ANGER RESIDES IN THE LAP OF FOOLS
THE SCENARIO aQumoS is no fool, not anymore. It happened like this: by God’s prompting, aQumoS knew it was inventory time, and along the way in the course of that aQumoS found a lot of anger on the “shelves.” An overstocked inventory of all the wrong things that came together as anger in the lap of aQumoS, the former fool.
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In the outworking of this scenario please consider the following:
SENSITIVITY POINTS UNDER CONSIDERATION
2. Gentle answers turn away wrath.
3. Wisdom effects patience and with that discretion.
4. Overcome evil with good, heap some burning coals, leave room for God’s wrath.
6. Anger toward a brother/sister is subject to the judgment.
1. (Ephesians 4:26) Anger is consistent with and endemic in human nature, which is a fallen nature apart from Jesus Christ; the important question is, is there an anger that does not translate to sin? The term “righteous indignation” comes to mind and the picture of Jesus “cleansing” the Temple (“ John Chapter Two Commentary”) or Jesus in Matthew twenty-three (“Matthew Chapter Twenty-three Commentary”). There are different kinds of ‘anger” that each manifest to varying degrees. Righteous indignation is in a category off on its own, holy. There is, for example: spite-anger, jealousy-anger, hate-anger, revenge-anger, and so on, that maybe manifest as: cursing-anger, beating and hitting-anger, killing-anger, and on it goes. The difference as concerns sin is obvious. A Christian’s anger must be of the righteous indignation kind. There is no sin in that sort of “anger.” Righteous indignation is entirely in line with Christian biblical precedents, that is how it is qualified. But Jesus put a whip into His hand when He cleansed the Temple, how does that jibe with biblical precedents? It jibes because Jesus is deity; we, are not allowed to do that; we, are not deity. Jesus, in fact, holds in that same hand the keys of death and life for all mortals, much weightier than a spanking here. The argument to be considered might be put so: if no one can contest His sovereign will in the latter concerning life and death, it goes without saying that no one can contest His will in the former matter of righteous indignation and a whip and some overturned tables and otherwise some chastising words for some hypocrites doing His Beloved harm. And so, the grave is quod erat demonstrandum here, and shuts all mouths offended by Jesus’ righteous indignation (Genesis 3:19).
Righteous indignation is an art taught by God that we must be sensitive to and hustle-up to learn and put into practice, and it is inconceivable that our God would not help any one of His people who ask, seek, knock, for His help here.
2. (Proverbs 15:1) Gentle answers/replies (in the scorching heat and swirling dust of a storm is inferred). God knows perfectly the weight words carry. James talked about this in another context (“James Chapter Three Commentary”—that little member called the tongue). Hence God says that gentle answers turn away wrath. But what is “gentle” to one may not be “gentle” as far as another is concerned. Still, the guidance God gives is clear enough. Better to say nothing than to say the wrong thing and stoke the flames (even that silence can be misconstrued of course). This calls for self-control as do all these points really. Manifest self-control is not easy for some of us, especially in the heat and dust of the storms we find ourselves in (Why, O why, does God put us there Christian friend…). Let’s practice a little bit. We are going to think of seven one-size-fits-all-fires replies; maybe you wish to do the same. Here’s our list:
a. Oops, my fault.
b. Wish I’d caught the bigger picture sooner.
c. Let’s go bowling.
d. Ya I’m ticked off, but I’ll get over it.
e. By the way, nice sturdy-lookin’ shoes, where’d you get ‘em? (That one may not work too well, but you never know…)
f. No blood no foul. (That’s a good ol’ hoops saying we like.)
g. Hey, no biggy. God bless you friend.
It’s kind of fun to think of these gentle replies and practice them. Sometimes (graceful) humor is the gentlest of replies; not to say that pious-speak does not have its place, but it must be sincere.
