Misplaced Anger

" Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there.  He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves, He said, 'Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's House a marketplace.' "- [John 2: 13-16.]

In this Scripture passage, it is Passover. People from far away would come to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. Every Jewish male was required to make this pilgrimage.

But what Jesus saw when He came to the temple resembled a marketplace bazaar, and not "simple worship". The visitors had to pay a Temple Tax in local currency. Moneychangers would set up tables and charge usurious rates of currency exchange. Other merchants sold animals for sacrifice, because travelers would not want to travel with their own animals, or their own animals would be deemed too "imperfect" an offering.

I cannot remember any other time in the Bible when Jesus is shown as so angry. In fact, when I think of a Christian, I think of their lifelong pursuit of the Fruits of the Spirit - joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. -[Galatians 5: 22]. None of these, obviously, is congruent with a daily sense of outrage.

And yet, we are all too human. I get angry if the supermarket runs out of my favorite flavor of yogurt. I get angry if someone cuts me off in traffic. I get angry if someone gives me "Captain Obvious" advice, when I asked for no advice - - whatsoever.

The Fruits of the Spirit are Ideals. Something to strive for. But we all fall short. . .

I like to think of Anger as a red warning light, when something is wrong or even dangerous. Anger alerts me to a serious injustice.

These days, I find that the national mood in America is a prolonged, and extreme, era of Outrage.


I remember in the house where I grew up, I witnessed a constant stream of anger, jealousy, bitterness and hate. An immigrant to this country was treated as an Affront, just for daring to walk the streets in our town. My dad spent his days feeling entitled to far more than he had received in life, instead of being expansively grateful for all that he had. At our dinner table, there was a lot of gossip about who had more or less than we did, and how did they get it, and how superior we were to anyone else who had less. If anyone ahead of us in their car was going too slowly for my dad's taste, he would yell ethnic epithets out the window, even though he had no idea if the driver was in fact Polish, Jewish, Italian or whatever.

I find this national zeitgeist of Anger to be exhausting and disturbing and very draining. Sometimes, I am afraid to compose a sentence for fear the Gotcha Police will excoriate me for saying something "The Wrong Way." I know folks who have lost "friends" of thirty years or more, over a politically charged conversation. Sometimes, I just want to renew my Vow of Silence and stay home.

It is enlightening to me that in this Scripture, Jesus gets very angry. He even gets quite physical about it. This teaches me that it is acceptable and even expected that I get angry -- Over corruption and injustice, abuse and crime, endemic poverty, sexism and racism . . . .

But to stay in a constant attitude of Outrage over every tiny moment of slight or unintended offense is not good for me, or for our society. I wish we could have a real conversation over issues, teach each other, and share concerns in a civil discourse; rather than excommunicating someone who expresses something differently.

We have turned on the Anger Button, and we don't know how to turn it off.

[Related Postings: "Where is Your Temple",  3/9/15;  "Anger in the Temple", 3/10/12"].

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