Matthew 11:23

“And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until this day.”

Capernaum is, if it were possible, even more guilty. She is here specifically compared with Sodom, the byword for sinfulness (Matthew 10:14; Isaiah 1:10; Ezekiel 16:48). Sodom was so evil that it had been destroyed by a cataclysm because of its guilt. But He claims that had they had the opportunities that Capernaum had had, they would certainly have made sufficient response to have enabled them to avoid being destroyed in that way. In other words, while Sodom was undoubtedly wicked, they at least had not had the opportunity of hearing the kind of teaching and seeing the kind of miracles that Capernaum had. Had they done so they would not have been quite so wicked. It is a warning that those who pride themselves on being better than others, even though it is simply because their circumstances in life have made it easier for them to be so, are really no better than those who behave far worse because their circumstances in life are more difficult.

We should note here that Jesus had previously informed His disciples of a similar fact, that the towns who turned them away would discover in the Day of Judgment that it was worse for them than for Sodom. This is a further indication of how closely He saw them as representing Him. ‘He who receives you, receives Me' (Matthew 10:40). And the opposite is also true.

‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades.' There is an allusion here to Isaiah 14:12, where the King of Babylon, that depiction of all that was arrogant and unworthy, had thought to exalt himself, and had instead found himself thrust down into Sheol (to some extent the Hebrew equivalent of Hades). See ‘I will ascend to Heaven --- you will be brought down to Sheol' (Isaiah 14:13; Isaiah 14:15). So Capernaum is being seen as worse than Babylon and Sodom combined, a dreadful combination.

It is probable that Jesus had loftily been told in Capernaum by some of their religious leaders that they considered that their place in Heaven was quite safe without their having to listen to Him. Well sadly they would one day discover the truth. Their exceeding sinfulness therefore lay not in that they actually behaved as badly as Babylon or Sodom, but in that God had greatly privileged them to see the full revelation of the mighty works that revealed His Messiahship and glory, and that they had refused to respond to it. The point that He is making is that there is no sin greater than that of avoiding the light when it shines (Matthew 4:16). That in the end is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). Those who refuse the light will find that their lampstand goes out (Revelation 2:5).