ANGER Pt VI

VII. Righteous Indignation:

Although the scriptures do not teach that all anger is sinful or leads to sin, it also warns us that it risky business. The Bible places some “firewalls” on anger and insists that our life must not be characterized by anger and that we must be free from malice, fits of rage etc. But are there times when being angry might be a good thing? Can anger be a gift?

There are times when something needs doing and we won’t get around to it until we are angry. On a real “down to earth” level, I think about my garage. One day I head out to the garage and there is a tricycle out of place, or toolboxes I did not put away properly, maybe a box of old kids toys. I don’t think much about it. Another day I notice a few more items have cluttered the floor. Then finally, the day comes when I trip over the tricycle, stub my toe on the toolboxes and a box of kids toys falls on me. What follows (after a string of euphemisms, “Friggin! Shoot! Dangit!”) is what I like to refer to as a “cleaning rage”. We’ve all been there when taking a sweater out of the closet makes the rod fall out or the sink is so full of dishes that the plate we put in slides out and breaks on the floor (although we are mildly happy then because there is less to do!). In this instance, I get to cleaning, I throw away junk that I should have gotten rid of long ago, in the end if I play my cards right, my garage is better for it. My frustration led me into doing something worthwhile.

While in exile under Artaxerxes, Nehemiah hears the cry of oppression from his people. Not at the hands of the Persians, but indeed from their own kinsmen. The loan sharks have charged interest to their brothers (which is forbidden among the Jews by Ex 22:25, Lev 25:36, Dt 23:19-20) and this has caused both a spiritual and economic crisis. Read Nehemiah’s response:

⁶ Then I was very angry when I had heard their outcry and these words. ⁷ I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers and said to them, "You are exacting usury, each from his brother!" Therefore, I held a great assembly against them. ⁸ I said to them, "We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?" Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. ⁹ Again I said, "The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? ¹⁰ "And likewise I, my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us leave off this usury. ¹¹ "Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them." ¹² Then they said, "We will give it back and will require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you say." So I called the priests and took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. ¹³ I also shook out the front of my garment and said, "Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise ; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" And they praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise .

Nehemiah 5:6-13 (NASB)

In the gospels, there is the famous (and often misunderstood) account of Jesus turning over the tables of the moneychangers. I mention this reluctantly because I no longer see it as a holy temper tantrum, but I now see it as an act of retribution from the physical hand of God. Furthermore, I am not so sure than when the Bible describes God as angry, that it is anything like what we could really understand. I am suggesting that just as God is described as having a nose, and arm, wings, etc. he is also described as having emotions. God’s ‘feelings’ are a metaphor for something incomprehensible to us.

However, there as times when Jesus gets hacked off, this instance is very informative if not representative:

¹ He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. ² They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. ³ He said* to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward,!" ⁴ And He said* to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent. ⁵ After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said* to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

Mark 3:1-6 (NASB)

Notice, what makes Him mad? What makes Nehemiah mad? “What Ticks God Off” as Bruce & Stan so aptly have stated? Injustice. Injustice, and the hardness of mens’ hearts. Sure, God hates sin, he hates drunkenness, immorality, gossip, he hates both our respectable and our despicable sins but injustice chaps God’s hide. Jesus could not stand the fact that these men would seriously think it right to let a man suffer another day because it was the Sabbath.

So if that is what motivates God to anger, and that anger motivates him to action (although we can be sure, Jesus intended to heal the man before He was angry) then we have a compass for anger. Anger at injustice, which motivates us to action to advance the Kingdom agenda, is righteous anger. But we must exercise great care here because, as the church sign zinger states: “Anger is one letter away from D-ANGER”.

So that wraps up my posts on anger. Next up? We’ll see.