The Theology of Anger

What makes you angry?

I have dealt with a lot of anger issues in my life.

By the grace of God, they’ve gotten a lot better, but there were times when I would just rage! I know very clearly what it feels like to punch through dry-wall.

I used to get so mad at such stupid things!

I would get furious if I left a cabinet door open and then hit my head on it.

I would get mad at the inanimate object that I left open!

When I was little, one of the biggest causes of my anger? Lego

Anyone built Lego sets before?

If you have, then I’m sure you know the two major frustrations of building Lego

When you can’t find a piece

When two pieces are stuck together but won’t come apart.

I would lose my mind setting up Lego sets if the didn’t go my way!

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, has some things to say about anger.

In this teaching, Jesus shows that anger against others does damage to us and those around us.

Matthew 5:21-26

What we do in Anger

Jesus starts this whole thing out right after talking about the law.

Do you guys remember what happened last week?

Rob talked about the law, the system of rules that was set up by God and then really messed with by people.

One of the things that he talked about was that certain aspects of the law are REALLY good, whereas other parts are supposed to just point to Jesus, and that when we add to the law, we make a lot of problems for ourselves.

So, Jesus opens up the conversation about anger by mentioning the law.

Matthew 5:21 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’

Exodus 20:13 ““You shall not murder.”

Deuteronomy 16:18 ““You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.”

So, we have a precedent for this stuff, but it’s pretty extreme.

Anyone ever murdered anyone recently? I guess we’re all good then!

But then, Jesus takes it a step further.

Matthew 5:22 ESV

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Okay, now we’re getting a little bit intense Jesus. You’re telling me that I shouldn’t even be angry!!

We’ve got a couple of things to notice here.

First, does it say that we’re never supposed to experience anger?

Who does it say we shouldn’t be angry against?

And who would we define as our ‘brother’ or ‘sister’?

So, maybe it’s not that we should never be angry, because that’s not possible. Jesus got angry, and He’s perfect.

Maybe, it’s talking about who we are and who we are angry with.

You’re going to get angry. There are bad things in the world, life will get hard.

But, are you going to be someone who experiences anger, or an angry person?

Experiencing anger is normal, but if angry is the way that we are, that’s a problem.

We’ve all known someone who is just angry.

Maybe it’s us or a friend or a parent, but if they are awake, they are mad.

You know the damage that is done with angry people.

Maybe it’s also talking about the object of our anger.

Jesus talks about being angry against a ‘brother’

That’s not just your siblings, when Jesus talks about a brother, He’s talking about other followers of Jesus and the people around us.

What we do with our anger.

This is really important!

Jesus sets up a two part understanding of what we do in anger

Being angry

Set’s the stage, we start to see what we’re talking about here

Insulting

Insulting someone is considered mean now, but back then it was even worse.

The Jews lived in an honor/shame culture, and so anything that you did or said that affected someone’s standing was really important.

It’s kind of like school

If someone publicly insults you in front of a girl you like, then you’re probably going to experience a lot of shame.

The opinion of others probably matters to you, and if you say it doesn’t, I’m going to say you’re probably lying.

When we insult our friends and the people around us, we’re not ‘being funny’ or ‘just joking,’ we’re typically hurting people. Even if they don’t act like it, they will cause wounds that deeply scar people.

And, if we’re all created in the image of God and are deeply loved by God, when we insult the people around us, we’re also deeply hurting God, who created the person that we are insulting.

Calling someone a “Fool”

I don’t think anyone really says fool anymore, outside of supervillains, but at the time, being called a fool was incredibly hurtful.

It was the equivalent of saying someone had no worth, nothing to contribute to society, and no reason to be alive.

It was calling someone garbage, and meaning it.

What Jesus says here is that when we do things like insulting and calling someone a fool, we are liable for extreme punishment.

All that to say, how we experience anger and what we do with our anger is incredibly important to who we are as followers of Jesus.

The Urgency of Anger

Then, Jesus moves on to talking about a hypothetical situation where someone is mad at you, and then what you’re supposed to do with that.

Matthew 5:23–24 ESV

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

So, what Jesus talks about in this is if someone else is angry with you, there should be an urgent effort to fix it.

There’s a couple of things that are very interesting in this section to me.

First, Jesus puts the story in the context of offering a gift at the altar.

That was one of the biggest things that you could do as a Jewish person. If you were offering a gift at the altar, that was your way to remove sin and get right with God.

That’s almost like if at church on Sunday, Mark said that if you have problems with someone close to you, you should leave church and reconcile it as best as you can!

So, to God, you’re going to have a hard time being right with God if you aren’t right with the people around you.

Next, Jesus isn’t even talking about us being angry!

The story isn’t if you are angry, you need to fix it; it’s if you aren’t right with the people around you, then you need to fix it.

So, being a follower of Jesus isn’t just not being angry, it’s living in a peaceable way because of the gift that Jesus has given you in your salvation.

Lastly, there’s so much urgency!

Leave your stuff at the altar, and go quickly!

Guys, anger is damaging. Don’t let it fester, don’t let someone seethe with anger at you if you can help it.

Once again, there will be people who are just angry. There will be people that you can never make happy, and your job isn’t to be a people-pleaser. Your job is to glorify God and live as a follower of Jesus, but that will mean that you live in such a way that you’re not trying to make people angry.

Work for Reconciliation

The last little section here, Jesus gives legal advice!

Matthew 5:25–26 ESV

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

This feels like just good advice in general, but there are other reasons for this.

Anger will imprison you, on both sides.

If you are an angry person that is so angry at people, it will cage you in anger and break down your soul, your ability to be close to others, and your relationship with God.

If someone else is angry with you (for valid reasons), that can damage your connection with the people around you and can lead to self-isolation.

If you can, reconcile with the people around you.

Reconcile means to make a situation right. So, make a situation right, as best as you can!

All of this helps to point us to Jesus.

Jesus was not an angry person. There were moments in His life where He was angry, but He did not live in anger, and He lived in such a way that only the only reason people didn’t like Him was because they didn’t like how close He was to God.

And yet still, He gave His life for us.

What a gift we have in Jesus, that He took the anger of the world and takes our anger on Himself so that we don’t have to belong to it anymore.

Questions.

What’s the best Skittle color?

Is anger something that you have a hard time with? What are the ways in which you respond in anger?

Have you ever been hurt by someone else’s anger?

Why does Jesus use so much urgency in talking about resolving anger?