Emotions - Engaging God with All of You Part 5 - Jesus Felt Anger
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Jesus empathizes with us in our feelings of anger.
Jesus knows what it is like to feel anger.
In this sermon, we will explore how he experienced this emotion in the gospels without sinning.
Our key passage is Hebrews 4:15-16
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We then take courage, for Christ Jesus is with us in our emotions, giving us the empathy and strength to process our emotions for his glory and our spiritual growth.
Anger -
What is it?
How does it show itself?
How do we process it?
What is anger?
Anger is a motivating emotion that coexists with all of our other emotions. The amygdala triggers an anger response based on real or perceived pain, threat, or injustice. The hypothalamus, in conjunction with the sympathetic nervous system, makes it a full-body response, readying the body for action.
How does it show itself?
You feel anger when you feel let down, betrayed, or resentful.
You feel anger when you feel humiliated, disrespected, or ridiculed.
You feel anger when you feel bitter, indignant, or violated.
You feel anger when you feel mad, furious, or jealous.
You feel anger when you feel aggressive, provoked, or hostile.
You feel anger when you feel frustrated, infuriated, or annoyed.
You feel anger when you feel distant, withdrawn, or numb.
You feel anger when you feel critical, sceptical, or dismissive.
Jesus knows and understands your anger. Come to him with your anger.
When did Jesus feel anger in his humanity?
He is depicted in the Gospels as feeling anger in Mark 3:1-5; John 2:13-17; Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46; Matthew 23:13-36; Mark 10:13-14; John 11:33-44, and quite a few more passages that we do not have time to cover.
Again, he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
What are the pains, threats, or injustices that move Jesus to anger in these passages?
In Mark 3:1-5, Jesus feels the pain of the injustice in the religious community, elevating the legalism of the Sabbath over the needs of the people. This makes him angry, so he heals the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.
In Luke 19:45-46, and John 2:13-17, Jesus feels the pain of the injustice with the religious community that made the area where Gentiles and the maimed were to worship into a market to make money. So in the zeal of his anger, he drives them out and proceeds to teach and heal.
In Mark 10:13-14, Jesus feels the pain of injustice as the disciples turn away children from him. So motivated by his anger, he rebukes the disciples and blesses the children, teaching us that the kingdom of God belongs to them.
In Matthew 16:20-23, Jesus feels threatened by Peter when Peter rebukes him for saying that he will go to the cross and be raised on the third day. He acts in his anger and calls out the source of the rebuke by saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”.
In John 11:33-38, Jesus feels the pain of death and he is moved in his anger to raise Lazarus from the dead.
Concerning John 11:33-38, Warfield writes, “It is death that is the object of His wrath, and behind death him who has the power of death, and whom He has come into the world to destroy. Tears of sympathy may fill His eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage: and He advances to the tomb, in Calvin’s words again, “as a champion who prepares for conflict.” The raising of Lazarus thus becomes, not an isolated marvel, but—as indeed it is presented throughout the whole narrative (compare especially, verses 24–26)—a decisive instance and open symbol of Jesus’ conquest of death and hell. What John does for us in this particular statement is to uncover to us the heart of Jesus, as He wins for us our salvation. Not in cold unconcern, but in flaming wrath against the foe, Jesus smites in our behalf. He has not only saved us from the evils which oppress us; He has felt for and with us in our oppression, and under the impulse of these feelings has wrought out our redemption. (B. B. Warfield, “The Holy Resentment of Jesus: ‘For the Innumerable Dead Is My Soul Disquieted,’” ed. David A. Powlison, The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Number 1, Fall 2001 20 (2001): 15.)
Powlison writes, “You can’t understand God’s love if you don’t understand His anger. Because He loves, He’s angry at what harms.” (David Powlison, “Anger Part 1: Understanding Anger,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Number 1, Fall 1995 14 (1995): 41.)
How do we process our anger?
To process our anger, we must identify our anger.
What do you get angry about?
What we get angry about reflects where we need redemption, or what God has redeemed.
It is sad that we often act and feel like God's anger is acting against us, which cripples us in our relationship with him.
The truth is God’s anger saves and heals, seeking justice, whereas Satan’s anger kills and destroys, promoting injustice.
Which does my anger do?
Church, anger acted upon sinfully usurps God and does harm; anger acted upon rightly loves, enthroning God and doing good to people.
We might think that anger should be eliminated. Yet Paul says in Ephesians 4:26–27 “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”
Anger is not to be eliminated but subjugated under God's rule. For where God rules, hurt and anger will move us to resolve things in a godly way, checking out our perceptions... But where false beliefs and cravings rule, our perceptions stay twisted; we get stuck in hurt and anger.” (David Powlison, “Anger Part 1: Understanding Anger,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Number 1, Fall 1995 14 (1995): 49.)
How do we know if our anger has been subjugated under God’s rule?
We know by its expression - whether it acts to condemn, or to offer help.
Our anger can be aroused for real or perceived pain, threats, or injustice. We must come to Jesus in lament with these, first to discern if our anger is righteous or unrighteous, and second, to act in our anger in a way that puts Jesus on the throne and loves our neighbor and ourselves.
May we all come to Jesus with our anger, knowing he understands and wants to help us use anger for his glory and our good.
