In our evening services just now, we are working up through a series called
Flesh and Blood Jesus. And our aim in this series is to think through the
different ways in which Jesus's humanity is revealed to us in his words and
actions. And in that we want to remember that not only is Jesus God the Son but
also that he is the perfect human. In Jesus we see the glory of God revealed but
we also see everything that humanity was meant to be. Our title this evening is
He Gets Angry and we are going to look at two or three different passages but we
can take as our texts the words that we just read in Mark chapter 5 verse 3 and
he looked around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of the hardness
of heart and said to the man, stretch out your hand and he stretched it out and
his hand was restored. We're going to start with a little game. The game is
called Good Word or Bad and basically how it works is I am going to write down
three or four words and after each one I want you to ask yourself the question
whether you think this whether instinctively you think that this word
is referring to a good thing or a bad thing. So very simple game, Good Word or
Bad. So here's the first word, Grace. Good Word or Bad. What about Peace?
Good Word or Bad? Mercy? Hope. Good Word or Bad? I think all of them we tend to
think would be good but what about this word?
Anger. Do you tend to think of a good thing or do you tend to think of a bad
thing? I think for many of us if not all an instinctive thought is of anger as a
bad thing and I think the reason for that is because many of our day-to-day
experiences of anger are nearly always negative. So if your boss was angry with
you at work this week it makes for a rubbish day. If you've had to deal with
an angry partner or angry parents or even angry children then it's horrible
and so often when we get angry ourselves we come away with a deep sense of regret.
All of this means that thinking about anger in relation to Jesus and means
that we're coming to something that I think is a bit of a neglected topic
maybe even a controversial one. I don't think that you find many fridge magnets
or wall plaques with Mark chapter 3 verse 5 written on them and I think some
people might even feel that we shouldn't associate anger with Jesus at all.
But of course the truth is passages like Mark 3 are making it really clear to us
that there were times when Jesus was angry and so the gospel narratives
are making that plain. Coupled to that though is a crucial truth that we keep
highlighting in this series the fact that Jesus was without sin. So when he did
get angry that anger did not have all the negative stuff that we display or
that we experience in expressions of human anger. In fact what I hope we will
see tonight is that when we see Jesus getting angry we are seeing something
amazing. So as we look at that we're going to ask four very simple questions
there they are on the screen. What made Jesus angry? What does this teach us
about Jesus? What effect did his anger have? What should we do in response?
However before we go into these questions there's one more crucial
introductory point that we must highlight. On your screen just now are 10
moments when Jesus interacted with people. Number one, Nicodemus a religious
leader who didn't understand even basic theological truths. Number two, a
bleeding woman who was too afraid to speak and just wanted to secretly touch
Jesus's garment even though she was unclean. Three is the woman at the well
who had five failed marriages and now was living with a man who was not her
husband. Number four, the Canaanite woman who begged Jesus to help her even
though she was a foreigner and I had no real right to his concern. Five is the
disciples in Mark chapter 6 when they were exhausted, burnt out. Number seven
and number six is again the disciples this time in John 10 when they were
confused and that happens in many other places they couldn't understand what
Jesus was saying. Number seven is a notorious woman who wiped Jesus's feet
with her hair. Number eight is Thomas who doubted the resurrection. Number nine
is Peter who failed spectacularly by denying Jesus and number ten is the
whole betrayal, arrest and trial of Jesus when he was falsely accused, mocked
and beaten. In these 10 moments Jesus was confronted with people who failed to
understand even simple things, people whose lives were a mess, people who made
huge mistakes, people who were broken and vulnerable, people who had let him down
and even people who were aggressive towards him and yet all these moments
have one thing in common, Jesus didn't get angry. And that is reminding us that
when we think of the times when Jesus did get angry, God forbid that we forget the
times that he didn't. And that of course means that when we are faced with the
same kind of people, people who are difficult or broken or slow to understand
or who let us down or even those who are aggressive towards us, if we are
seeking to be Christ-like in these situations then we need to strive to
control our anger as well. Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. In so many of life's most
annoying situations, Jesus is a model of not getting angry and we must never
forget that ourselves. But Jesus is also a model of good anger and so as we
consider that tonight we can turn to the first of our four questions, what made
Jesus angry. I'm going to briefly highlight seven occasions in the gospel
narrative when Jesus' anger is revealed. Sometimes it says directly that he was
angry, other times it's implied. We'll just go through these really quickly. So
Mac 1.5 we read and there was this man with the withered hand. The leaders
were watching to see whether Jesus would heal him or not, they were trying to
catch him out and Jesus looked around them with anger, grieved at their
hardness of heart. So what made Jesus angry here? He was angry at the cold
indifference of the religious leaders to the suffering of this man. He was angered
by the fact that they were more interested in catching Jesus out than
they were in helping this man. Example number two is from Mark 10 when people
were trying to bring children to Jesus but the disciples rebuked them and
stopped them as if to say don't waste Jesus' time with these little children.
