Righteous Anger

Righteous Anger

Matthew 21:12-13

            We love the phrase “righteous anger.”  We believe we have the right to invoke it any time we imagine there is a just cause.  As with so many other concepts, in our brokenness we abuse righteous anger.  Any reason for losing our temper will do as long as we think we have a legitimate case.

            We must be very careful with anger.  It is definitely a two-edged sword.  In the third chapter of his epistle, James warns his readers (and us!) about the trouble the tongue can cause.  I’m sure he knew the tongue wasn’t at fault; it was the mind behind it that caused the trouble.  When the mind is distorted with anger or other negative emotions, he was saying, a whole army of bad things can happen—and usually do.

            Bill Van Sickle said, “Anger is only one letter short of danger.”  One letter separates the two words.  Even less space separates our anger from actions that can cause danger—danger for us and for those who get in the way of our wrath.

            Even knowing this—intellectually—we still hold on to our right to express our anger when we feel justified.  As long as we can put a righteous face on it we believe it’s all right to say whatever—or do whatever—comes to mind.  It’s not evil—it’s righteous anger.  Forget the trouble it causes—the hurt feelings; the broken relationships; the ruined lives.  We have a right to our righteous anger.

            Some of our justification, I believe, comes from places in the Hebrew Scriptures where God becomes angry:  with the Israelites in the wilderness; with the enemies of Israel in the Promised Land; with Judah at the time of the Babylonian exile.  We hear that anger in God’s conversations with Moses and in the words of the prophets, and we say, “If God can be angry in a righteous cause, why can’t I?  Don’t I have a right to be angry here?  Aren’t I justified?  Isn’t this what God would do?  Isn’t this how God would speak or act?  But we forget—we’re not God.

            Aristotle believed that virtue lay at a balance point—a mean between two extremes, both of which were vices.  Expressing that concept he said, “Anyone can be angry.  That is easy.  But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way—that is not easy.”  In other words, control your anger, focus it in the right direction, and use it in a constructive rather than a destructive way.

            Once again we have Jesus Christ as our example.  In the light of Aristotle’s statement, look at the times Jesus displayed anger.  He was never angry at anyone who came to him asking for help.  He was never angry at his disciples even when they said and did really stupid things.  Above all, he never showed anger to those who hurt him in any way—including those who executed him.  Instead he said, “Father, forgive them…”

            Jesus was angry at hypocrisy.  When the religious leaders claimed to be acting righteously but were actually taking advantage of the people for whom they were responsible, he called them “whited sepulchers, full of dead men’s bones.”  When these same leaders took money that was intended for the care of their parents and used it for themselves he said they were defiled from within.

            In today’s reading we have the supreme example of Jesus’ righteous anger.  People were selling and buying in the temple, a clear violation of Mosaic Law.  Jesus upset their businesses like a holy hurricane, telling them they had no business doing business in God’s house.

            Unless our anger meets Jesus criteria, we have no business being angry.