Rev. Richard Smith
Ephesians 4:26 – Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.
I don’t need to tell you that there’s a lot of anger erupting today across religious, political, and social venues. Anger seems to be a growing manifestation as we deal with health issues, political discussions and decisions, and social tensions.
Now, we people of religious faith and spiritual commitment are, of course, very human and so we are not above letting real emotions reside in our interactions and conversations. So, what is the proper Christian perspective on anger?
Understand That Everyone Gets Angry
There is no such a person who doesn’t get angry. Under the right circumstances (certain harsh and hurting words spoken, something that displeases us greatly, someone really hurting use, etc.) any of us can and will get angry.
As Paul notes in the scripture text, the issue isn’t whether we get angry or not; it’s how we understand and manage our anger.
When Anger Arises, Note Three Key Things to Do
Now when we do find ourselves getting angry with someone, there are three things we can and need to do.
Admit It. Just go ahead and admit it. Admit it to yourself; admit it to the person or persons with whom you got angry. No need to pretend you didn’t. It’s already happened; someone has seen it or experienced it.
Learn From It. Almost always there is something we can learn from getting angry. We can learn something about ourselves and about how we handle particular situations. What happened here? Why did I get angry at this person? Why did that action or those words set me off?
Determine If It Was Constructive or Destructive. Let me tell you what defines destructive anger:
The level of anger is excessive to the issue.
The anger gets sidetracked beyond the issue at hand and lambasts the person himself/ herself.
One makes no effort to control the anger and lets it continue unabated
In essence, we must be sure that our supposedly justifiable anger doesn’t lead to bitterness, malice, or resentment. We can be angry without resorting to malice toward another person. This isn’t always easy, but it’s certainly necessary; with God’s help!
Be Aware Of Anger Christians Need To Have
The truth is there are things at which we as followers of Jesus ought to be angry.
We clearly find in the Gospel accounts some occasions when Jesus couldn’t help but be angry given the injustices he saw and the extreme misbehavior toward others he witnessed. The two most revealing illustrations of Jesus’ anger are found in Mark 3:5 (intense anger at the Pharisees) and Mark 11:15-17 (angrily driving the money-changers out of the temple).
Don’t dilute the significance of these passages by thinking that Jesus’ anger was really just discontent; that he didn’t actually manifest angry emotions. Note that in the Mark 3 passage, the Greek word describing Jesus’ feelings translates “intense, deep-seated anger”.
This anger of Jesus is called by Biblical and theological thinkers “righteous indignation”. Essentially, this is justifiable anger at great wrongs being done, at mistreatment of persons, or at structures and policies which are clearly unjust. I can make my list of such wrongs and injustices and so can you.
The key is that we recognize that being faithful followers of Jesus means not passively accepting those things in our communities and in our world which clearly need to be changed. We clearly see this truth in the actions of Jesus noted above. God-grounded and Jesus-centered people are not meant to stand passively by when people are really being hurt.
Purposely Move Beyond Anger
Now let me say that it’s not enough just to be angry…we must be more than righteously indignant. We need to angry enough to have the courage to do something about evil in our world, about injustice in life, about wrongs done people, about moral travesties which should not go ignored or unaddressed. Again, passivity amidst such wrong is not acceptable for disciples of Jesus!