3. (Proverbs 19:11) Understanding and further reflection and thought serve discretion. So very often ignorance and literal misunderstandings effect malcontent (personally, in society, amongst nations), and quite soon itchy trigger-fingers serving a flaming anger. Misunderstandings and ignorance can be killers. Let’s step back a minute and bring it home. Christian friend, are you angry over something/s right now? Are you calm enough to pray, and can you stay calm when your firestorm comes to mind? If not, just flat wait and do nothing; give your mind a rest; let the Spirit of God pray for you right now; ask Him to do this, and then join Him when you are calm. Now, with all due respect, do you understand all the external motivations that are driving your motivations? Maybe you do not trust everybody in the loop of your situation but is there some reliable, unbiased, and trustworthy source of clarity for you? May God bless you Christian friend and shower you with His peace going forward. Please bless your people great Jehovah God. Amen.
4. (Proverbs 25:21-22, Romans 12:19-21) How long Lord? O this is so counterintuitive—feed the enemy, bless them? I’d rather punch them in the nose thank you very much, but then again, we just talked about that angle in point three above. (In maters of personal or family or community or national safety an enemy must be forcibly resisted no question about it, that’s different.) Well, why not heap some burning coals here instead? “…One little coal, two little coals, three little coals, four…”. And again, ‘‘…Dear Lord, when I heap these burning coals upon their head, O that it may leave some lasting scars; scars in the heart, in the mind, in the spirit, of the kind that sobers them and makes them pliable and attentive and obedient to your Spirit. O that it might be extra hot for them dear Lord up there between the ears where the coal-fire is…”. Okay, let’s practice a little bit again. Let’s talk about coals, nice and hot and sizzling, coals, let’s list a few; here’s our list, maybe you’ve got one too:
a. Go ahead and attend your enemy’s retirement celebration; if you can’t find any words to say, fine, but be there.
b. If your enemy is a better homemaker than you are don’t be jealous; it’s a little thing here, and not overt, but it counts.
c. If your enemy makes you feel low, don’t try to pole-vault over them with this and that or the other sort of posturing; be yourself, the man or woman you are in Jesus Christ.
d. If someone sets up a recovery fund for your enemy because their house burned, or for some illness with them or their family, or whatever, go ahead and (secretly if possible) donate to that fund.
e. If your pals slander your enemy, don’t join in.
f. Pray for your enemy—but let God get you into His sacred zone first (“The Sacred Zone”).
g. If your enemy has abused you or someone you love, make sure that the abuse gets stopped, first and foremost, then try to forgive them. Can you do that? Let God help you friend.
God says He will repay. Here it is understood that something happened, is in the past, that one wishes to visit with revenge. Nope; so says Jehovah God. ‘Gotta find some other way’ in the interim here to purge that Christian friend. So, what about God, His repayment promise? Do you believe it? Is it good enough for you, or do you want more? Not happening fast enough for you? What’s God waiting for, right? It may not come in this life, but it is sure to come, either now or later. In honesty, please write down your thoughts on this. For example, “…I don’t buy it…”, or maybe, “…I trust God here, His guidance is always the right roadmap for me…”, or maybe, “..I’m a sojourner down here in the land of the living, the land of sin and sorrow, I’m awaiting a better home with God and shall count this but a sad and sorry nuisance compared to what lies before…”.
5. (Proverbs 21:19) Flight not fight. The verse is probably applicable to quarrelsome and contentious folks per se. Alright then, as the saying goes: Skeedaddle! Git outta’ Dodge! How does that old song go, ‘…in the desert you can remember your name cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain, la la, la, la la la la…’. Shunt the problem and live somewhere where there are no anger-sources (tall order). A bit in the extreme for sure but better to live in the desert, where there are snakes and spiders and vermin and you name it to live with, than to live with quarrelsome and contentious folks who are much more dangerous snakes than the cold-blooded variety. Dangerous emotionally, physically, spiritually. Jesus retreated to a desert place oftentimes. You ever been angry with a snake (the cold-blooded kind)? Not really, but plenty afraid: they are what they are, no need getting angry at their DNA here, and they are not adjusting to us, and thus follows quite a bit of respect and proper behavior, so we give ‘em plenty of room, we put plenteous desert-land space between, us and them. Sometimes it’s good to do that with the warm-blooded snakes too.