Here we see when Jesus saw it he was indignant and said to them let the
children come to me. What was Jesus angry about there? He was angry about the
discrimination that the disciples were showing towards people who seemed
insignificant. He was angered by the fact that children were seen as unimportant.
Example number three is three different texts. Some apologies that you can't see
the bottom one. Let me just get rid of myself. There we go. So here then in a
storm at the sea Jesus rebuked the wind. Matthew 17, Jesus heals a demon-possessed
boy. He rebuked the demon. Luke, he visits Simon's mother-in-law who is
unwell. Jesus rebuked the fever. In all these examples what made Jesus angry?
The causes of human suffering. He rebukes that which causes pain, distress and
fear. Next example is in Matthew 23. I won't read it all. This is when he was
pronouncing woes on the Pharisees. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites.
What made Jesus angry? It was the hypocrisy of these religious leaders. He
was angered by their false piety and their lack of integrity and the way in
which that had caused so much difficulty for others. Next example, John 2. This is
example number five where Jesus cleanses the temple. What made Jesus angry here?
Commercialization and exploitation. The temple had been turned into a market
place. It was full of money changers selling oxen sheep and pigeons. And for
Jesus the building that was supposed to be a house of prayer for everyone had
become a house of profit for the select few. Then example number six is an
interesting one in Matthew 9. Here we have two blind men who came to Jesus
asking to be healed and he said to them, do you believe that I'm able to do this?
And they said, yes Lord, he touched their eyes and healed them. But then it says
their eyes were opened. Jesus sternly warned them. And the language there is
strong. Jesus was giving them a very strong angry rebuke. See to it that no
one knows about it. What was it that made Jesus so angry here? Well, what made
Jesus angry here was the fact that he was, they were at risk of spreading a
false gospel. Because the common view of the Messiah in those days was that he
was going to be a military leader who was going to come and basically drive the
Romans away from the Jews. And because of that false expectation, that's why
Jesus repeatedly told people not to spread the news about what he was doing
in order not to feed that misconception. And he gives this really stern warning
about spreading a message that would make people think that he'd come as some
kind of nationalist revolutionary who was going to drive out the Romans. Because
that wasn't the truth. And Jesus gave him a stern warning not to spread a false
message. In all six of these examples, we're seeing two main things emerging.
We're seeing the fact that Jesus is anxious to defend people. And he is
anxious to defend the truth. His anger is provoked when he sees people suffering
and when he sees the truth being twisted. Can you just imagine what he must
think of our society today? But the place where Jesus' anger is seen most
clearly is in the passage we read in John 11. Here we read that Jesus saw Mary
weeping and the Jews who'd come with her. He was deeply moved in his spirit. And
then when he came to the tomb, he was deeply moved again. Now this is an
example where the translation of the Greek word here in ESV is not really
capturing the word. Because it's one word for deeply moved and it's the same
word here for deeply moved there. And what it actually means is outraged.
It's not an expression of kind of like sympathy where you're moved to
sorrow. It's a word that means anger. Jesus, when he sees the horror
of death, when he sees the agony of separation, when he sees the fact that
humanity has been torn apart by a brutal enemy, he is utterly outraged.
That leads us on to your second question. What does this teach us about Jesus?
Well, to answer that I think it's good to think about where anger comes from. What
are the triggers that prompt us to anger? And I think there's probably lots we
could say here but I think there's three main triggers for anger. Number one is
pain. So as you know I'm quite tall that means I quite often hit my head on
things. In my parents house there's quite low doorways and I often hit my head in
the doorways and even in houses with normal ceilings and normal doorways I
can sometimes hit my head on light fittings. I also when I eat I quite often
bite the inside of my mouth because I chew too quickly and when these things
happen it's blooming sore and for just a split second you could feel anger just
flame up inside you. I don't know if any of you watched the film Inside Out where
you have the wee anger figure who kind of explodes in fire. When you hit your head
or bite your tongue or stub your toe or hit your finger with a hammer while
you're nailing it in, when you get pain it's like that. Anger just flares up very
quickly but it's not just physical pain and psychological pain can have the same
effect. That's why we get annoyed if we're interrupted or when people around
us are noisy or when something we hope for fails to materialize pain gives
rise to anger. Second trigger for anger is our sense of morality or if you like
our sense of right and wrong. So when we see something that we think is wrong it
provokes us to anger. That might be in regard to big ethical questions so things
like the plight of refugees, the drug deaths situation in Scotland, the
inequalities in our society. When we see something that we know is wrong it
provokes us to anger but this can also apply to much smaller issues. So for
example in football when a refereeing decision goes against our team, when we're
out in the car, if someone drives in a way that fails to meet our expectations
or when we're watching the news and a politician says something that we don't
like, we feel wronged and we get angry. And the third trigger for anger is love.
