Anger: Did Jesus sin?

Sometimes I get angry. Something happens, and the red fog descends. I’ve been known to get very angry, very quickly, and often with little or no reason for it. I even get angry at people for doing something to me, that I do to them. Ahh the joy of double standards...

And so this has raised a question in my mind; If anger is a sin, how come God and Jesus got angry?

Saint Augustine said:

“Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they don’t remain the way they are.”

To be honest, I’ve never considered anger to be a thing of beauty. When I think of anger, I think of myself not being rational, being violent, shouting, and saying or doing things I’d never normally do. And all too often I do these things to the ones I love.

So what’s different about how I get angry, and how Jesus got angry?

Let’s take a look at Matthew 21:12-13:

Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

Jesus got angry, and knocked some stuff around and chased people from the temple. Sounds like a pretty good tantrum, doesn’t it? But is it sin?

Obviously, because we know Jesus was sinless, it’s not. But how come?

When I get angry, it’s usually because I’ve been offended (sometimes actually, sometimes in my own head) by someone, their actions, or lack thereof. I can even get angry when I miss out on something I want; A bit like a petulant child, actually.

But Jesus’ anger wasn’t like this. He was angry because the merchants were treating God’s House with contempt. He also was angry because they were cheating and treating people unjustly. And when God gets angry at sin, it’s because He knows the terrible damage it does to us, whom He loves. Instead of a selfish anger, His is a righteous anger.

Jesus anger comes from a deep understanding of the holiness of God, and the true respect and awe He deserves. And there are many ways in which Jesus displayed anger:

As part of the sermon on the mount, Jesus tackled hypocrisy head-on:
Matthew 7:3-5

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye."

In Revelation, Jesus attacks the church at Laodicea for not being fully committed to following God:
Revelation 3:15-18ff

“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realise that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich."

And as a final example, Jesus called out the teachers of His time for their superiority complex:
Mark 12:38-40

Jesus also taught “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honour in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.”

And so, I think the biggest lesson I need to take from this is that I can never excuse my anger, and not to let it destroy me and those around me - as it will, if left unchecked. Instead, I need to turn Jesus and ask Him to forgive me. I also need to ask Him to help me learn to react to life’s frustrations with patience instead of anger.

As the Bible says, in Proverbs 29:11:

“Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm”

So please pray for me, and anyone else you know who suffers from anger issues. It's not a great place to be, for me, or anyone close to me.