Anger in This Age of Rage

Matthew 21:12–17 (NRSV)

Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’;

but you are making it a den of robbers.”

The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,

‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies

you have prepared praise for yourself’?”

He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

IT WAS THE REV DR MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. WHO ONCE FAMOUSLY SAID, “IT’S NOT ENOUGH FOR PEOPLE TO BE ANGRY,” THE SUPREME TASK OF A

LEADER IS TO ORGANIZE AND UNITE PEOPLE SO THAT THEIR ANGER BECOMES A TRANSFORMING FORCE.....” ISN’T IT INTERESTING THAT ANGER FOR

KING WAS NOT TO BE SQUASHED, OR AVOIDED OR SIMPLY RELEASED AS SOME FOLKS MIGHT THINK WE HAVE TO DO....HE FOUND A POSITIVE PURPOSE

FOR ANGER....

AND THERE’S A BEAUTIFUL LINE, THAT NOVELIST ALICE WALKER WROTE......LETTING US KNOW THAT IT PERHAPS WASN’T JESUS AND JESUS ONLY

WHOSE ANGER WAS SOMETHING TO OBSERVE.....NO!!! WALKER, IN HER BOOK THE COLOR PURPLE POINTED TO OUR CREATOR GOD AND OPENLY

SUGGESTED WHEN WE REALLY LOOK AT GOD AND GOD’S DOINGS.....WE CAN’T HELP BUT SEE GOD’S OWN ANGER IN A NEW AND TRANSFORMING WAY....

SHE WROTE:

I THINK IT PISSES GOD OFF IF YOU WALK BY THE COLOR PURPLE IN A FIELD SOMEWHERE AND DON’T NOTICE IT....PEOPLE THINK PLEASING

GOD IS ALL GOD CARE ABOUT. BUT ANY FOOL LIVING IN THE WORLD CAN SEE GOD ALWAYS TRYING TO PLEASE US BACK.....

HOW MANY TIMES A DAY DO YOU THINK OF GOD, THE GOD OF OUR MOTHERS AND OUR FATHERS AND OUR GOD......THE GOD OF OUR WEARY YEARS AND

OUR SILENT TEARS PAUSING OR PRODDING YOU TO PLEASE YOU OUT OF LOVE, OUT OF DIVINE GRACE AND MERCY?

BELOVEDS, THE STORY IS TOLD OF AN ELDERLY COUPLE SITTING TOGETHER AT THE DINNER TABLE......ONE SPOUSE SAYS TO THE OTHER, “I’M SORRY

FOR ALL THE TIMES YOU’VE HAD TO DEAL WITH MY ANGER, MY EXPLOSIONS CAN’T BE EASY, HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH IT? WELL, THE OTHER SPOUSE

REPLIES, WHENEVER YOU EXPLODE ON ME, I GO TO CLEAN OUR BATHROOMS.......YOU DO WHAT, HONEY? THAT’S RIGHT, I CLEAN THE

BATHROOM......WELL, I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE FIRST SPOUSE REPLIES, HOW DOES CLEANING THE BATHROOM HELP YOU DEAL WITH MY ANGER?

WELL, I ALWAYS CLEAN THE BATHROOMS WITH YOUR TOOTHBRUSH........

AND THE MORAL OF THE STORY? DON’T GO OFF, IN ANGER, AT FOLKS WHO HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR TOOTHBRUSH.....AMEN?

OUR TEXT FROM ST. MATTHEW THIS MORNING SHOWS US ANGER GOING IN TWO DIRECTIONS IF YOU WILL BELOVEDS.....THERE’S THE ANGER ASCRIBED

TO JESUS WHO TURNS OVER THE TABLES AND MAKES HIS WILL KNOWN TO ALL ABOUT HOW HE WANTS TO SEE THE TEMPLE FUNCTION.......AND WHEN

JESUS, IN OUR TEXT THIS MORNING DOES SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, SOMETHING LOVING AND LAUDABLE…THAT IS CURING THE LAME AND THE BLIND..

THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE SCRIBES SHOW UP.....AND NOT IN A GOOD MOOD.....IN FACT, THEY SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT AND GOT ANGRY WHEN

THE PEOPLE STARTED SHOUTING, “HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID”

AND I WANTED TO NAME THE ANGER IN THIS TEXT TODAY, BECAUSE I HAVE KNOWN FOLKS WHO SHOW ANGER, SOME IN SMALL DEGREES AND SOME IN

DEGREES GREATER THAN NECESSARY…AMEN? ALL POINT TO THIS TEXT RATIONALIZING, AND MAKING EXCUSES FOR WHATEVER THEY’RE DOING AND

BLAMING IT ON JESUS....JESUS OF WHOM THE SONGWRITER WROTE:

FAIREST LORD JESUS,

Fair are the meadows,

fairer still the woodlands,

robed in the blooming garb of spring:

Jesus is fairer,

Jesus is purer

who makes the woeful heart to sing.

JESUS WAS HEALING AND CURING FOLKS....AND THE SCRIBES AND HIGH PRIESTS WERE ANGRY

THE SCRIBES AND HIGH PRIESTS ANGER AT JESUS WAS SHOWN OVER AND OVER AGAIN.....AND SOME COMMENTATORS ON THE TEXT POINTED TO THIS

ANGER IN THE TEMPLE POSSIBLY BEING PART OF THE RATIONALE JESUS WOULD BE ARRESTED, JAILED, HUNG AND ABANDONED......

SOME FOLKS WANT JESUS TO BE ANGRY ABOUT STUFF THEY NEVER GET ANGRY ENOUGH ABOUT....AMEN? JESUS WAS ANGRY IN THE TEXT BECAUSE

SOME FOLKS IN OUR AGE OF RAGE ARE USING ANGER AS THOUGH ANGER IS THE ONLY EMOTION WE’RE MADE OF......SOME FOLKS ARE TURNING TO

ANGER AS THOUGH THEIR ANGER IS NOT SOMETHING THEY CANNOT CONTROL, THEY PREFER FOR THEIR ANGER TO CONTROL THEM........THAT’S WHY

SUSAN EDMISTON COULD WRITE:

TODAY, WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY MARKED BY ROAD RAGE, SPOUSAL ABUSE, PROFESSIONALLY ANGRY TV AND RADIO COMMENTATORS, TEENAGERS

WHO GO ON DEADLY RAMPAGES, AND AN “US VERSUS THEM” MENTALITY. WE LIVE IN DAILY FEAR OF SUPER VANDALS WHO ARE WILLING TO

KILL THOUSANDS TO VENT THEIR ANGER.......

THIS LENTEN SEASON, RATHER THAN GIVING OURSELVES OVER TO RESPONSES WHERE WE ALLOW OUR ANGER TO CONTROL US, YOU’RE INVITED TO

REFLECT ON THESE OBSERVATIONS ABOUT ANGER:

#1 ANGER IS A NORMAL HUMAN EMOTION

EVERYONE GETS ANGRY - NOT EVERYONE HAS TO LET THEIR ANGER CONTROL THEM........THIS LENTEN SEASON YOUR PASTOR HAS INVITED YOU TO

REFLECT ON THE SHADOW EMOTIONS LIKE THIS ONE, AND WHEN WE AS WESTERNERS LOOK TO THE EAST, TO PRACTITIONERS OF ZEN BUDDISM, FOR

INSTANCE.....WE SEEK TO NOTICE THAT WHEN ANGER COMES UP IN US......WE SEEK GREATER AWARENESS OF IT.......AND IN THE AWARENESS OF IT, ONE

THERAPIST CONTENDS, THERE IS THERAPY........

AND YET, #2 ANGER IS OFTEN THE EMOTION THAT PUSHES OR MOVES US FROM THOUGHT OR PAUSE OR ANALYSIS TO ACTION

IT HAS BEEN NOTED THAT WITHOUT THE MORAL INDIGNATION AND OUTRIGHT ANGER AT INJUSTICE & INEQUALITY THERE MAY NOT HAVE BEEN A

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT, OR A SWEEPING CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OR A HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT THAT HAS MEANT LIBERTY AND

FREEDOM FOR PEOPLES AND CULTURES ALL AROUND THE WORLD.......

ANGER IS NOT JUST A MOTIVATION FOR VENGEANCE.....AND TO USE IT ONLY AS SUCH IS TO MINIMIZE IT....IT MUST BE EXAMINED…AMEN?

