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by Rev. Fr. K. K. John
Key verse: "Is it right for you to be angry?" Jonah 4:4.
Anger is a strong emotion. English language has
three words (1) anger (2) wrath and (3) indignation purporting the similar
meaning and yet wrath conveys great anger and indignation is anger caused by
injustice, misconduct etc.
Anger and wrath are most commonly used in the Bible. In the practical sense it
can be made in two categories namely, righteous anger and unrighteous anger and
indignation would fall in former category. Animate beings are biologically
endowed with a feeling that responds to an unfriendly situation as a tool to
impose limits or stop. Since it is God-given gift it is good but untimely or
uncontrolled or excessive use will be misuse that will create more calamity than
good.
Anger management is essential tool for the growth of Christian virtues. It
should also be accompanied with the gift of forgiveness. Book of Jonah is a
perfect example where both anger and forgiveness in right perspective work
together for good.
The book of Jonah begins with a commission by an angry God. God is angry because
the people of Nineveh were wicked. Wickedness is explained as ungodliness, evil
and perversity of mind. Wickedness is basically a state of mind for all sins are
first conceived in the mind before it manifests into action. First mention of
wickedness is found in Genesis 6:5 in connection with sexual perversion that
angered God and judged them with great deluge. Genesis 19:23 explains homosexual
indulgence is wickedness which defiles the whole land which God never tolerated
but destroyed the defiled land with all its inhabitants. Genesis 39:9 conveys a
specific case of sexual immorality between two private individuals. Joseph
asked, "How can I do this great wickedness (to sexually indulge with another's
wife) and sin against God?" Although David committed adultery with Bathsheba,
wife of Uriah, David confessed he sinned against God, Ps 51: 4.
These unravel a great practical principle; when one sins with another human
being it is not only with that human being one sins but also with God, the
creator, because in every act of sin there is misuse of God-given emotional
faculty against the very purpose for which such faculty is endowed. This is a
standard of God, people often forget; whether it is anger, adultery, physical
abuse, cheating, exploiting, slandering or any such towards another individual,
it is sin against God. Wickedness is abomination, Pr 8:7. "Wicked shall perish
by his own wickedness," Pr 11:5. Thus wickedness mentioned in Jonah 1:2 needs be
considered basically as sexual perversion that people indulged in among other
things.
Human beings struggle between the two opposing forces, good and bad, morality
and immorality. These are evident from the emanation of human history. God is
understood in human terms and thus spoken as possessing emotions and feelings
like human beings. Wrath or anger of God is always for right cause and hence
righteous for it is the immutable attribute of God that He cannot lie, nor
arouse to anger without legitimate reason. Though in biological sense anger is
caused by certain chemical imbalance depending upon what one eats, thinks or
hereditary, the fact that humanity is susceptible to untimely and uncontrolled
anger is the aftereffect of Adam's fall.
When there is deviation from the original intent of creation God interferes to
reinstate the order. It was the wrath of God that judged Adam, Eve and Satan in
the Garden of Eden. Wrath of God caused the huge flood in which the whole wicked
generation was destroyed. God's wrath judged Sodom and Gomorrah; He rained upon
them brimstone and fire from heaven until they were ruined, Gen 19:24. Wrath of
God destroyed Korah and his supporters, Num 16. God's wrath was kindled when
people made molten image and worshiped it, Ex 32:10.
God is spoken as "slow to anger," Ps 103:8, Neh 9:17, Jon 4:2. Being slow to
anger is Godly virtue that everyone needs to practice. At the same time it is
necessary to know that God never compromises with continued violations of God's
moral standards. Sexual immorality, idolatry, infidelity, etc are most
detestable sins and God will be eventually angered if humanity persists in such
wickedness. Fire and Brimstone that ruined Sodom Gomorrah, Tsunami, sudden and
unnatural deaths and earthquake that takes away thousands of lives, or the
mass-killer AIDS might be termed as natural calamities or epidemic by an
environmental scientist or atheist, but for a theist there is hand of God in all
these for a specific purpose. Despite various biblical and historical accounts
of God's intervention in the history to judge the erring humanity, people still
do not heed to warnings and continue to defy God.
Righteous anger is expected of a faithful. When there is injustice, exploitation
and immorality a virtuous one cannot be silent. Great souls like Mahatma Gandhi,
Martin Luther King, Jr are synonyms of righteous anger.
One fine example of righteous anger is recorded in Exodus 2:11-12. Moses saw
that an Egyptian was beating a Hebrew. Moses slew him. Whether or not the action
was justified at that point, his intention was above reproach. Moses had a
strong inclination to do right thing at all times. He was greatly concerned
about the suffering of his people. I believe that God chose him to deliver
Israelites out of bondage of Egypt because of his unquestionable commitment to
his God and people. Num 12:3 says, "Moses was very meek above all men upon the
face of the earth." This is a complete vindication of his attitude toward
justice and fairness.