6. (Matthew 5:22a, cf. Matthew 5:22a, KJV) This one here sobers. Why would Jesus put such a heavy price on one of His own being angry[1] with one of their Brethren? (We think that one of the Brethren is the target Jesus has in mind; and He is addressing disciples, since this verse is part of His great Sermon on the Mount.) And of which Judgment does our Lord speak? As to the first question, Jesus qualifies the action as anger without [just] cause[2] (Just cause is the only kind of “cause” that Jesus sanctions.) What He probably means here is anger driven by jealousy, or spite, or perceived slight, and the like, none of which are just causes. This fits right into the context of the rest of the verse and the verbal outworking of said anger (thou fool, etc.), which tongue-lashing/s similarly only serve one’s own little cause/s. No doubt the reason the price is so heavy is because Jesus went to the Cross and died for that brother/sister with which you or I are frivolously or self-servingly angry; and moreover we were spared God’s just wrath because of the Cross—catch the irony—but yet find it quite okay to vent our unjust anger on one of the Beloved standing in the shadow of that selfsame Cross which justifies them and clears them from the Great Wrath. It begs the question, ‘…art thou wiser than God thou angry Christian...’? As to the question of which Judgment Jesus references, the Judgment here mentioned is at the beginning of an escalating scale of cause and effect Hebraisms (the text is Greek, but Matthew writes as a Jew, to Jewish folks) that ends with hell fire, so this Judgment is probably not the White Throne Judgment of the Damned (Revelation 20:11-15), which has as its reward the eternal flames of Hell Fire:
Angry with Brethren (internalized anger)>> (danger of) Judgment,
Name-calling the Brethren, Raca (externalized anger)>> (danger of) Council,
Name-calling the Brethren, Fool (externalized anger)>> (danger of) Hell Fire.
So, what is it then? The Judgment Seat of Christ will be a Judgment of some missed, exceedingly blessed opportunities for some Christians (2Corinthians 5:10). It is as though this (Matthean) verse pronounces that sort of Judgment.
7. Dear Christian friend, anger is Satan’s (rather effective) weapon. Satan blurs the line between righteous and rightful indignation, and his own characteristically satanic anger, in this way presuming to confuse our walk before and with Jehovah God. Moreover, it is he that exploits this or that anger-arousal in us for the express purpose of turning it into his own characteristically satanic anger. Let us prayerfully stand fast for God here Christian friend and not be suckered, because this is precisely the anger that becomes a retarding force in our Christian walk before God. It is true though that many of us have fallen prey here for reasons in and out of our control, and more than once or twice. But, let us remember, a retarding force is not a terminal force, it is just a retarding force, that’s all. The Christian walk may be likened to a lovely marble being pulled up through a sticky, viscous medium (Fig. 1)—there are retarding forces at work as we, like the marble, are pulled along, and anger is a particularly viscous medium we encounter along the way as we are pulled homeward. It is of course our great savior God Jesus Christ who is doing the pulling, and that is why Satan’s forces are but retarding, not terminal ones. Christ bless you dearest Christian friend…
Praised be your Name great savior God. Amen.
ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES
Figure 1. As a marble pulled up against retarding forces so Christ pulls us home.
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WORKS CITED AND REFERENCES
“A Letter of Invitation.”
Jesus, Amen.
< http://jesusamen.org/aletterofinvitation.html >
“Horse with no Name, A.”
America.
“James Chapter Three Commentary.”
Jesus, Amen.
< http://jesusamen.org/commentaryjas3.html >
‘The Sacred Zone.”
Jesus, Amen.
< http://jesusamen.org/scenario42.html >
“Stop, Drop, and Roll.”
Jesus, Amen.
< http://jesusamen.org/scenario45.html >