Strong words today from Jesus against towns where He had preached extensively - Chorazin, Bethsaida and especially Capernaum. Jesus says that if the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon had witnessed all that He had said and done in those towns of Palestine they would have repented long ago, just as the pagan people of Niniveh had repented at the preaching of Jonah.

And Jesus goes further. Addressing His disciples He says, "He that hears you, hears me and he that despises you despises me" and the Father who sent Him. In other words, to listen to the messengers of Jesus is equivalent to listening to Him personally; to reject those messengers is to reject Jesus and to reject God.

It is no harm then for each of us today to hear those warnings of Jesus addressed to ourselves. How well have we really responded to the call of Jesus in the Gospel? How open are we to hear that message coming to us from different kinds of people in our community? How committed are we to accepting, living and sharing that Gospel with others?

Might it not be true to say that there are people in other parts of our world, our country, our society who, if they were given what we have been given, who heard what we hear, would respond much more generously than we have done? There is never any room for complacency in our Christian life. Because we have been given so much so much more is expected of us.