[10 August 2008]

Matt 5:21-24, Mark 3:1-6

The bill has an odd amount on it so we call the number shown to find out more. A voice answers telling us there is no operator available right now to take our call but if we hold the line our call will be answered shortly. The music comes on which is not quite our sort of music. Four minutes later a voice comes on again telling us that we are very important but there is no operator available to take our call right now. Please hold and an operator will be with you shortly. There is more music and our fingers tap the bench in front of us, but they are not tapping in time to the music. Another four minutes and the voice comes on again telling us that we are very important again. We are now in a queue. Not only do our fingers tap now but there is a noticeable change in our attitude and breathing, and maybe just a hint of steam coming from our ears. It’s only two minutes later that another voice comes on and introduces herself as ….. well it sounded like Sonya, but the foreign Indian sounding accent is too difficult to understand. You simply can’t make out what the heck they are saying. With a definite puff of steam you slam down the receiver saying some unrepeatable words about the bill and about the company involved. Anyone else in the house quickly gets to hears about the hopeless and stupid phone system as you release the pent up frustration and sense of injustice. You are angry!

The reality of course is that we all get angry at times. Anger is scary stuff. I was riding along on my bike a couple of months ago when the days were still sunny and a car drove up behind me just after I had crossed Memorial Ave on Grahams Road. Just as it drew level with me suddenly there was someone yelling abuse loudly from the car which was just one or two meters away and something hit me. For a moment I was frightened and confused. I thought the wing mirror had clipped me, but as I quickly gathered my wits I realized that the youths in the car had thrown a water bomb at me as they yelled the abuse. Without quite realizing what I was doing I thought “I’m not going to let you get away with this” and I started peddling. I was angry and the adrenaline was pumping. My legs went like crazy and I figured I was doing over 50kph on my bike screaming along Grahams Road after those guys. The car however was gaining on me. It turned down a street ahead and I followed thinking I’ll give them a darn good talking to. But as I turned into the street I could see they were well ahead turning off into another street. It dawned on me that I wasn’t going to catch them and a small voice within said and maybe that’s not such a bad thing there were 4 of them and only one of you. I noticed my heart was pounding just about out of my chest, and I was gasping for air. I was really pumped up. I wonder if you know that sort of feeling? Anger really releases some energy doesn’t it. Anger can take us to another level. It makes us do things we wouldn’t normally do. I mean find someone who is tired and exhausted and get them angry and it’s like rocket fuel. It’s unbelievable energy and power that can take us all sorts of places.

Ever got angry and broke something?

Ever got so angry and said or did things that you never thought you’d ever say or do?

Ever got so angry you lost it and scared even yourself?

It is scary stuff. It can leads to all sorts of bad things happening as the court news attests daily. We can harm others, we can harm ourselves. Anger is powerful and it’s dangerous.

I actually think with all the pressure on people these days at work, in the family, there is a sort of low grade anger that just sits around inside many people. There’s always something more to be done, some matter to be attended to and in the process we never feel at rest or at peace. I think much of this low grade anger comes from tiredness and an over busyness that never allows us to get things in perspective. We carry the world on our shoulders and we get irritated by all sorts of stupid things that normally we would deal with without raising an eyebrow. We have a spare 30 mins so we decide to squeeze in the supermarket shopping. Being aware of global warming we go to jump on the bike. But it has a flat tire the third in a week! We have to take the car instead. We go to park in a handy car park but someone else sneaks in ahead of us. The list we prepared for our shopping is left at home, then our favourite ice cream is out of stock…. The checkout operator closes down the line just as we get to it, and then the person ahead of us has a product with no bar code and someone has to find another packet. We get back to our car and are loading the bags into the car and the heavy one with the bottle of wine in it rips and crash. Then when we quickly head back to the office to send an urgent email the computer fouls up and tells you it can’t send it and you …..overflow with anger!