CONSIDER THIS STORY,

YOU ARE AT THE OPENING OF A NEW SHOPPING CENTER ON THE EDGE OF TOWN. SINCE ALL THE STORES ARE HAVING GRAND OPENING SALES

AND GIVEAWAYS, HALF THE TOWN IS THERE. YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR A PARKING SPACE FOR TEN MINUTES. AT LAST, RIGHT IN FRONT OF

YOU, BACK-UP LIGHTS COME ON. YOU HIT YOUR TURN SIGNAL AND WAIT AS THE CAR BACKS OUT IN FRONT OF YOU. FROM THE OTHER

DIRECTION COMES A JEEP THAT PULLS INTO THE SPACE. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT WHEN YOU HONK, THE DRIVER GETS OUT, SMIRKS AND GIVES

YOU THE FINGER. ARE YOU ANGRY?

NOW PUT ON YOUR HOLY IMAGINATION WITH ME, BELOVEDS, SAME SCENE, BACK-UP LIGHTS, CAR PULLS OUT IN FRONT OF YOU. HOWEVER,

INSTEAD OF OUR SMIRKING DRIVER, A COW WALKS INTO THE SPACE FROM THE OTHER DIRECTION AND SETTLES DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.

REMEMBER THIS IS ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN. IT SO HAPPENS THAT THE COW HAS SPENT EVERY AFTERNOON IN THAT SPOT FOR YEARS.

WHEN YOU HONK, SHE LOOKS UP AND MOOS AND DOESN’T BUDGE? ARE YOU ANGRY?

BEFORE ANGER ESCALATES TO THE POINT WHERE ANGER IS IN CONTROL WE CAN USE IT TO TRANSFORM SITUATIONS THAT ARE THREATS....THE GOOD

FOLKS AT PSYCHOLOGY TODAY REMIND US NOT ONLY THAT ANGER CAN DRIVE US CLOSER TO OUR GOALS BUT ANGER CAN HAVE ANOTHER

TRANSFORMING AND POSITIVE EFFECT:

THIRDLY AND FINALLY.....ANGER CAN PROTECT US TOO....

NOTING THAT ANGER IS DESIGNED TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM AN ENEMY OR DANGER.

IN THE TEXT, JESUS ANGER WAS EXPRESSED EARLY ON IN THE PASSAGE....WHERE HE SPOKE FRANKLY, “YOU ARE MAKING MY HOUSE A DEN OF

ROBBERS”....WHERE HIS ACTIONS WERE TAKEN OUT ON INANIMATE OBJECTS, HE OVERTURNED THE TABLES OF THE MONEY CHANGERS.......

NOTICE OUR SAVIOR JESUS DID NOT GET VIOLENT WITH THE MONEY CHANGERS THEMSELVES.....

NOTICE OUR SAVIOR JESUS STOOD IN HIS MISSION ON EARTH EVEN MORE FIRMLY AND HEALED AND CURED THE LAME & THE BLIND FOLKS

NOTICE OUR SAVIOR JESUS DID ONE MORE THING THE PARENTS GATHERED HERE IN THE SANCTUARY AND ONLINE WILL APPRECIATE…JESUS TOOK

HIMSELF OUT....JESUS, MARY’S PRIDE AND JOY, JESUS CHIEF CORNERSTONE, JESUS, LILY OF THE VALLEY.......JESU CHRISTU.....REDEEMER,

SUSTAINER, AND WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR........

JESUS - PUT HIMSELF IN TIME-OUT....HALLELUJAH.....FOR THE TEXT SAYS IN ITS FINAL LINE,

He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

SOMETIMES, THIS OUTCOME....WHEN WE ARE ANGRY ISN’T A PUNISHMENT PER SE......AMEN? IT’S TRIGGERS IN US THE KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM

THAT WE MAY JUST NEED A CALGON MOMENT, A TIME AWAY, A TIME TO COLLECT OURSELVES TO TRY AGAIN…ANOTHER TIME....AFTER WE’VE GIVEN

OURSELVES TIME TO THINK, TIME TO PRAY, TIME FOR SELF-CARE AND REFLECTION......AND THE GOOD NEWS TODAY, BELOVEDS IS:

OUR GOD IS BIG ENOUGH TO HANDLE OUR FEARS, COMPASSIONATE ENOUGH TO HEAR OUR PLEAS AND MERCIFUL ENOUGH TO HANDLE OUR ANGER...

LET US PRAY........