When we love someone or something, if you see the object of your love being
threatened or hurt or abused it prompts us to anger. Now that might be a trivial
thing so someone might get angry if their car gets scratched but it also
applies to much more serious issues. So we might be angry if our child is getting
bullied in school or if our friend is getting a hard time at work and we might
get angry when we feel that people are treating us badly. And for us as humans I
think this is why anger and fear are very closely related. When something that we
hold dear is threatened it can stir up our anger. So these are the three triggers
for anger. Pain when we say that hurts, morality when we say that's wrong and
love when we say that's precious. And the key point that arises out of all of
this is that there is a crucial link between our anger and our character.
I'll never forget hearing a sermon of Eric Alexander when he said one of the
most penetrating tests of our character is to ask the question what makes you
angry. So if you get angry if your car is damaged then that tells you that you're
perhaps too materialistic and that you care a lot about your car. If you get
angry when your team loses or when you don't get top marks in an assignment it
tells you that you're too competitive and you're too concerned about winning.
But if you get angry when your friend or your spouse or your child is mistreated
then it tells you that you love them. If pain, morality and love are the
triggers for anger then that means that your anger tells you an awful lot about
what you really care about. It's always a crucial question to ask ourselves.
What makes me angry? And the key point that I want to highlight in relation to
these three triggers is that all three of them apply to Jesus as well. Jesus was
angered by pain but not when he suffered it himself but when he saw it in the
lives of others. Jesus was angered by wrongdoing not when it was done to him
but when it was being done to the people around him and he was angered by wrong
teaching because it was leading people astray and Jesus was angered by his
love not love for himself or for his possessions but love for others. When they
were threatened and mistreated he was angered because they are so precious.
And this is where we start to see that Jesus's anger is actually something
amazing. His anger is showing us that at the very core of his character is the
deepest and most passionate concern for other people and that's of course why he
said that he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a
ransom for many. And I think this is a big help for us when we are confronted by
awful things in our lives. So when we see the pain that other people suffered
when we see the injustice in the world around us when we see the horror and
agony of death we must never forget that these things don't just prompt Jesus to
be sympathetic. They're provoked to righteous and holy anger. And this is
where we see the amazing truth that Jesus is never indifferent. If I was to ask
you the question what is the opposite of love what would you say? I would think of
answer is usually hate and of course in many senses that's true but I think
it's equally true to say that the opposite of love is not hate it's indifference.
And of course one of the reasons why there's still so much inequality and
suffering and pain in the world is not because of hate it's because people just
aren't bothered. And so it's a tragedy when you see a government or a society
or a community confronted by the suffering of others and it prompts no
reaction at all. Thank God that Jesus is never like that. And that brings us to our
third question. What effect did Jesus's anger have? Well in order to answer this
question I think that we need to draw a distinction between anger and grumpiness.
The two of them can feel very similar but I want to distinguish between them.
Grumpiness is a state of irritation, disappointment or moodiness that manifests
itself in moaning. Anger is a profound aversion to something that manifests
itself in action. So if something really angers us we don't just sit and moan we
will do something about it. And for us that can be good but all too often it
will be for bad and that's why when you are angry about something it's important
to avoid being hasty. It's important to examine yourself and to ask yourself
well am I going to make the situation worse if I react according to my anger.
We have to be very careful but the key point is anger will lead to action. So if
we're asking the question what effect did Jesus's anger have? The answer is that
it prompted him to action. And we see that very clearly from the pages of
scripture. So when Jesus was faced with human suffering he took action in order
to deal with it. So he was angered by the suffering experienced by the man in
Mark 3 and so he took action. He said stretch out your hand and his hand was
restored. When Jesus saw the truth being distorted by the Pharisees and the
religious leaders he took action. He rebuked them and corrected them for the
fact that they have neglected the weightier matters of the law. And when
faced with a grieving family in John chapter 11 Jesus took action. He
came he saw Mary and Martha and he saw their broken hearts. He was asked to be
taken to the tomb. When he got there he said with a loud voice, Lazarus come out
and 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. All of these give amazing examples of the fact that Jesus, Jesus's
anger prompted him to do something about it. But the amazing thing about John 11
that you can see there on the screen in front of you is that what Jesus does
there with Lazarus is just a glimpse of what he has really come to do. Jesus
didn't come just to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead. He has come to
conquer death itself. And when we see Jesus's anger at the grave of Lazarus
we're reminded of the fact that Jesus has come to defeat a bitter enemy. He's
come to conquer the kingdom of darkness. He's come to destroy the power of sin
and death. That enemy, the enemy of death, is not just a body that we need to get
rid of. It's not just a problem that we kind of hope will go away. Death is a
hideous, vicious enemy that provokes Jesus to outrage. And that outrage drives
Jesus forward from the grave, from the tomb of Lazarus, all the way to the cross.
