July 17, 2018Tuesday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Is 7:1-9
Gospel: Mt 11:20–24
Jesus began to denounce the cities in which he had performed most of his miracles, because the people there did not change their ways, “Alas for you Chorazin and Bethsaida! If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I assure you, for Tyre and Sidon it will be more bearable on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be thrown down to the place of the dead! For if the miracles which were performed in you had taken place in Sodom, it would still be there today! But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
When the town of Bethsaida took for granted the favors that Jesus extended, Jesus was greatly disappointed. Bethsaida had its lion’s share of God’s favor. This town was the home of Peter, Andrew and Philip (John 1:44; 12:21) and the scene of the healing of the blind man (Mark 8:22). It was even probably what the Gospel of Mark refers to as the “desert” nearby, which was the scene of multiplication of the loaves (Mark 6:45).
Tyre and Sidon, on the other hand, were wicked towns already denounced by Scriptures. They are often mentioned together in the Gospels (Matthew 11:21; 15:21; Mk 3:8; Luke 6:17). Tyre was a significant territory because of its port. It was the port at which Paul arrived on his voyage to Jerusalem (Acts 21:3-7). The Old Testament already denounced Tyre for its wickedness: “What are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? You took my silver and gold, and brought my precious treasures into your temples! You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them from their own country” (Joel 4:4-5 ff.). The fact that Jesus had rather performed miracles in these cursed towns of Tyre and Sidon gives us the measure of how unresponsive Bethsaida was.
Like Bethsaida we have lots of God-given opportunities. Shakespeare describes opportunity in the following manner: “There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; when omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries”. If even the flood can offer tides that take us to fortune, talk about what opportunities good times can bring. We never run out of reasons to thank God because both in moments of joy and misery we are in God’s embrace. We can lose all these, however, if like the town of Bethsaida we disappoint God by taking his blessings for granted. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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