Devotionals Detail

Reading: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

“Be angry,” says Ephesians 4:26.

It’s not a phrase that we expect to hear from the Bible.  We often associate being a Christian with a monitored level of kindness to everyone despite their actions. 

But just consider these texts:

• “The Lords nose burned hot in anger against Moses” in Exodus 4:14.
• “You overthrew your adversaries, you sent out your fury,” sings Moses of God’s destruction of Pharoah in Exodus 15:7.
• “Give me rest that my anger may burn against the Israelites and destroy them,” the Lord says to Moses in Exodus 32:9.

Sounds pretty angry to me, and that is just the second book of the Bible.

In the New Testament, we hear Jesus’ expressions of anger nuanced in a variety of encounters:

• Jesus is so zealous about the money changers in the temple not making the Father’s house into a den of robbers that he turns over their tables in Matthew 21:12-17.
• Jesus becomes angry at the Pharisees who want to plot his death and is pained at their hardness of heart in Mark 3:5.
• Jesus rebukes two people whom he just healed to not tell of his power in Matthew 9:30 and Mark 1:43.

So how does this kind of anger differ from the proclamation of Paul in his letter to the Ephesian church to “not let the sun go down on your anger?” 

Expressions of divine anger are specific, and are related to injustice of persons hurting one another and relate to the breaking of relationship with God intentionally.  Sacred anger is not an instant response to provocation of personal preference.  God’s anger is slow, not reactive. Jesus’ anger does not result in derision, contempt or abuse of another.   These examples of holy anger provide a model that is specific for God’s ways to be honored, is slow to develop, and not begrudging for long.

So in this series, as we consider how anger and forgiveness are related, remember that righteous anger is Biblical.  The challenge is how we name and claim that in a way that the sun does not set on it.  Our anger should not be ruminating over unjust situations for days or weeks, or penetrating our hearts so that we demonize another, or plotting revenge to continue cycles of harm.  Anger can be part of a healthy journey towards forgiveness.

So go ahead, be angry.

And then, let the sun set, so you can forgive.