Sack Cloth and Ashes

Matthew 11:20-24 (ESV)
Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. [21] "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. [22] But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. [23] And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. [24] But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you."
Jesus can be pretty harsh with those who reject him. It is amazing. Jesus performed great miracles and the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum sloughed them off as no big deal. Some even went further to accuse Jesus of all sorts of heinous things. Jesus lets them know what their fate will be.
Capernaum is where Jesus made his home for the most part. Yet the people there did not repent. Their fate will be worse than that of Sodom, which was consumed with fire. Jesus says this.
Perhaps one can see how he divided the Jewish people. Perhaps we can see why so many wanted to get rid of him.
Today people want to marginalize him. You get the so called cultured idiots sitting around talking about what a great teacher Jesus was. Have they ever read him? One wonders. We can’t have that. Great teachers don’t talk like this. These are the rants of a madman who thinks he is God, or they are the utterances of God. But great ethicists, great teachers, Well I would not pay to take instruction from a man who ranted such.
Of course that this man rose from the dead after a three day dirt nap, that makes me perk my ears up a little to listen. I begin to think it is time I find my sack cloth and ashes.