernaum.(18) Bethsaida was a fishing village on the west bank of the Jordan, just as the river entered the northern end of the sea of Galilee.(19) Chorazin and Bethsaida were prosperous Jewish towns; yet in spiritual terms, they were bankrupt. So, Jesus rebuked them, declaring, “If the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (v. 21). The people of these Jewish towns should have been convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, and they should have repented of their sins; but unfortunately, this was not the case.
Chorazin and Bethsaida were compared to the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon. These were wealthy seaports. Both were crowded with glass shops, dyeing and weaving establishments; and among their workmen were those celebrated for the engraving of precious stones.(20) Also, the purple dye of Tyre was recognized worldwide.(21) It appears that some of the people of Tyre did in fact repent, for a church was founded there soon after the death of Stephen, and the apostle Paul even spent a week with the disciples there (Acts 21:4).(22) The book of Acts records that Paul also had friends in Sidon (Acts 27:3), presumed to be believers; therefore, some of the people of Sidon repented as well.
In verse 23, “Jesus had special words of condemnation for Capernaum, where He had lived during His Galilean ministry.”(23) There, He cured the centurion’s servant, recovered Peter’s mother-in-law from a fever, healed the paralytic, raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead, made well the woman that had an issue of blood, opened the eyes of two blind men, and cast out a demon from one who was mute.(24) Even after witnessing all these miracles, the hearts of the people there were not moved. They were unaffected and complacent; and I think it is appropriate to point out that “Capernaum” is translated from the Hebrew (Kfar Nahum) as “the village of comfort.”(25)
When Jesus said, “You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades” (v. 23), “He used words from Isaiah [14:13-15], originally spoken about Babylon, to say that this prosperous city, thinking it deserved rewards from God, would instead ‘be brought down to Hades,’ the realm of the dead.”(26) This should tell us that complacency and comfort can lead to death; spiritual death if it causes a lost person to ignore the call of the Savior; and for the believer, complacency and comfort can lead to a dead spiritual life or even a dead church.
Jesus continued to say, “If the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day” (v. 23). “Sodom was a city of the dead sea, destroyed for its sins.”(27) The account of its transgressions can be found in Genesis 19:1-27, where we learn how the men of the city tried to have forced sexual relations with two male angels. Jude 1:7 states that “Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” We read in Romans chapter 1, that both men and women can be guilty of this type of sexual sin (cf. Romans 1:24-27).
According to Jesus, the people of Sodom, condemned to hell, would have repented after seeing the miracles that He did in Capernaum (v. 23). They would even fare better in the judgement (v. 24). So, how bad was Capernaum exactly, and what was its fate? Perhaps, rather than being “brought down to hades,” or the grave, the people of Capernaum would have been “brought down to hell,” as it is translated in the King James Version. Sodom, condemned to hell, would have repented, whereas, Capernaum condemned to hell, would have refused repentance. Let me say that if someone is sitting here today without a relationship with Jesus Christ, knowing that you are lost in your sins and condemned to hell; it would be utter foolishness to remain as you are.
Sins of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum
So, what were the sins of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum? The answer can be presented using three “i-words,” which are indifference, inaction and intention. Let us first look at indifference. “These cities did not attack Christ; they did not drive Him from their gates; they did not seek to crucify Him; they simply disregarded Him.”(28) Barclay says, “Here, we have the modern situation in so many countries today. There is no hostility to Christianity; there is no desire to destroy it . . . Christ is relegated to the ranks of those who do not matter . . . Indifference does not burn a religion to death; it freezes it to death. It does not behead it; it slowly suffocates the life out of it.”(29)
We now come to intention and inaction. There are sins of intention, which include wrong deeds; but there are also sins of inaction, which exclude right deeds(30) – sometimes known as the sins of commission and omission. So, allow me to comment on intention. “To the cities of Galilee there had been given a privilege, a chance, an opportunity, which had never come to Tyre and Sidon, or to Sodom and Gomorah, for the cities of Galilee had actually seen and heard Jesus Himself.”(31) Yet, that was not enough to convince them to repent and receive the Savior. They intentionally rejected Him.
Barclay says, “We do not and cannot condemn a man who has gone wrong through ignorance, and because he never had the chance to know any better; but if a man who has had every chance to know the right does the wrong, then he does stand condemned.”(32) If you have attended church before, then you have heard the gospel message that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). When you hear the message, and yet intentionally refuse to confess Jesus as Savior and Lord, then you truly stand condemned.
Last of all, let us consider inaction. Sins of inaction are sometimes called sins of omission. They are defined as failures to perform expected good deeds or responsibilities, such as failing to assist someone in need when you have the means to help. According to Barclay, “The sin of Chorazin, of Bethsaida, and of Capernaum was the sin of doing nothing.”(33) They only thing they were active in doing was standing around and complaining that John did not dance and Jesus did not mourn. As stated earlier, when a person does not want to respond to the truth, then he or she will ignore it.
Time of Reflection
In closing, allow me to throw in one last “i-word,” which is “indicted.” If you have “intentionally” rejected Jesus Christ, or you have been “inactive” to respond to the gospel, then you need to understand that you will be “indicted” for your sins. “Indicted” means to be formally accused or charged. In verses 22 and 24, Jesus spoke of “the day of judgement.” So, when you stand before God on that day, do you want to be indicted for your sins, or do you want to stand blameless before the throne?
The only way to stand blameless is to allow Jesus to take your sins on Himself. That is what He did when He died on the cross for all mankind. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus will take your sins on Himself when you confess Him as Savior and Lord of your life. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, as we have our hymn of invitation, I want to invite you to come and make your life right with the Lord today.
NOTES
(1) Sermon Illustrations: https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/criticism.htm (Accessed February 2, 2026).
(2) A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1930), p. 89.
(3) Ibid., p. 89.
(4) William Barclay, “The Gospel of Matthew,” The Daily Study Bible, vol. 2 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958), p. 10.
(5) Robertson, p. 89.
(6) John Gill, John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible: https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/matthew-11-17.html (Accessed February 2, 2026).
(7) Clair M. Crissey, “Matthew,” Layman’s Bible Book Commentary, vol. 15 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981), pp. 64-65.
(8) Gill, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/matthew-11-18.html (Accessed February 2, 2026).
(9) Crissey, p. 65.
(10) Ibid, p. 65.
(11) Ibid., p. 65.
(12) Ibid., p. 65.
(13) Barclay, p. 11.
(14) Crissey, p. 65.
(15) Ibid., p. 65.
(16) Barclay, p. 13.
(17) Ibid., p. 13.
(18) Frank Stagg, “Matthew,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1969), p. 143.
(19) Barclay, p. 12.
(20) M. G. Easton, “Easton’s Bible Dictionary,” Power BibleCD (Bronson, MI: Online Publishing, Inc., 2007).
(21) Ibid.
(22) Ibid.
(23) Crissey, p. 66.
(24) Gill, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/matthew-11-20.html (Accessed February 2, 2026).
(25) Ibid., https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/matthew-11-23.html (Accessed February 2, 2026).
(26) Crissey, p. 66.
(27) Stagg, p. 144.
(28) Barclay, p. 14.
(29) Ibid., p. 14.
(30) Ibid., p. 14.
(31) Ibid., p. 13.
(32) Ibid., p. 13.
(33) Ibid., p. 14.
