Palm Sunday- Anger
This is our last week dealing with the Seven Deadly Sins, which are the major diseases of the soul. It can be uncomfortable to see these; sins in ourselves, but a diagnosis is actually ‘good news’. When we have a diagnosis, then we can start to treat the problem.
Today we are looking at anger, sometimes it is called wrath. … Some in the Early Church describe an internal ‘incensive energy’ within us as a driving force that arises naturally in us.[1] They saw this energy as needing to be purified through prayer and wisdom, and then it can be used to resist temptation, and to fight against evil thoughts. But this energy is really only to be directed at our own sin and evil, but not against other human beings. For them, this energy can turn into anger, and for them it is almost always bad.
We will naturally feel anger when something doesn’t go our way. If something or someone we value is disrespected, threatened, or mistreated, we will feel anger rise up within us. If someone is not behaving the way we think they should, we might feel anger. That initial anger lets us know something is not going according to how we think things should go. … When anger arises in us, we have a choice to make regarding what we do with it.
One of the problems with anger is that it can lead us to think that everything actually should go our way. … In the heat of our anger, we can’t usually see another point of view. We can’t usually see that we might be wrong. Anger convinces us that we are right, and that we should act on that conviction. St. Basil the Great taught that anger makes us like beasts, by diminishing our ability to reason. The Early Church taught that anger is almost always sinful, especially when it is directed against another human being. …
This is one of the sins we really don’t want to let go of. You might feel that inside you right now as I mentioned what the Early Church thought of anger. I feel it inside of me. We want to challenge that thought by saying things like “But we can’t control how we feel” “But anger helps us protest against the wrongs we see in the world” .
We will sometimes try to justify our anger by pointing out ways that God is described as angry in the Bible. John Cassian (360-435), who has been a bit of a guide for us through this series, points out that God’s anger in the Bible is a metaphor. … The Scriptures also say that God sleeps. So, we read in Psalm 44, “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?” (Ps 44:23). God is also described as having human body parts- God has lips, a mouth, hands, arms, feet, and a head. But God, in His divine nature doesn’t have a body, and these bodily descriptions are metaphors used to describe something about God, but aren’t to be read overly literally. … So, we should be careful about justifying our anger on the basis of that metaphor used of God. …
And besides that, God would be able to deal with anger in a way that we can’t. God also has all the information needed to assess the situation. … I once heard a man (Stephen Covey) tell a story about being on the subway and a man got the subway car on with a number of young children. The kids were wild. They were running around, being noisy, and disturbing people who were trying to read. This man was getting angry and decided to say something to the father. So, he looks at the man and says, “Hey, don’t you think you should control your children? They are really bothering people.” The man looked up and said, “Oh sorry. We just came from the hospital. Their mother just died. I guess they don’t know how to feel”. The man’s anger dissipated pretty quickly once he had that added information. God has all the information. We don’t. But it can be hard to be angry and have enough humility to be open to information that might give more context. Anger can put blinders on us.
Because our soul is not fully healed, our character cannot handle anger without it being destructive. … St. John Chrysostom does seem to see a very disciplined anger as being used as a force for good when protecting the vulnerable against injustice. But that view of anger is a minority position based on my reading in the Early Church. Most seem to say that outward expressions of anger are sinful. Words and actions that come from a place of anger are destructive. … Even anger held onto inwardly, which we call bitterness, is a destructive kind of anger. … So, Anger is destructive not only for those on the end of our angry outburst, but it is also destructive to ourselves. …
Of all the Seven Deadly Sins, this seems to be the one we want to try to justify the most. We want our anger. Sometimes we avoid it by simply renaming it- “I’m not angry- I’m frustrated” or maybe we call it “righteous indignation”. …
We will sometimes justify our anger by saying that it is necessary for justice, which is Chrysostom’s point of view. We need to point out wrongdoing. We need to make sure wrongdoers don’t get away with doing evil. … The letter of James speaks directly to our attempt to justify anger as a fuel for justice saying,
"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness [justice] that God desires." (James 1:19-20).
We try to justify our anger as necessary for fighting for justice or righteousness, but James says it does not produce God’s righteousness. As Christians, we have to use something else to get to justice- use compassion, use kindness, use love, … but not anger. Anger leads to destruction. Anything that can be done in anger can be done better when motivated by some other emotion. So, it is best if we can transform anger into some other emotion before we act or speak.
