Christlike Anger
"Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus' enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man's hand on the Sabbath? If he did, they planned to condemn him. Jesus said to the man, 'Come and stand in front of everyone.' Then he turned to his critics and asked, 'Is it legal to do good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing harm? But they wouldn't answer him. He looked around at them angrily, because he was deeply disturbed by their hard hearts' " Mark 3:1-5a (NLT).
Jesus was angry. Yes, believe it or not, our loving, gentle Savior knew anger. What's more, he didn't care if everyone else knew.
Now there are two main words for "anger" used in the New Testament. One is thumos (THOO-moss) which is explosive anger. It describes temper tantrums or hot-heads. It is passionate, unpredictable, and explosive anger. It is the kind of anger forbidden by God because it originates in our sinful natures (See Galatians 5:20).
The second type of anger is the word orge (OR-gay). It is a settled type of anger that is not explosive or out of control, but is a settled habit of mind. Orge can be sinful if not controlled by God, but it can also be a righteous anger when motivated by a desire for Godliness and right living. We are even commanded to have this type of anger (See Ephesians 4:26), but not to sin while experiencing it, by letting it turn to bitterness or dominate us past the end of each day.
Can you guess which type of anger Jesus felt toward his critics? It was orge. He was not sinning to be angry, for his anger came from seeing religious leaders have hard hearts toward a hurting man.
It is not always wrong to feel anger. In fact, it is downright sinful NOT to feel it sometimes. If we can't become angry when a child is molested, there is something wrong. If we cannot feel angry when innocent people are tortured or raped or victimized, we've got some growing to do!
Anger can be very good, and some of the greatest works of God have been accomplished by men and women who became angry. Martin Luther King was angry at the injustice constantly shown toward black people, so he allowed God to channel his anger into a great movement for civil rights.
And that's the key to being angry and NOT sinning - - letting God channel our angry emotions into righteous activity, not sinful vengeance. As a result of Jesus' anger (and no doubt, mercy), he healed someone. This is how it should be. Our anger should be channeled by God into righteous, healing activity.
So while anger is most often sinful, it is sometimes Godly.
A mother's daughter is being mistreated at school; an employee is wrongly terminated, or denied promised promotions or raises; a spouse is abused; a police officer is attacked; a girl is belittled by her boyfriend's flirting with other females; a wage earner is overcharged by a creditor - - these situations and many more, can bring about righteous anger - - that is, a settled, controlled anger at injustice, mistreatment, or sin.
It is not wrong to feel anger in such situations. Jesus never said we should never feel angry about anything. No! The anger he condemned was explosive, bitter anger, not Godly anger that is controlled and channeled by the Holy Spirit (See Matthew 5:22).
For example, someone cuts in line in front of us at Wal-Mart. We become righteously angry. Now we can channel this anger in one of two ways. We can explode and rudely curse the person out (at which point our righteous anger turns to sin); or we can control ourselves, let the person cut, or politely ask them to go to the back of the line, or ask for the manager. The initial anger is not wrong, it is what happens afterwards that keeps it righteous, or makes it sin.
So let us be a passionate people, for God works through such passion to accomplish great things. But when we become passionately angry, let us make sure it is Christlike anger that results in God's glory.