Daily Gospel Reflection

An Age of Anger

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we're exploring the genius of the Daily Gospel. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Luke 4:24-30. And Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land and Elijah was sent to none of them but only Zarephath in the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha and none of them were cleansed, but only Naaman, the Syrian. When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them, Jesus went away."

What jumps out at me today is the word wrath. Okay, so Jesus is telling these things to people and they're outraged. Right? So anger leads to outrage, outrage leads to rage. Rage leads to wrath. And these people are all the way there. Right? We say, "When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath." We live in an age of anger. We live in an age of outrage. We live in an age where people are so rageful and so wrathful and very often about little things. Right? It's when you step back, people get so outraged by something. And then when you step back and you think, "Ooh, that doesn't feel like-- I mean, I understand maybe what they're saying but that doesn't feel like the most important thing." This exercise I do in my consulting business with clients, and I say to them, "Okay, let's take a bullseye." They'll be arguing about something that's of little consequence. I say, "Let's take a bullseye and let's put in the bullseye, the most important thing in your business. Okay? And then let's draw concentric circles around a bullseye. How many circles do we have to draw before we get to what you are arguing about, obsessed about right now in the business?"

And of course, when they do this exercise, they realize, okay, it could be 30 things. It could be 50 things. It could be 100 things. It could be so many things they can't even count. And the same is true of the things that our culture is getting outraged about or rageful about, angry about, and full of wrath, as Jesus describes in the gospel today. What's at the center? What's the most important thing in our life? Or what's the most important thing in our culture? And how many circles do you have to go out before we get to this thing that everyone's losing it over? Let's stay focused. Let's place Jesus at the center. Let's focus on what matters most. Let's focus on the best and highest use of our time, talent, treasures. And let's avoid getting wrathful, rageful, and outraged about things that are of little consequence. God bless you. Have an amazing day. And remember, be the very best version of yourself. All that God created you to be.