Jesus is not easily angered

 JESUS IS NOT EASILY ANGERED

The crowd rebuked [the blind men] and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” … Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately, they received their sight and followed him.

MATTHEW 20.31, 34

Love… is not easily angered.

1 CORINTHIANS 13.5

Based on MATTHEW 20:29–34

We all deal with minor annoyances every day, whether it’s morning traffic on our commute, milk spilled on freshly washed floors, or noisy children demanding attention while we’re on our phones.

People in Jesus’ time were easily annoyed too.

As Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho accompanied by a large crowd, two blind beggars on the side of the road heard the commotion, discerned it was the famed teacher, and decided today was their lucky day.

As beggars, their presence alone would be irritating enough to some. Their unwashed bodies and tattered clothes would have caused those passing by to wrinkle their noses and avert their gazes. But rather than blend into the background, they were causing a ruckus as they tried to make themselves heard above the crowd. The men and women rebuked them, they were trying to hear Jesus.

But these desperate men wouldn’t be shut up. They just kept calling louder and louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Imagine the crowd’s annoyance turning into anger. Why couldn’t the two men just be quiet already? Didn’t they realise they’re interfering with their ability to get close to Jesus?

But Jesus stops and calls the men to Himself.

Where others were angered by the men’s persistence, Jesus rewarded them with His presence. What others experienced as inconvenience, Jesus experienced as compassion, welcoming interruptions as opportunities to love those He had come to save. He refused to allow others’ annoyance to keep these men away. And as soon as their eyes were opened, they immediately followed Jesus. Here was a man who finally cared for them.

Anger in itself is not sinful — it can be a healthy recognition that things are not as they ought to be. But when anger is directed against someone who inconveniences us, that is not righteous anger but rather self-centred anger. Jesus is quick to extinguish anger that puts people down because it’s antithetical to who Jesus is and how He loves.

Jesus was angered when God’s image-bearers were trampled on and abused for others’ selfish gains. Any action that pushes one’s own agenda at the cost of someone else’s dignity is an affront to God’s loving nature and cause for righteous anger. But anger aroused from personal inconvenience reveals our own pride, selfishness, and lack of love.

Many people try to pitch an “Old Testament angry God” against a “New Testament loving Jesus,” yet such caricatures completely misrepresent the unified nature of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is precisely God’s love that compels Him to anger when He calls out the wickedness of those who abuse the helpless for their own selfish gains. It is God’s perfect love that pours out wrath on those who seek their own advancement at the cost of others’ well-being. And it’s that same perfect love in Jesus that causes Him to lash out at the religious leaders of His time who abused those placed in their spiritual care and those who made money off of worshipers in the temple.

That same perfect love compels Jesus to show compassion toward these two blind men who inconvenienced the crowds and incurred their wrath. Jesus’ compassion and His anger both flow from the same heart of love — love not of self, but love of God and love for others.

Throughout the Old Testament, God’s anger is kindled by those who abuse the poor and helpless for their own selfish gains, and we witness this same anger in Jesus (Mk 7.5–13).

It is Jesus’ love that compels Him to anger against those who abuse and misuse the helpless. His anger burned against the disciples when they tried to keep the little children from Him. His anger burned against the moneychangers who made a profit off of those who came to worship at the temple. His anger burned against the religious leaders who misled the people placed in their spiritual charge. The God of both the Old Testament and the New Testament is the same God, made fully known in Jesus Christ, whose anger burns out of love.

Prayer 

Dear Jesus, I acknowledge that I don’t love perfectly. I can be easily angered, but usually because I’m not happy with how I’m treated. Forgive me for my selfishness. Remove this anger from my heart and replace it with Your love. Break my heart for what breaks Yours. Let it be Your love that compels me to righteous anger toward those who abuse others, and let it be Your love that compels me to forgive those who hurt me. In my anger, keep me from sinning against You and others. Teach me to love well. In Jesus’ name. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

If you want to read more 

Isa 58, Mt 12.11–16, 25.31–46, Mk 10.46–52, 12.38–40, Lk 9.51–56, 18.35–43, Eph 4.26