Angry

There’s an old Saturday Night Live skit where they simulate a Folgers instant coffee commercial. You may remember those commercials where they served restaurant patrons instant coffee and fooled them into believing it was real coffee. In the SNL skit though, the patron is played by Chris Farley. And when they tell Farley’s character that the coffee he is drinking is not real but instant, he gets this look of instant mean, “WHY YOU!. .” and he goes on a rampage in the restaurant, overturning tables and vowing revenge on those who lied to him. At the end, they show a bloodied and bandaged Farley and ask him how he’s feeling:

“Angry,” he slowly replies.

It was always a funny skit to me because of Farley’s over-the-top reaction to this little trick. His anger is funny. But we know in real life, anger is rarely funny. Anger is anything but funny.

In his great talk Jesus speaks to specific issues of how the new life in the kingdom changes us. He begins by addressing anger and condemnation.

“You have heard it said in ancient times, ‘You shall not murder and whoever murders shall be judged. But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment. . .” Matthew 5.21-22

This is the first of several “You have heard/but I say” statements that Jesus makes. What he is doing is pointing out what Dallas Willard refers to as the GRP, the Generally Recognized Practice. The GRP is the moral standard of the day. Jesus then puts the standard of the Kingdom side by side with the current standard and shows how much more fundamental and demanding a standard there is in the Kingdom. This is where our righteousness must go significantly beyond that of the Pharisees. The GRP is based on the Old Testament Law (in ancient times).

So a chart of situations and behaviors might look like this:

Situation Old Standard or GRP Kingdom Standard

1.Irritation with one’s No murder No anger or contempt,
Associates but desire to help

2. Sexual attraction No intercourse No cultivation of lust

3. Having an enemy Hate your enemy Love and bless your
Enemies, pray for
Them, as God does

The Old standard is pretty basic. Your irritated with someone? Just don’t kill them. Everything else – go ahead. When you see blood flowing, get concerned. That’s the GRP of the day. But Jesus says if you get angry with someone, you have probably already sinned. Why?

Well let’s think about what anger is. It is an emotion and as such is legitimate to feel. In fact, in one place, the Scriptures say “Be angry. . .but sin not.” Ephesians 4.26. And “do not let the sun go down on your anger.” You can hear the caution in these words. Anger is dangerous. It’s explosive. It’s only safe in the hands of God. In one sense, the feeling of anger, apart from any acting out, is already an injury to another person. Anger crosses someone else’s will and often provokes a response of anger in return When anger is acted out it becomes very destructive. Nobody “suddenly snaps”. It may appear that way on the outside, but the anger has been brewing inside for a long time.

The gun man who goes and shoots up a building has been in the making for a while. It is always premeditated in some sense. Actions do not emerge in a vacuum. Our actions proceed from what our minds and hearts have been meditating upon. What kind of thought life precedes murder and adultery? I think we all know. This is true with anger, lust, and fear; as well as joy, peace, and kindness.

Anger is a feeling and so we want to say we can’t control it. But we choose to receive it and indulge it. We decide to be an angry person or to not be an angry person.

Most people carry a supply of anger around with them.

Why is this? Because anger is related to fear and a wounded ego. We indulge anger because of vanity and pride. Everybody gets angry sometimes but the feeling can be waved off instead of indulged. The habitually angry person is a wounded ego that chooses to indulge those feelings as a way to defend their selfishness.

Likewise with condemnation. To condemn someone is to hold them in contempt. To hold someone in contempt is to write them off, to devalue them. It is a studied degradation of another person. Jesus refers to the word raca and says whoever says this to his brother shall stand condemned. In Jesus day this was the word to express ultimate contempt for someone. It was serious. Jesus says don’t use it. We don’t say raca today. We have our own words. And these are words that we should not use on other human beings. These are the word that often precede violent actions. But the words are damaging enough in themselves.

How do we change? From the inside out. We must change the heart. We must get to the root. Take care of the tree and the fruit will follow. Look to the order of the Great Talk. It begins with the Beatitudes that tell us we are all blessed by God. If we don’t own that much that nothing that follows, like don’t be angry, will make much sense. But if we truly believe that we are blessed by God, then we can begin to love God. We can become thankful people. The heart and mind begin to find new patterns and new meditations. When our meditations are on good things then good behaviors will follow.

The Lord aims to make us into the kind of creatures from whom good things naturally flow. That’s why the standard is so high. If our hearts are changed then amazingly good actions will follow.

We are reminded that the way of the world is against us, but we must not conform to it:

“We must not be like Cain who murdered his brother because his brother was good and he wasn’t. Don’t be surprised that the world hates you. We know that we are alive because we love each other. Whoever does not love is dead.

“ All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our live for each other.” 1 John 3.11-16

That is an amazing passage. This is the plan. The world hates us but we’re going to just love them back. That’s the plan. No matter how bad it gets, we’re going to do what Jesus does. We are not going to indulge our anger or throw judgment around. We’ll leave that to God. We know that God has given us the mission of love and mercy.

So where is the irritability in your life? Where is the anger coming from? Who do you need to forgive? From whom do you need to seek forgiveness? How can extend grace to one another today? I know Jesus does. He’s ready to do it right now. In fact, he invites us to the His Table.