Articles

Jesus knows what it feels like to be angry

Everybody has to deal with anger from time to time. Whether you are the Prime Minister or a Shop assistant, a man or a woman, old or young, anger is a human emotion that affects us all. The Greeks defined it as the strongest of all passions. And most of us on a daily basis will experience this passion in varying degrees. 
However, one of the wonderful things about our relationship with Jesus is that he knows what it feels like to be angry as a human being. The religious people made him angry, his mum and brothers made him angry, the traders in the temple made him angry and interestingly enough Jesus was not afraid of showing his anger. 

Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they would not answer him. He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored!Mark 3:4-5 

 The bible tells us to make sure that our anger does not turn to sin and we should make sure the sun does not go down on our anger – Ephesians 4:26. I think we can learn a lot from Jesus and follow his example. He did not harbour bitterness, he expressed his anger but in the process he did not sin.

What a challenge.