Articles
Righteous Anger
As I was pulling away from the drive through window at my bank today, I saw a vehicle stopped short of the drive through ATM. A guy was standing in front of his vehicle, having what appeared to be a very animated and heated conversation with the ATM. From my vantage point, he was waving his arms and looked like he was yelling, and lots of words leaving his lips. I eased by thinking this might be something you don't get to see everyday. As I got close enough to see, he was holding his phone, apparently on speaker phone, and was obviously unhappy about something or someone. What - we shall never know!
How often does our blood pressure rise in response to something? I can only speak for myself, and I can only be honest and say 'way too often'. As I've aged, certain things don't trigger me much anymore, and there are some things that years ago would not, that now do. I'd suspect you can relate to that in some way, maybe with similar experiences. I hope at some point, I'll be that person that James encourages us all to be when he says "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,..." James 1:19
Most of the time, these words come a little late, after my anger has pushed me over the line. Most of the time, it's anger I should be able to control, and my actions associated with it. We all know the verse, "In your anger do not sin” Eph 4:26. Does this mean not to yell, not to wave our arms, not to step out of our otherwise mild mannered character? Well, maybe it does, and probably most of the time, it should.
But there are times when our anger may need to be seen as anger by others, in order to right a wrong. Remember a story recorded in the Gospels, John 2:13-16 being one version, "...In the temple courts he (Jesus) found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
I wasn't there, and the account does not describe Jesus' tone of voice, but I fully suspect he didn't walk around calmly, asking people to quietly leave, and telling them He had a whip, and that they didn't want to force Him to use it. The account sounds like He kicked their tables over, throwing the items off of them, and raising His voice, cracking the whip and making sure everyone understood Him. (Also see Matt 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-46)
We don't read the words "Jesus was angry" but we have to assume He indeed was, very angry, and rightfully so. Mark's description says Jesus was "teaching" them as He did this, "...And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers."
All of the above to say this, there is a proper time and place for righteous anger, and maybe sometimes we fail to get angry when we should, and maybe if we do get angry, we fail to step up and take action outside of our normal character to use the moment to teach or right a wrong. It may require raised voices sometimes, and it may demand some compliance from others. When it comes to our children, it may require us laying down the law and making them uncomfortable in order to teach them what is right. Jesus showed us that some things require some rather drastic responses at times. Are we up for it?
Let us not be afraid to act for the sake of righteousness.
