Not all anger is the same:
Anger can be a vague, generalized feeling
It can be occasioned by a specific set of circumstances
It can arise out of the disparity between what we want and what is
(And what we want can be a healthy, good thing to want…and it might not be)
It can arise out of the disparity between what is and what should be
(And we can be wrong or right about what should be)
We typically mishandle anger
By acting out of it unreflectively
Or by repressing it
And for that reason we have a lot of alternative vocabulary for anger
And we tend to talk about some people as having a temper which (while no doubt true)
Obscures the fact that we all get angry
The reason we mishandle anger lies with:
Our general discomfort with emotion
Negative associations with angry behavior
And negative associations with conflict
The cleansing of the Temple is an excellent passage to study in this connection
Because it shows Jesus having an emotion that we do not associate with God
And it points to a fundamental truth:
Anger is not only appropriate at times,
It can be a good and necessary thing
Anger can signal…
Clarity
Resolve
The need to act
The question, of course, is what helps us to measure the appropriateness of our anger
The answer lies in noting the difference in our motives
In noting the difference between self-serving and other-serving anger
The difference between ego, pique and something larger
That’s where the cleansing of the Temple fits in…
Jesus embodies the appropriate manifestation of anger
Rooted in the things of God
There is a message in anger like that
Don’t be afraid of it
Listen to it