The people were "filled with rage," writes Professor Blair R. Monie, "because Jesus proclaimed a grace that was wider and more generous than they were. Grace is more difficult to really embrace than we often assume."
As so often happens, underneath human anger is fear.
"We are happy when the 'right people' are forgiven, accepted, or healed, but we're not so sure that we want those things extended to people outside our favored circles, or that we want to extend that grace ourselves. At the heart of all this is the theme of privilege. As many social commentators have observed, privlege is a powerful reality in society, but generally only those who do not have it realize its power." (p. 222)
All of us are blessed by God's grace. It is one of the things we have in common--like the earth, which is here for us, delights us, and feeds us, through the creative generosity of God, at work long ago, and still, now, on each and every day.
What if we focused our religious and spiritual practices not on what might make us feel "better than" or "safer than" people who seem to be outside our circles, but on the flow of divine gifts we all have in common? We would be living in a whole different world, a peaceful and loving world, the world for which God called us into being.
The Rev. Professor Blair E. Monie, 1948-2018, ministered in several congregations and taught Pastoral Ministry and Leadership at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. His reflections on Luke 4 can be found in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary, Year C, Volume 1, pages 221-222.