Friday, June 01, 2007

Righteous anger, pure in heart

Mark 11 : 15 - 19
Jesus began driving out.....he overturned the tables...and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
There was a time when I found myself resisting such passages...passages where Jesus is portrayed as angry and disturbed. One day though, I consciously lay aside my fears and allowed myself to contemplate the passage imaginatively. It was then that I began to see Jesus in a different light and understand a part of him that I would have missed had I stayed with my own limited image of him.
I guess most of us would like things to be peaceful. 'Peace at any price' is the motto many people especially Christians adopt. It is much easier to go through life not disturbing the status quo, not upsetting others, just agreeing with them and of course being in their good books. I know that is what I would like. I find it difficult to be assertive for fear that I will lose favor with others. At the same time, I have watched others who are more assertive and how often that turns into quarrels and defensiveness.
In Scripture, we are given snapshots of Jesus, like the passage today when he was really upset and had no qualms expressing his feelings. What makes his expression of anger different from ours? As I watched Jesus through my imagination in this scene, I began to realize how his anger was a consequence of his concern for his Father's will. It was not his own agenda he was promoting. "My house will be called a house of prayer....but you have made it a den of robbers!" He was burning with righteous anger or we might say godly anger, something we as frail humans would find it very difficult to appreciate. Often our anger and irritation with others and with situations is colored by our own personal agendas. How often the disagreements at our church business meetings is the result of different persons wanting their agenda met, not wanting to listen to the perspectives of others, let alone discern what God really desires in the situation.
Yes, Jesus shows us how someone pure in heart and passionate about his Father's will responds to the ungodly situations in this world. The question for us is not whether we should be 'angry' about things we see as 'wrong' around us. The question is whether we have the purity of heart to respond with righteous anger, in a constructive manner to those situations.
I know that when I sense something is not right, the most urgent thing is to bring it to prayer. I need to come to the Lord asking that my motivations be cleansed of any self-will. Why am I upset about the situation? Is there a sore spot within me that is being triggered? All this is grappled with in the prayer closet, before we present our reactions and opinions to others. In the process of this hard spiritual work, we are giving God room to conform us into the image of his Son.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

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