Red! All I See is Red!

Red! All I see is red! I am so angry I could breath fire!

Ever felt this way? Chances are we have all allowed our emotions to lead us to this place. Anger though, is a perfectly normal human emotion. Healthy anger propels us through intense situations and allows us not to become bogged down in the mire. Expressed in a healthy manner anger is not a bad trait. However if one constantly uses anger as a tool to manipulate, threaten or bully, that is a whole different story.

Jesus often became angry and displeased with his peers, colleagues and the social/religious system of his day. He became so angry to see Money Changers in the temple that he went on a tirade and turned over all their tables, scattering coins everywhere. To ice the cake, he drove those same Money Changers out of the temple with a whip. Now that is what I call seeing red! But this is Jesus. He is supposed to be God Incarnate. He is supposed to be perfect in every way. He is supposed to be without sin! Yet Jesus’ anger was justified. He used this emotion to clean out his Father’s house of a band of raceteers and thieves. Jesus’ anger propelled him to purify the temple. Donald McKim tells us “The wrath of God is an expression of the righteousness of God in relation to human sin, and its just punishment.” So Jesus (The second person of the Holy Trinity) remained perfect in everyway since he was in the Father and the Father was in him.

Still, what about our anger? We as humans tend to use anger for our own selfish purposes or we lash out when hurt.

I remember ninth grade well. A group of bullies had pestered me all the way through eighth grade and were now continuing the cycle. For such a long time I tolerated their bullying although it made me fearful and angry. I was afraid to reach out for help. I was afraid of confrontation. And I was afraid of this group of boys. Finally one of them pushed me over the edge and I went ballistic. While I never drew a fist or threw a punch, I lashed out at them in anger over the way they treated me. This suddenly changed the whole dynamic. They soon quit bullying me as I had propelled myself through the despair and fear. I felt free and liberated from the year and a half oppression. That is an example of anger used in a healthy manner, although I waited far to long to take action. I was spiritually ill from stuffing my anger down deep into my being.

Often we deny or stuff our anger down deep within us and refuse to acknowledge its presence. When we do this we become spiritually ill and sick. The anger churns around inside us and eventually becomes something far worse, resentment. Resentment is a dark and corrosive blackness that destroys the soul. It blots out the light of God. It eats away at us as it gradually becomes worse. To complicate matters, we often nurse our resentments, feeling justified and wallowing in their fetid destruction. Resentments cause us to become self-destructive, alienated from our fellows and spiritually hallow. They cause us to lash out in anger over the simplest things and to become hostile to those around us. Anger left unchecked is a deadly adversary that will destroy us from the inside out. It is never all right to use our anger as a tool to intentionally hurt the innocent, or as a way of drawing selfish attention to oneself.

Some folks have quick tempers and that is a spiritual challenge that needs to be addressed. Quick tempers usually are gut reactions to a situation or topic. When angry it is much better to step back and create a space to think and pray, and the respond to the situation or topic rather than merely react.

Healthy anger propels us through a situation, while unhealthy anger makes us sick. It is important to not let anger turn into resentment. When it pops up, it is also important to acknowledge anger as an emotion, and deal with it properly and appropriately.