A Tale of Two Cities

In Matthew 10:1-15 and again in Matthew 11:20-24 Jesus denounces several cities and makes a comment about the judgment day. “Truly, I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:24). Jesus was speaking about Capernaum, a city in Palestine where he had performed several miracles and yet the people did not repent. The word “Truly” is also translated verily and stresses the certainty with which it will occur.

The comments Jesus makes raise a number of questions about the judgment day and why some will be shown more mercy than others and why. Another more intriguing issues is what does Jesus mean by more tolerable. I always thought heaven was heaven and hell was hell. How could anything be more or less tolerable? Another fascinating view of the judgment day is found in Matthew 25:34-40 where Jesus speaks about those who show kindness to others. The Lord points out that whatever you do to the least of his brothers you have done it to Him.

For a moment I want to take a closer look at Sodom and Gomorrah. The story is found in Genesis chapter 18 through 19. To make a long story short the Lord sees the sexual misconduct of the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord decides to toast the place. He sends two angels to get Lot (Abraham’s nephew) and his family out of town before the fireworks start. Once they are gone the pyrotechnic show begins and the rest is Biblical history.

There is clearly no tolerance in the eyes of the Lord for homosexuality. Yet, what is interesting here is that the Lord says there is more tolerance for that city of ill repute than for a city that Jesus visited, but did not come to repentance. The reason may be as simple, or as complex, as the man Lot. Lot lived in Sodom for several years and was well known to the inhabitants of the city (Genesis 19:4). Lot was a Jew and quite probably the only witness to these non-believers about the living God. The apostle Peter speaks of Lot briefly in his letter (2 Peter 2:7) calling him a righteous man oppressed by the misconduct of immoral men.

When the men of the city surround Lot’s house they demand he bring out his two guests. Their intentions are obvious; they want to have sexual relations with the two guests. Lot offers them his own daughters instead and this only infuriates the men. I can only imagine what the daughters felt while this was going on. First, their father offers them to a mob of men to do whatever they want to them. Second, the men turn this offer down and demand that Lot give them the guests in his house. The daughters are first appalled by their father’s offer to the mob then they are humiliated by the fact that the men turned them down for other men. What could be more insulting to a woman? All kidding aside, we do need to understand what Jesus meant when he said “more tolerable.”

There is very little detailed information about heaven and hell in the New Testament. Jesus spoke about heaven using parables and He described hell as a place of torment. Nevertheless, when Jesus says more tolerable that clearly indicates that He will consider mitigating circumstances when determining our fate on the judgment day.

For a moment I see myself on the judgment day standing beside someone from the town of Sodom. Jesus walks up to that person and says, “All your life you never tried to know God, or serve Him you only served yourself.” Then the person says to God, “That’s true but if I would have seen you perform miracles like you did in Capernaum I would have repented.” Then Jesus would say, “That’s true and I will consider this before determining your fate.” While this person would not be completely relieved it certainly would have taken a load off his mind.

This raises other more fascinating questions about what would make things more tolerable on the Day of Judgment. If an atheist offers refuge to a Christian in a time when Christians are persecuted would that atheist be shown mercy more then they would have without the kind gesture? I think the atheist would be shown mercy. Lets take it from another angle. We’ll say that a non-believer sees a homeless person on the street near his home. The non-believer feels the need to help the homeless person and brings the homeless person some food and soft drinks. From time to time the non-believer even brings the homeless person into his home when it is really cold outside. On the judgment day what will the Lord say?

I think he will say, “That which you have done to the least of my brothers you did unto me.” I think that will make things more tolerable for the non-believer on the judgment day. If that is so then how much more will believers receive from the Lord when they show kindness to the homeless and even more importantly when they show kindness to each other? (Galatians 6:10)