Filled with Fury - More Seeds of Hope

Today’s story seed is Filled with Furry. From the Gospel of Luke chapter 4, verse 28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. A family had a small reunion. The parents were thrilled to have their daughter and son back at home. Both of the children were grown at this point. They didn’t yet have families of their own, but they had launched their careers. The son has a significant other who was not at the gathering. The daughter wasn’t in a romantic relationship. At first, everyone was delighted to see each other. They had a drink and helped cook the dinner together. The food was delicious. Then a cloud of contempt seemed to descend upon the grown children. “Oh, my sweet sister, I guess I can’t do anything up to your standards,” said the young man. “That’s what I am talking about,” said the sister. “You think everything I say is a criticism. I’m just saying that there are other jobs out there. If you’re not happy with where you are at, you should leave. That’s what I did and look at how happy I have been since then.” “Are you kidding me? You’re miserable. You work 50 plus hours every week. You don’t have time to date. You’re always exhausted.” “I am not. I’m happy. I like to work hard. I’m building a career.” “So that’s what you’re doing?” said the boy. “You’re building a career. I guess it has nothing to do with avoiding a serious relationship, nothing to do with being scared to interact with other people, nothing to do with being a loner.” “I get it,” she said. “You have it all figured out. You have a serious relationship—who you are afraid to bring to dinner! You’re pathetic. You have a job you hate and you can’t even bring your ‘special someone’ to dinner.” The father pounded his fist on the table and said, “OK, this is going to stop right now.” “Let’s not lose our tempers,” said the mother. The boy said, “Dinner is over. It’s time for me to go.” He threw his napkin on his plate and left the house. The daughter soon followed. It is hard to get along as siblings, as extended family, and as community. We know each other so well that it is easy to get upset. We have an investment in people being the way we think they have always been. To some extent, we want people to conform to our image of who they are. In today’s scripture selection, the people are filled with fury at Jesus. Just a moment ago, they were admiring him. Now they are upset with him. They ask themselves, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son? Where does he get off thinking he is better than us?” In fact, they push him to the edge of the hill and are ready to throw him off, but Jesus walks through the crowd and leaves unharmed. Wouldn’t it be great, if the siblings at dinner could stop their verbal attacks and, when the time came, leave unharmed. The young man and woman in our story didn’t leave unharmed. They are filled with furry. They didn’t come to blows, but they will have a hard time talking to each other in the future, and an even harder time not stewing in thoughts about the other. The parents, too, will be stuck in distress and maybe anger. It’s harder to clean a mess up like this than it is to wash the dishes. So let’s learn the lesson of Jesus from this story. He doesn’t start yelling, or pushing people. He is not filled with furry and rage. He even lets the people take him to a place where they might kill him. In short, he doesn’t engage in fighting back, although he does speak his truth. Not engaging in anger is the first lesson. Perhaps there is another lesson. How is it that he walks away through the crowd when they are ready to kill him. It has been suggested, and this is just one person’s prayer experience, that at the moment they were about to kill him, Jesus looked in the eyes of the person closest to him, and silently said, “I forgive you.” Then Jesus took a step forward and looked in the eyes of the next person and silently said, “I forgive you.” Another step and the same message, over and over again, until Jesus had walked through the crowd unharmed. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, he forgave. Our second lesson is more important than the first. Be forgiving. It’s not about saying the words. It is about what goes on in your heart. Continue to work on it this lent. Now let’s take 30 seconds to water the seed… What fury do I struggle with?