And this is at the heart of why Jesus became flesh and blood. We know how
horrible death is. We are vulnerable to its attack. We are exposed to the pain
and agony that it causes. Jesus has come to stand alongside us and he knows
exactly how that feels. He knows what it's like to be a human facing the
horror of death. And in the face of death's grip we are powerless and all we
can do is surrender. But here is where Jesus is different.
Jesus is the same as us in that he is horrified by the damage that death
causes. But the amazing difference is that he is not powerless and he is never,
ever going to surrender. He has come to conquer. That's emphasized so powerfully
in Hebrews chapter 2. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he
himself likewise partook of the same things. Why? That through death he might
destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all
those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong savoury. All the
things that cause Jesus to anger, pain, lies, suffering and death, these are the
things that come from the kingdom of evil and that is the kingdom that Jesus has
come to destroy. That means that when we see Jesus angry, we don't see a violent
hothead who can't control himself. We see a mighty warrior preparing for battle.
We see a courageous rescuer coming to our aid. We see a conqueror ready to fight
for us. We see holy, irrepressible anger at all the damage that sin and death are
doing to you. And the incredible truth that all of that is telling us is that
when it comes to saving you, you do not mess with Jesus. Our last question is,
what should we do in response to this? I want to say three things very, very
briefly. We should admire Jesus. So often when we see anger in people around us,
it's a display of weakness, a short temper, a lack of patience, a selfish
streak. It's never like that with Jesus. His anger is only ever good anger. In fact,
in Jesus, what we are seeing are the best displays of anger that the world has ever
seen. It's an anger that arises from extraordinary compassion, from his
impeccable integrity, from his hated of sin, and from his deep, deep love for
sinners. We should admire him. The second thing we should do is that we should seek
to emulate him. If Jesus is the perfect human, and if Jesus got angry at times,
then it's showing us that there are occasions when anger is an appropriate
emotion for us as followers of Jesus. There are many times when anger is
inappropriate and damaging, and please, please don't use this sermon as an
excuse to lose your temper this week. But having said that, Jesus is showing us
that there are times when anger is appropriate and good, and that's why we
need to pray, Lord, please help me to never get angry about the things that
don't matter, but help me never to be indifferent about the things that do.
Please may my anger be like Jesus's anger. We want to love the way Jesus loves, to
care the way he cares, to help the way he helped, and we want to be angry only ever
in the ways that he was. God grant that the sight of injustice, suffering,
exploitation, and twisted truth, God grant that that bothers us in the way that
it bothered Jesus. But number three, and above all else, we should hide in Jesus.
Ultimately, all of reality is in the context of conflict between the kingdom
of God and the kingdom of evil. There's no third alternative, there's no neutral
ground. That's why Jesus said, whoever's not against us is for us. We are either
for Jesus or against him. There is no neutrality. Everything is in the context
of that conflict, and in that conflict we have to ask ourselves, who's side do we
want to be on? And surely for every single one of us,
we want to hide behind Jesus.
He is our warrior. He is our defender. He is our hero, and in the face of all the
threat of sin and evil and death, he will take the fight to the enemy, and all we
have to do is hide behind him by putting our trust in him.
And this is where I hope we've come far enough to be able to recognize
an amazing theological truth, and this is my conclusion.
The amazing theological truth that I want us to
to recognize is this. You make Jesus angry.
Now I must explain that I think. So often in life people are angry with us,
so we're on the receiving end of anger and it's horrible. That is not what I mean
at all. Jesus is not angry with you, and I am not saying that you get on Jesus's
nerves. That is never true. He is patient and long
suffering. You never get on his nerves. I'm sure that you can think of many
people who are angry with you or who have been angry with you.
The last thing any of us needs to hear is that someone else
is angry with us. But what every single one of us needs is someone who cares
so much that they will be angry about us. And that is what I mean when I say that
you make Jesus angry. When sin tries to hurt you and destroy
you and wreck your life and your relationships and your future, when
sin tries to do anything like that to you,
Jesus is outraged. And the reason he is outraged is because you
are his.
And so he doesn't get angry with you because to him you are irritating.
He gets angry because to him you are irreplaceable.
His anger is not him saying to you, don't you dare come near me.
His anger is him putting you behind him and saying to the kingdom of evil,
don't you dare, near finger on him.
That is where the cross places you. That is the safety and security that you have
if you are a Christian or that you will have if you become one.
And that is why the fact that Jesus gets angry
is absolutely amazing. Amen. Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, we recognize that our anger is so often inappropriate and
unhelpful. But your anger is amazing.
And we thank you so much that this is how much you care about us.
And we pray that all of this would make us just run to you
and hide in you because we need you so so much.
We bow before you and praise you Lord Jesus for your holy, righteous, good
anger. Amen.