"All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove (Jesus) out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way." ... Luke 4:28-30

On my birthday last month, we attended The Community Church in Miami Beach, Florida. The preacher, Reverend Garth Thompson, used verse 30 as a highlight in his sermon. He stated that he considered the fact that Jesus was able to walk through this mob and go on his way to be a miracle. Revered Thompson asked the congregation, "How did he do it? What did he do?" Then, the pastor told us that he wished he had been present to witness what Jesus did.

Have you ever been involved in a mob? I have been twice. The first was during college. Exiting from a movie, my date and I found the street filled with a mob of students protesting the food in the dormitory cafeterias. I had found no problem with the food and certainly had not planned to be part of a protest mob. But, it was a beautiful spring night and the spirit of the mob was more a "fun challenge" to the police and firemen squirting the students with water rather than an ugly scene. So, my date and I joined the marchers, received a free shower, and enjoyed being out after curfew since there was really no way to get back to our dorms other than to join the singing, marching crowd. We simply enjoyed the high jinks, dropped out after tiring of this activity and returned, in good spirits, to our dormitories.

The second time I became part of a mob scene, however, was frightening. My husband and I were waiting among a large group of tourists for the doors to open for a tour of the Vienna Opera House. Procedure was that upon opening the doors, a specified number of people would be permitted to enter for the tour. Everything was quite orderly until the doors opened. At that point, pandemonium broke loose. The crowd became a pushing mob. I felt my body lifted from the pavement and carried along by a swirl of pushing humanity. There was no way I could exit from the mob; my feet could not even touch the floor. People still outside the doors were pushing with great intensity and shouting. Frankly, I was afraid and worried about what would happen if I should fall under the feet of the mob.

I have thought about Reverend Thompson's questions and tried to put them into the context of my experiences with mobs in trying to answer them.

Luke 4:14 tells us Jesus (came) to Galilee in the power of the spirit. In verse 18, Jesus says, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me". Thus, I think that Jesus simply trusted that the spirit of the Lord would protect him and that he walked away, shoulders drawn back, and with authority. What do you think he did?

Prayer:
Heavenly God, please continue to send
your spirit to protect me. Amen

Contributed by Nancy E.
Published Sunday February 15, 2004
Week 12 of Liturgical Year C