Jesus Gets Angry

Sermon for March 8, Third Sunday in Lent: 2015

John 2:13-22 

The gospel story is that Jesus drove moneychangers from the temple. Jesus was full of self-righteous anger. Jesus is just like you and me.

Jesus is truly human – a lot of debate about that in the early days of the Christian Church. This story shows his basic humanity

Some of the first century’s debates were, Donatism, Gnosticism, Marcionism, Manichaeism and others. Look them up for some fun reading.

Our basic Christian concept is that JESUS WAS TRULY MAN AND TRULY GOD. That is the beginning of a discussion, not the end of it.

2. For us today in this world and our parish and you and me we rejoice that Jesus got angry, we get angry. All human beings get angry.

Facebook, Twitter. New places for anger.  Road Rage, Get even Rage are new ways to express anger that hurts.

Being angry is not a sin. What we do with our anger is where we can physically or emotionally hurt other people.

We get angry at our children’s behavior. We admit we are angry, mad or furious. Then we can calm down and decide what to do with our child or ourselves to handle the anger. We can cuddle, cajole, kiss, argue, reason and sometimes even smack the kid. Not popular these days but we do it anyway.

When we get angry, we can make social change.

Rosa Parks, MLK, Jr. Nelson Mandela got mad at racial discrimination and they helped bring about enormous changes in our race relations.

Today 50^th Anniversary of the brutality at Selma, the nation and the world and even the congress got angry and the Civil rights legislation was passed. That happened on a Sunday in Selma.

Roman Catholics got mad and challenged the current RC Archbishop of SF for his reprehensible rules for teacher and student behavior.

People are getting angry that they can’t die with dignity when they are in great pain or misery at the end of their lives. More and more Baby Boomers growing older want to be able to request life-ending medication.

3. Why aren’t we more angry?

Street gangs, drug dealing and death from drugs make us do what we can to bring about change.

24/ work weeks, no extra pay.

Low paying jobs for the working poor.

At obscene salaries for a few and poverty for the rest.

Overcrowded prisons, homelessness, mental and emotional illness.

The deep humanity of the Man Jesus who gets furious, who heals the sick and sights injustice is an inspiration for me and perhaps others here.

YOU CAN’T CONTROL GETTING ANGRY

YOU CAN CONTROL HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR ANGER

COVERSATION, COMPROMISE, COUNT TO TEN, COOL DOWN, SEEK HELP, UNIONIZE

Non-Violence can be taught.

The gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to do, to minister to the hungry, widows, orphans, the sick and to seek justice against oppression. Pay taxes to finance the needs of the oppressed.

CLOSING HAUERWAS PRAYER

Do Not Rob Me of Anger

DEAR LORD, I am filled with anger born of frustration.  I confess I know not whether all my anger is of you.  I just know I am filled with hope, which makes me angry that others are not so filled.  Take away the self-aggrandizing righteousness that so often accompanies such anger, but please do not rob me of the anger.  It is energy.  Make it to be of service.  Help me pass it on.  We are taught by the world to fear anger.  Yet we know that you are a just judge, angry because we are not justly angry.  We want you to be like us—get along by going along.  You will not play that game.  You expect your church to be faithful—yes, angry.  Make us a people with dark brows capable of scaring a few folk.  May they look at us and say, “Those guys are so filled with love their anger overflows.”  AMEN

- Stanley Hauerwas