Do you ever feel guilty about your anger?
Jesus became angry! Merchants were selling animals to be sacrificed at a marked up price, were doing so in the worship area of the gentiles, showing no concern for them and doing so also disrupted the focus on prayer and worship.
When Jesus saw this He “rearranged the furniture” of the temple to remove barriers to worship. In doing so Jesus demonstrated that anger is a legitimate emotion, not necessarily sin. It is an emotion released to defend something valuable that is threatened. Anger is illegitimate if it becomes bitterness or a desire for vengeance. Jesus also demonstrated his sovereignty over the temple. The temple is his domain and he can rearrange the Temple furniture any way he wants to.
The Bible teaches that today our bodies are the temple of God, the place where God’s Spirit meets our spirit, and we are wise to remember that God can rearrange the “furniture of our temple” any way he wants.
What structures in you need overturned, removed, rearranged, thrown out, rebuilt, renovated, patched, torn down and rebuilt? Answering this question would be a good way to spend your prayer time today.
This Blog reminds me of Boundaries. Many people, especially Christians, have issues with healthy boundaries. It made most sense to me, when recently studying the issue of Boundaries, when it was explained (by Joyce Meyers perhaps?) that we have a duty to maintain healthy boundaries around our heart (our inner temple).
ReplyDeleteWe can be angry when someone oversteps our boundaries and their behavior hurts us. I love how you [Pastor Jeff] said …“It [anger] is an emotion released to defend something valuable that is threatened. Anger is illegitimate if it becomes bitterness or a desire for vengeance.”
If we have healthy boundaries, we can communicate our anger (hurt, really) at the offense and if the perpetrator asks for forgiveness and repents, be done with it. If the perpetrator does not seek forgiveness or repent, we have the duty to restrict them from the outer courts of our temple (heart).
We do not have a right to be come bitter or seek vengeance, but do have the duty to protect our inner temple (heart). We do this by forgiving the trespass and moving the boundary further away to protect the temple of God, which resides within us. Many perpetrators will take this healthy act and be just as fearful as the teachers of the law, because they seek only their selfish profit.
Interestingly, Jesus used clear Conflict Resolution here:
I FEEL = Anger;
WHEN = the court is used by merchants “a den of Robbers”;
BECAUSE = it is written it is to be “the house of prayer for all nations”;
SO = forgive.
The next verses in Mark contain the lesson on the withered fig tree. Here we are told: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” ~~~
Thank you Pastor Jeff for sharing your wonderful insights on a hard to understand story of Jesus overturning the tables. We often think of Jesus as simply peaceful and loving, but there are many instances where he displays a range of emotions, such as compassion, astonishment and amazement, sadness, anger, and even crying.
It confirms to us that he was human and felt all emotions that we too feel; comforting, isn’t it?
Thanks Pastor Jeff and RuthAnn. I've silently assigned different categories to anger.Being jealous for the Lord's honor, His holiness, etc has always had "my" stamp of approval as righteous anger. Anger against injustice, falsehoods, betrayal and the like had "my" okay. Anger against those who've hurt me, even intentionally, was not allowed because my anger was an example of my selfishness, therefore, bad. Dead people don't experience anger or pain, obviously, something in me needed to die. Pastor, your words "It is an emotion released to defend something valuable that is threatened." gives me permission to view my feelings as having value and RuthAnn your explanation of the inner court and outer court of our heart allows me to face anger and then let it go. I'm grateful to both of you for granting me a liberty I've never allowed myself to have. Thank you!
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