Luke 10:13-16--Woe to Unrepentant Cities

Luke 10:13-16
English Standard Version

Woe to Unrepentant Cities
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

​16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

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These are probably some of the cities that rejected the members of the 72 that were sent out and since they rejected the ambassadors of the King, they rejected the King Himself.  Jesus condemns their rejection saying that if Jesus did the same miracles in the pagan towns of Tyre (remember that Satan is referred to as the King of Tyre in the Old Testament) and Sidon that they would have believed.  This is not just hyperbole, but Jesus actually knows that they would have responded in faith, so this is quite the condemnation.  They had access to everything--the Law, the Prophets, and the actual words and works of Jesus being performed in their midst, but didn't believe.

Jesus also condemns Capernaum, the town from which He operated from for a long time.  They apparently also assumed they had it made and had no need for repentance.  Jesus promises that those that are proud and think they have it made and don't repent will be in Hades and not in heaven--both those who rejected Jesus' words and those who rejected the messengers that He sent, because to reject His messengers is to reject Him and His message and the one who sent Him (that is the Father).