Beatitudes Continued

 

Yesterday we considered salt and light, today we turn to anger.  Jesus invites us to be careful with our anger (Matthew 5:23-26)

 

And I hear you thinking, “Would you look at the time…I gotta run.”

 

Wait…come back.

 

Anger is an emotion we all feel.  Anger may be an emotion you were taught or told to push down and be avoided at all costs.  Anger can be loud with shouting to score points and win arguments.  Anger can be quiet when someone turns his/her back/cuts you out of her/his life altogether.  Anger can send a chill down your spine, even on a hot/humid Florida day.  Anger feeds and fuels our lives today.  We see vicious comments online; we hear on the news two people trying yelling at each other throwing verbal grenades, we swim in a sea of negativity that has become normal.  The wounds and wants of life leave us all raw, vulnerable, and frightened.

 

In these moments, some people become big and others become small.  Some rise up like a bear lashing out and others want to hide their heads like a turtle praying their shell will hold up.  And there is a bit of both within us. 

 

On the other side of anger, if we are willing to sit with this strong emotion, can teach and tell us what we care most about in the world.  Consider the last time you were angry…usually because a value you hold in your heart was threatened or you felt threatened physically/emotionally/ relationally.

 

What was that moment like?  What did you do?  Did you get big or go small? 

 

We live in a culture that wants to win…and we view people who are meek as weak; even though meekness is really more humility…and humility is all about being human-sized. I am not a superhero who can leap tall buildings in a single bound…I am made of soil and star dust to which one day I will return.  We live in a culture where love is nice for a pastor (or Jesus) to talk about for one hour on Sunday, but really isn’t as effective or efficient for our desire for immediate results. 

One final thought, anger and fear often hold hands. And apparently anger has been around since the day of Jesus.  People were angry…and afraid of the Roman Empire…of Herod (who was puppet king of Caesar)…angry and afraid of who could you trust.  I don’t know if it is nature or nurture…if it is our biology or biography (story we tell ourselves), but I do know that being human means we will experience anger.  How has this emotion played a role in your life recently? As you remember when last anger showed up for a visit, please pray with me.

 

Prayer: O God, the ancient Psalmists shouted out for You, “answer me”, the Psalmist plotted and planned and sang a time of sweet revenge when heads would be dashed upon a rock (Psalm 138), and even Jesus quoted Psalm 22 about feeling forgotten and forsaken and frustrated.  Help us, O God, realize and recognize that You can hold not just our praise but pain.  Help us come to You not just with poetic prose of sweet words, but when anger throbs in our hearts.  Help us live the prayer posture of offering You our anger first, listening openly to Your wisdom, before we roll up our sleeves and take matters into our own hands.  Take our lives, our whole lives, especially the bruised and broken parts that too often we hide, into Your healing embrace.  In the name of the One who lived his life with all the emotions, Jesus the Christ. Amen.