Woes, Comfort, and a Thunderbolt

The Johannine Thunderbolt

Matthew 11:20-30

It was the custom of Old Testament prophets to proclaim the terms of the covenant between God and Israel in two parts. First came the statements of what God would do if Israel stayed true to God's word: If they obeyed Him, they were promised peace and prosperity and a long life in the land of milk and honey. On the other hand, the prophets warned what would happen if Israel abandoned the rules of the covenant: The land of milk and honey would spit them out and they would be led into captivity by a strange people.

We don't find a lot of this pattern reproduced in the Gospels. Blessings and warnings about the New Covenant are not often found side by side. But Matthew, ever mindful of Old Testament patterns and prophecies, has provided us a stellar example in his Gospel, in chapter 11, verses 20 through 30.

The Curses

Matthew places warnings first, in stark terms: WOE to you, Chorazin! WOE to you, Bethsaida! It will be better even in foreign cities on judgment day than it will be for you! And Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will descend to Hades, for you ignored miracles that would have caused even Sodom to repent!

The Blessings

Matthew almost immediately follows these curses with perhaps the most serene and promising words of Jesus in the entire New Testament:

"Come to me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

The Thunderbolt

Theologians have called this word and the words that led up to it the "Johannine Thunderbolt," for its similarity to passages in John's Gospel, especially verse 27:

"All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him."

On these verses and others, the fathers of the church built the doctrine of the Trinity.

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