“Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep
and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a
whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the
sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and
overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take
these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” John 2:13-22
This morning I am thanking God for that passage. Last night I got
very, very angry. I fashioned my whip and then I didn't overturn
tables, I posted on Facebook.
The referenced passage teaches us a lot about anger. Jesus did not
just react immediately to what he considered an affront, he took his
time, he thought about it the entire time he was fashioning his whip. I thank God this model for Christian anger exists. Thank you, Jesus!
When we're walking the Christian walk, I think we receive subtle and
not so subtle messages to squelch our anger. “Turn the other
cheek,” is a mantra to many. “Nice Christians don't raise their
voices,” and of course, my personal favorite, “The meek shall
inherit the earth.” There is nothing meek about me and I don't
really mind missing out on my inheritance.
We are confronted daily with these schizophrenic messages from God's
word. So what to do? We are left with the task of deciding how to
apply Jesus' teachings to our everyday lives.
We have help awaiting us. It is stating the obvious to say that we
might consider praying before working on those whips, “ Holy
Spirit, a little direction, please!”
The decision to act out in anger should also be accompanied by
volumes of introspection. Is it ego acting out or is my anger
righteous? In last night's case, I have to admit my ego had taken
one too many blows from the subject of my wrath but I don't think ego
was the primary motivator. I'd be a terrible liar if I didn't admit
it was a contributing factor.
Is it wrong to defend our egos? I don't think so, not always. We
are children of God. The children he created in his image. When the
image is ridiculed, condescended to, and reviled, I think our loving
Father wants us to say, “Don't do this to me!”
One other, admittedly subjective, measure is the feeling after we
display our anger. Last night there was peace! Peace is so
subjective but I think we all know when we've got it and we know when
we don't. Last night there was no tugging at my conscience. I fell
asleep happy that for once I didn't let a bully go unchecked.
Please see my Facebook page for original rant.
ReplyDeleteGod knows we are all human, and so your rant is just an expression of a human feeling that has meaning behind it. You are entitled to express those feelings,and maybe the person of your rant will see the reason behind it. But it don't seem likely.