The devil never rejoices more,” said Francis of Assisi, “than when he robs a servant of God of his peace of heart.” Peace and joy go a-begging when the heart of a Christian pants for one sign after another of God’s merciful love. Nothing is taken for granted, and nothing is received with gratitude. The troubled eyes and furrowed brow of the anxious believer are the symptoms of a heart where trust has not found a home. The Lord himself must pass through all the shades of the emotional spectrum with us—from rage to tears to amusement. But the poignant truth remains: we do not trust Him. We do not have the mind of Christ.
~ Brennan Manning
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”…Now when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” … Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard Me. I knew that You always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
~ Jesus, King of The Universe, in John 11
Oh beloved, it is true. We are afraid to say it, but it really is true. Anger, the most dangerous of emotions – is not a sin. Yes, it is one of the first emotions that can tip over into sin. But the emotion itself is nothing even close to falling short of the glory of G_d.
For, G_d Himself, has this emotion in spades.
Now, don’t get this fool of a writer wrong. Any anger that comes from a desire to get one’s own way, is exceedingly dangerous. We, in our rampage to get what we want, find ourselves frustrated at the slightest waves in our way. And very quickly, our rampage turns to a self-indulgent rage.
The moment people
slight us
say something in a tone we do not like
say something too loud for our tastes
say something with which we disagree
betray us
lie to us
or just do not meet our expectations…
We are in the place where we can quickly fall into anger. Oh, actually, the anger is already there. So, even if (especially if) we are caught off guard, what rise up and out of us, is venom which has already been brewing in the chambers of our soul. And please, those of you who don’t think you have a problem with anger – you are the worst offenders. This writer was one of the people who used to deny that anger was within me, and tried to blame others for setting me off.
The very fact that anger is because it is because self is not getting what it wants, shows us that this anger is not from G_d. This is because G_d is not like us. He is completely comfortable within Himself and has no need. And so, the anger of G_d is something completely different. We are learning to be like G_d through Jesus, so maybe we can learn what it is like to be angry in a way that is real and whole and good and true.
The passage above gives us a few clues.
First off, Jesus was never afraid to show His emotions. They were always under the control of the Holy Spirit and took their cues from The Father – but Jesus embraced how He felt. He was completely human, and as G_d, He also knew the Designed reasons for how we feel in different situations.
And show His emotions He did.
There are numerous times where Jesus cried out in a loud voice. He was not just trying to be heard over a distance, nor was he just throwing some kind of a fit. Jesus would call out loudly about many of the injustices that He saw around Him. They hurt Him, because they were hurting the people that He Loved.
Other times, Jesus called out in consternation to those around Him. Some things are just exceedingly clear. And the fact that many around Him were intentionally choosing to not believe or love or speak truth or even care about what mattered disturbed Him in His Spirit.
And, in the passage above, Jesus really lets it all hang out. It says He wept, but this is a little like saying a wrecking ball is but a hammer. Jesus was not mourning the death of his friend who had fallen asleep.
He was torn to shreds on the inside by the mourning of His friends.
He was hurting because of the death He knew He Himself was about to undergo.
He was REALLY pissed off at the enemy, Death.
He was tired of people not believing in The Truth that would set them free.
He was weeping over the entire deep mess of the mass of humanity around Him.
Can we see it? What drove this loud-voiced, gut-wrenching, wailing cry? Love. Jesus was not angry and distressed and crying because others were not meeting His expectations. Jesus was ENRAGED over the things that were keeping the people He Loved in bondage.
So, do you feel angry sometimes? This is nothing to be ashamed of. However, you (and I) will want very much to check our motivations before we move even a step further in our thinking. Anger that is about me getting what I want is highly suspect. But even rage that is about the desire for another’s freedom is something that may be just exactly what we need.
Tonight is your night beloved. Time to be like Jesus.
