Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Beautiful Anger

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What types of things make you angry?
What ticks you off?
When someone blocks your will?
What is this will?
Is this will for your own well being or for someone else's?

When was Jesus angry?
At the soldiers who beat and killed him?
What about the Pharisees who placed burdens on the Jewish peasants?
What about the people who wanted to stone a whore?
What about the Pharisees who didn't want Jesus to heal people on the Sabbath?
What about the high priests who wanted to make a profit in the temple at Passover by selling animals out of it?
We know which one's Jesus got angry about.

Sometimes we have to wait for our food at a restaurant for a longer time than we consider to be acceptable. We feel impatient and angry over it. We don't flinch about the billions of people in Africa, India, and other countries who go hungry everyday.
That's ugly.

Sometimes we get angry if someone slightly hurts our pride or ego. We don't flinch at children who get made fun of by everyone at school everyday, children who don't want to live another day. And yet we get angry at them when they hurt someone else (i.e. school shooting, showing sorrow for that pretty cheerleader who had everything).
That's ugly.

What if we got angry about the injustice of others.
What if we channeled this anger by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing shelter for the homeless, taking care of the widow and orphan as the Bible says to do.
God says that whatever we do unto the least of these we do unto him.
What if we stood up for the underdog, even when it made us look small.
That would be beautiful.