Today’s Readings concern the eternal fate of those who were once aware of God’s power and later ignored His teaching. He is telling both His compatriots and the people of the ages to follow that there are very unpleasant consequences for not believing and obeying His teachings.
The first reading, from Isaiah,7: 1-9 tells the tribe of Judah that if they remain faithful, they will be saved and that their enemies will be destroyed within sixty five years.
The reading from the New Testament builds (Matthew 11:20-24,builds on that. Today’s readings are stern warnings for lapsed Catholics, both individually and in groups, like the French and the Italians and other nationalities being punished for having embraced the sacrifice of unborn babies to evil beings.
He is specifically telling those who knew that He can perform miracles, but don’t asking for Him to help them save their immortal souls, that they are in big trouble. If they choose to mire themselves among created entities, they have no eternal future outside of pain and suffering.
Matthew: 11:20-24
Jesus began to reproach the towns
where most of his mighty deeds had been done,
since they had not repented.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the nether world.
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
What happens to our souls if we fail to believe and obey? God, Himself, is telling us that our punishment will be greater than that meted out to the Sodomites. Why? Because we knew, and disobeyed. They merely gave in to their own, anti-God inclinations. So, we have no excuse for not knowing that the punishment for our sin is compounded by the sin of apostasy.
Then, if we say at Judgment, “But, I didn’t know!”, the sins of disobedience and apostasy will be compounded by the sin of bearing false witness.