Be Angry in Appropriate Ways!

In his contemporary classic, wishful thinking, Fredrick Buechner wrote with captivating insight about the negative side of anger:

          Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back—in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.

          But anger is sometimes not a self-destructive emotion. Sometimes it can spark actions on behalf of truth and justice. One of the best-known examples of what we might call “righteous anger” occurs in a story in the Christian Scriptures about the anger of Jesus of Nazareth.

          Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They [the Pharisees] watched him to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” 

But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said ti the man, “Stretch out your hand”. He stretched it out, and his hand was restored( Mark 3:1-5; emphasis added).

          The Pharisees are more concerned about observance of religious legalisms than they are about human needs. They are ready to pounce on Jesus if he violates a religious law in order to carry out an act of mercy. 

Jesus is angry with the Pharisees for their hardness of heart. Notice, Jesus is angry, but he does not allow his anger to push him to violence towards others. Rather, his anger prompts him to do what is right with no regard for what the Pharisees may think or do, no thought of possible negative consequences for himself.

Anger is hot. Anger burns like a fire, and like a fire it can be either a friend or an enemy.  Either way, anger is dangerous and is best handled carefully. “Anger is never without a reason,” said Benjamin Franklin, “but seldom with a good one.” “people who fly into a rage always make a bad landing,” said Will Rogers.

          It is so easy to justify anger, especially if it results from a perceived offence to yourself. But: “Anger is often more hurtful than the injury that caused it, “says an old proverb. In truth, there is only one justification of anger, and that is evil or sin. If you would be angry and not sin, follow the example of Jesus and never be angry with anything except sin.

          Yes, we all feel angry at times. The best action to take when you feel anger because of some perceived offence to yourself is to beat the stuffing out of a pillow. Get it out without hurting yourself or anyone else.