Another instance we have in 2 Sam 12. David surreptitiously killed Uriah a
trusted servant to hide his own adultery with his wife Bathsheba and took her as
his wife. When he thought everything was safe, God sent Prophet Nathan to make
known the sin David committed. Nathan cleverly employed a story to draw King
David's attention to justice. "David's anger was greatly kindled against the
man," and instantly pronounced judgment, v5. Certain amount of hypocrisy cannot
be ruled out in his sudden retort. Yet, David's true repentance when Nathan
bluntly pointed to him, "Thou art the man," v7, needs be acknowledged. David
instantly repented and said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord," v13.
Since it came from a truly contrite heart Nathan replied, "Lord has put away
your sin, you shall not die," v13. True repentance and confession has positive
effect of forgiveness. Psalms 32 and 51 bear testimony of David's extreme agony
and remorse.
John the Baptist is another shining star in the horizon of righteous anger. He
braved to question the immorality in the royal house at the cost of his life.
There are a few instances when Jesus Christ was angered. His triumphant entry
into Jerusalem Temple was also an occasion of wrath. "He drove out all those who
bought and sold in the temple, overturned the tables of money changers and the
seats of those who sold doves," Mat 21:12. Next day on the way to city he was
hungry. "He went near a fig tree by the road and found nothing but leaves, and
he said to it, Let no fruit grow on you ever again, immediately the fig tree
withered away," Mat 21:19.
Mark gives more details. First, it was before cleaning the temple. Second, the
tree withered next day. Third, it was not the season for the figs. Why Jesus
looked at the fig tree knowing it was not season for figs? Some people think in
literal terms saying it throws light to the full humanity of Jesus and it was
natural to hunger. But there is no reason to believe that Jesus expected fruit
in a tree out of season. Thus we should look into other options.
Those who are familiar with growing fig tree will also know that it is peculiar
to fig tree to sprout fruit and develop it before it sprouts leaves. Therefore
when there were leaves it was natural to expect fruits in it. In other words,
leaves without fruit are unnatural and non-seasonal. "Words of Jesus are
entirely symbolical. There is no reason to suppose that Jesus was really hungry
or expect to find figs," says Dummelow.
Fig tree is symbol of Jewish nation, Hos 9:10. Jewish nation projected itself
righteous but in reality it was full of defilement. There was more of hypocrisy
than righteous conduct in the religion which Jesus decried very often.
Situation is worse in Christianity now, I suppose. By cursing the fig tree he
condemned the hypocrisy of Jewish religion; their failure to bear fruits of
repentance and acknowledge Messiah when he came and declared, "Repent and
believe in the gospel for the Kingdom of God is at hand," (Mark 1:15) though
they religiously waited for the coming of Messiah and indicated his choice of
gentiles, shift of salvation for the whole humanity.
Jesus showed anger at the hardheartedness of Pharisees, Mk 3:5. He portrayed
himself wrathful through parables of judgment and Second Coming; Mat 7:23,
18:34, 24:51, Lk 12:46. St. Paul warns, God's anger falls upon those who follow
lust of the flesh, Eph 2:3. Anger of God abides upon those who reject the Son,
John 3:36. False teachers provoke God to anger, Eph 5:6. Examine how truthful is
what one learned or practices for if one persists in falsehood he/she attracts
God's wrath; beware, faction fighters, dissenters and heretical doctrines!
Second aspect of anger is unrighteous anger or say, human anger, which Jonah
expressed. He had no reason to be angry. He felt so out of his pride and fear,
for God did not execute his prophesy. Is Jonah alone in getting angry
unnecessarily and for selfish reasons? We all sail in the same boat. People will
get angry when their ego is hurt and blindly resort to all unchristian means to
defame, slander and do away with the offender be it spouse, parents, siblings or
priest. Faction-fight within the Church and parishes and Kerala politics are
best evidence of this scenario.
Earliest example of human anger is Cain. Cain got angry at God for God was not
pleased with his offerings. God gave him an opportunity to correct himself and
exhorted him to do good. A pertinent question is; what is our attitude regarding
'our offerings' to God. Do we give to God wholeheartedly and willingly? God
required Moses to build Tabernacle in the same manner and design as God showed
him on the Mount Sinai. God told Moses to "accept offerings from every man that
gives willingly and with his heart," Ex 25:2. Do we surrender our whole being or
do we reserve some for ourselves like Ananias and Sapphira, Acts, 5:1-10. Do we
fail in our pledges before God? Num 30:2, Deut 23:21-23. How do we conduct
ourselves in worship services? Are we fully committed or half-hearted?
Many of our faithful are more like Ananias and Sapphira because (1) they are not
regularly attending and have so many reasons to justify, never realizing that
they are doing a disservice to their children (2) they have a prefixed place in
the sanctuary, mostly at the extreme back. Some men are habitually basement
parties (understanding), (3) some others are standing outside (outstanding), (4)
some are mere observers, never open their mouth to glorify God as if it were
other's job, (Thirunama keerthanam paduvanallengil navenikkenthinu Nadha), (5)
some people never volunteer for house-keeping and such other activities, (6)
some people are bent upon finding fault with achen and office bearers, (7) some
find no time for their children to sit in Sunday school instead, they send them
to nearby places unmindful of what they teach there and the list goes on.