I know because I literally yelled in frustration at my computer the other night. A whole lot of little things built up and one more little thing causes the whole lot to overflow. We easily forget that God is there alongside us and the everlasting arms of God are beneath us. Lonely, tired, pressured by things to do, feeling unappreciated, hurt, jealous, there is usually a whole host of feelings that can sit inside like a boiling volcano. We forget to relax and release ourselves into God the same way a swimmer learns to relax and float in the water. Easily our lives get out of perspective and out of kilter and little things blow up into big things. Notice how frequently these days there are open displays of rage in the classroom, on the roads, at work, at sport, in our homes. Such anger has its roots in the breakdown of a relationship with God, and there is only one remedy and that is to rediscover a sense of the caring and compassionate God who journeys with us in our very everyday lives. We need to stop and breathe deeply and release our load and our frustrations, we need to take time with God. We need to let God’s peace and healing love quietly wash over us and heal us in whatever way we find works for us. We need to examine ourselves before God and get a perspective on our anger. If our anger is about our pride, our ego, our tired busyness and defending our own little selfish kingdoms we need to sort it out before we do damage. That is why Jesus said ‘sort out your anger and make sure it doesn’t lead you to put someone else down or call them a fool.’ Likewise in the letter to the Ephesians it is written, ‘do not let the sun go down on your anger do not give the devil a foothold.’ Interestingly it doesn’t say don’t get angry but look at what is causing the anger and be very careful where your anger leads you.

Anger that is all about me and wanting life on my terms us can be very destructive, not only to others but also to the perpetrator. Anger can lead us into all sorts of destructive behaviour for others and for ourselves. Anger repressed and pushed underground can lead to depression and illness. The Roman philosopher Seneca said, ‘anger is like an acid that burns away within us.’

But there is also something called righteous anger. Jesus was with some religious people one Sabbath who wanted to see if he would heal someone. To heal was considered work and that wasn’t allowed on the Sabbath. Jesus knowing what they were thinking called a man over who had an injured hand. He put the issue out in the open and asked so is it good to enhance life on the Sabbath or to neglect someone and leave them to suffer? There was a deathly silence as often happens when people are not prepared to honestly share their views. The scriptures tell us at this point Jesus got angry. His blood boiled and the adrenaline flowed.

Anger can take us to another level, and sometimes that is the right and godly response. When we see pictures of starving children when there is enough food in the world to feed them we should get angry, when we come across injustice and inhumanity in our daily lives it’s right and proper that your temperature should rise and your heart quicken for action. God himself gets angry at evil, that’s what divine wrath is all about.

In one of P.D. James detective novels called Original Sin two police officers discuss religion and God. “I don’t go in for all this emphasis on sin, suffering, and judgment. If I had a God I‘d like him to be intelligent, cheerful, and amusing.” The second officer however responds, “I doubt whether you’d find such a God much comfort as they herded you into the gas chambers. You might prefer a God who exhibited some wrath.” When we think about it we wouldn’t think much of God if God didn’t get angry at cruelty and injustice. A God who simply shrugs his shoulders and never got angry wouldn’t really be worth worshipping. Anger in the right place, and for the right reasons can motivate us and energize us for good. Anger that is identified with the kingdom of God and the rule of heaven on earth is divine anger. There are some things worth getting angry about.

What does Jesus do with his anger? The Scripture says that he looked around at the religious leaders and then he says to the man with the injured hand, “stretch out your hand”. And the man stretches out his hand and Jesus heals him. Jesus’ anger leads to an act of healing and restoration. His anger increases the peace of the world. It leads to a good deed that makes things better.

There is a good question we sometimes ask and that is, ‘what does God want in the world?’ We like to talk about what God loves, but we should also talk about what makes God angry. We should also ask what makes me angry. What are some of the things in the world right now that make you angry and do you think God is in on that anger? When you think about your life and the purpose of your life and whether you are going to leave the world a better place you and I need to think about our anger and God’s anger. Because I believe the simple truth is that each one of us was made to give ourselves to a cause bigger than ourselves, a cause that increases the peace in our world, something that will bring healing and restoration.

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