In All Honesty

When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away. Luke 4:28-30

Reflection:
There are two things that happen in this reading: 1. Jesus was spoken of highly by those who were there, and 2. They heard, and all were filled with fury, and rose up, to drive him from the town. Touchy people aren't they, that they could not listen to honesty from one of their own.

Now I can understand, why when someone we love tells us something about our lives that needs fixing and we go off on a bender and literally drive them away. All because we don't want to hear what is being said. Yet prior to it we would be doing the same as the elders in the synagogue, that of talking highly of the one who cares about us.

In our daily life we encounter much as Jesus had but in a different way, we don't go around healing and driving out demons. But we hopefully love each other enough to accept honesty from another for any errors we do not see in ourselves.

I remember once my reaction to such loving honesty, I reacted the same as the one's in today's reading. I too had become furious and attempted to drive them out of my life. The only thing that saved me from dire consequences was the fact that the anger was short lived and I listened to the honesty given.
This enabled me to fix what was wrong with me. Today I can write about this with the Holy Spirit's help in acknowledging that the scriptures bear much truth, and love does conquer all.