Being lukewarm is not a good quality. Church of Laodicea was vomited out of the
mouth of God because they were lukewarm. "You are neither cold nor hot, I wish
you were cold or hot," Rev 3:15-17. Note: This does not support extremists. God
detests both extreme and lukewarm attitude when it comes to worship services.
Cain persisted in evil and got angry at Abel for no reason and that led him to
commit heinous crime. Jesus said whoever is angry without cause to his brother
is in danger of judgment, Mat 5:22.
Now let everyone examine how does one justify his/her anger against spouse,
siblings, neighbors, friends, etc and correct if one does not meet divine
standard. Anger is the cause for many other severe sins such as violence,
strife, murder, separations, etc. When one is angry poison flows in his/her
veins and thus it is detrimental to one's own wellness. It is the most fertile
soil for devil to work with and make one commit many other sins. St Paul
admonishes, "Be angry and do not sin, do not let sun go down in your wrath," Eph
4:26. Spouses must take this advice very earnestly and make sure that they sort
out differences before they go to sleep. A virtuous Christian should not be
ashamed to apologize or to forgive to one's own spouse, siblings or kids.
God taught Jonah a lesson by raising a gourd which protected him from scorching
sun and then suddenly destroying it to cause him anger again. Jonah was consumed
in anger. God showed him that his anger was unreasonable comparing his pity for
the gourd. "You feel pity for the gourd for which you have not labored, neither
made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. Should I not
spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are there more than 120,000 persons that
cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much
cattle," 4:10-11. This is a great example of a longsuffering, slow to anger and
merciful God.
The book of Jonah begins with an angry God, pronouncing judgment upon an erring
nation, carrying out his plan in a most startling manner, employing a highly
indifferent person, involving gentiles and creatures, bringing out glorious
result and ends with supreme lesson of forgiveness. "He visits iniquity of
fathers upon the children unto third and fourth generations of them that hate me
and showing mercy unto thousands of them that loves me and keep my
commandments," Ex 20:5, 34:7. Can we sincerely forgive when one deliberately
offends us? Sibling rivalry emanating from jealousy and pride is nothing new.
Jesus said to Peter, to forgive unlimited times, Mat. 18:21.
It is more important how often one repent than how often one sin. Forgiveness is
a favor of restoring the sinner to his original position. It should be extended
only upon showing sings of repentance. Both the thieves on either side of the
cross were not pardoned but the one who confessed and implored forgiveness.
Forgiving without due repentance is futile. Neither do some feel necessity of
forgiveness nor do they get it; that is today's travesty.
Jonathan Edwards spoke conspicuously, 'O sinner, consider the fearful danger you
are in! It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of fire
of wrath, that you are held over in the hands of God, whose wrath is provoked
and incensed as much against you and against many of the damned in hell. You
hang by a slender thread with the flames of the divine wrath flashing about it
and ready every moment to singe it. The misery you are exposed to is that which
God will inflict, to the end that he might show what the wrath of Jehovah is.
God has had it on His heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent His
love is, and also how terrible His wrath is,' titled, 'Sinners in the hands of
an angry God,' on July 8, 1741.
Congregation was said to have so traumatized that some clung to railings for
fear of sliding into the fire of hell. Such attitudes towards gospel and sermons
are a foregone glory; does not occur in these days instead, the speaker may be
even evicted out. Some people do not like to hear about sin. They are
comfortable with a god who is unmindful of their deeds. But the unchangeable
truth is; the God of forgiveness is also the God of wrath and judgment and
sinner have no escape but to repent and turn from their evil ways.
Christian love demands forgiveness. We can forgive only when we recognize that
all human beings are liable to make mistakes. 'To err is human and to forgive is
divine,' said Alexander Pope. It is obvious in the Lord's Prayer that our sins
are forgiven only proportionately to how much we forgive others. If we do not
forgive we also will not be forgiven. A forgiving spouse can save a marriage and
avoid many miseries that follow.
Standard Oil Company of John D Rockefeller suffered a loss of 2 million dollars
because of the unwise action of his deputy. All were so nervous that day to face
Rockefeller. Finally his immediate deputy gathering strength entered the chamber
of Rockefeller who was seen scribbling something. Trembling, the deputy said,
'Sir, you might have heard what happened...' Rockefeller handed out the paper he
scribbled. It was a list of good deeds of the person who made the error. He
said, 'His good points outweigh the loss. We will therefore forgive him.'
Abraham Lincoln, after the civil war, had a friendly chat with some prisoners of
war. His deputies grew irksome and suggested to him that they had to destroy the
enemies early. Abraham Lincoln quipped, 'Yes, we will destroy our enemies by
making them our friends.' Are these not worthy examples for every Christian to
emulate? 'There is no valor in vengeance,' Shakespeare.
Forgiveness of God and forgiving to fellow beings still remains a glaring need.
Forgive others and receive His Forgiveness. "If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness," 1 John 1:9.
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