Sometimes our anger is disguised as fighting for justice, but it might actually come from our own desire to control things, and our own impatience. Our anger can come from people just not behaving the way we want them to. … St. John Cassian says,
Sometimes our anger is disguised as fighting for justice, but it might actually come from our own desire to control things, and our own impatience. Our anger can come from people just not behaving the way we want them to. … St. John Cassian says,
“our not getting angry must derive not from someone else’s perfection but from our own virtue”.
It’s not appropriate for us to say that we will not get angry if everyone will just behave the way we want them to. Being surrounded by “perfect people” might lead to us not getting angry, but that’s no spiritual accomplishment, and frankly, it’s just not going to happen.
Jesus and his saints have given very strong teachings about anger. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus implies that anger in the soul is the seed of murder (Matt 5:22).
Jesus and his saints have given very strong teachings about anger. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus implies that anger in the soul is the seed of murder (Matt 5:22).
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”
… Anger as the seed of murder. How many murders would happen if we removed anger from the world? … So, in the teaching of Jesus, anger is to murder as lust is to adultery.
Paul teaches the churches,
Paul teaches the churches,
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." (Eph 4:31; Col 3:8).
… In the letter to the Ephesians we read,
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph 4:26-27).
We sometimes see this as permission to be angry, but in this verse anger is associated with sin and giving opportunity for the devil. So, anger is surrounded with serious warnings.
Throughout the ages the wisdom of the saints has cautioned against anger. St Augustine said,
Throughout the ages the wisdom of the saints has cautioned against anger. St Augustine said,
“It is better to deny entrance to just and reasonable anger than to admit it, no matter how small it is. Once let in, it is driven out again only with great difficulty. … There never was an angry man who thought his anger unjust”.
St. Nilus of Sinai (Nilus the elder), who lived in the early 400’s, said
“There is absolutely no anger against your brother which could be justified” (153 Texts on Prayer).
And St. John Cassian says,
“in no way are we permitted to get angry, whether for an unjust or a just cause” (The Institutes).
St. Evagrios the Solitary says,
“when you pray as you should, thoughts will come to you which makes you feel that you have a real right to be angry. But anger with your neighbor is never right. If you search you will find that things can always be arranged without anger. So do all you can not to break out into anger” (Philokalia Vol 1).As we follow Jesus to the cross this week, we will see many of the Deadly Sins we have been dealing with. We will see greed in Judas, who betrayed Jesus for silver coins. We will see envy and pride in the religious leaders. We will see sloth in the disciples’ inability to stay awake with Jesus in the garden before his arrest. Anger will lead to the killing of Jesus- The anger of the people shouting “crucify”, and the anger of the religious and political leaders who could not control Jesus and make him do what they wanted. …
We shout “hosanna” as he enters the city. He is our king, … but part of us rejects him. Part of us doesn’t want the repentance that is necessarily part of submitting ourselves to his Kingdom. Part of us doesn’t want to have a king, because we want to be king or queen over our own lives. We want things to go our way. And when things don’t go our way, we get angry. … Very quickly our “Hosanna”s turn to “Crucify him”. … Whenever we submit to our anger, our sin, our soul shouts “Crucify”. Whenever we allow Sin to have its way, we are nailing his body to the wood of the cross.
If ever there was a just reason to be angry … Jesus had it. As an innocent man tortured and nailed to a cross, he had a right to anger if ever anyone had a right to their anger. He could have spit curses from the cross, … but he didn’t. Instead of a curse, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” … Forgiveness is the medicine that cures anger. … Jesus took all the damage human sin could do to him. And he responded not with anger, but with forgiveness.
We journey with Christ this holy week, remembering his suffering, and opening ourselves up to the transformation he wants for us. The Seven Deadly Sins want to crush us, but Christ has provided medicine to treat these sicknesses. Just as Jesus transformed the cruelty of the cross into the ultimate act of love and forgiveness, so we too are called to turn away from anger and embrace the virtues that bring life, not destruction. … As we enter Holy Week, may we lay our anger at the foot of the cross, trusting in Christ’s power to heal our broken hearts and guide us into a life of love, compassion, and grace. May his example of forgiveness inspire us to live as peacemakers in a world that desperately needs his light. Amen.
[1] see Isaiah the Solitary and Evagrios the Solitary
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