Christ's Anger

Christians should get angry. But we need to get angry about the right things.

We’re currently developing a Good Book Guide for small-group Bible studies looking at the book of Jonah.

The author’s Stephen Witmer, a pastor in Massachusetts. And he makes a great comparison between Jonah, and what makes him angry, and Jesus, and what makes him angry.

• Jonah gets angry about God forgiving non-Israelites (Jonah 4 v 1-3). He gets angry when God causes the plant which has been giving him shade to wither (4 v 7-9). In other words, he gets angry about things which stop life being as he wants it to be. He is, in effect, angry that he doesn’t get to be God.
• The only time in the gospels when Jesus is really, clearly angry is in the temple, God's dwelling-place in Jerusalem (Mark 11 v 15-17). It's caused by his discovery that the Court of the Gentiles, where non-Israelites could come to meet with God, is being used as a marketplace, and the Gentiles can’t get in. It makes him furious! He gets angry about things which stop others’ lives being changed by God. He is angry that others don’t get to come to God.
• I get angry about… Hmmm. Is it things which make my life more difficult, things which I wanted to be different? Or is it things which prevent people finding out about God, and discovering the forgiveness of God.

Stephen’s put loads of interesting, challenging stuff like that in the Good Book Guide. It should be out this summer.