What is Love: The Anger of Jesus

I know, the title seems like an oxymoron. How can Jesus's anger teach us about love? The reason it can is because His anger was born out of His love for His people.

Many people think that anger is a big no-no. As a therapist, I have seen this time and time again. People feel like their anger is something to be ashamed of and fought against.

But what they don't realize is that anger is a perfectly valid emotion and that pushing it down can often lead to violent outbursts, which just leads to more shame about getting angry. But it's not wrong to get angry, it's what we do when we're angry that is wrong. It's not why you react but how you react that matters.

The most famous example of Jesus's anger was when He overturned tables at the temple.

Matthew 21:12-13 says, "Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves,’ ” (NKJV).

Jesus got angry several times in the Bible, mostly at the Pharisees (who were the religious leaders of that time), but this was the most violent display of that anger. So why did He get angry and was He justified in how He handled His anger?

In those days, the law of the Torah demanded a sacrifice for any sin that was committed. Most often this sacrifice would come in the form of a small animal that would literally be cut open and it's blood sprinkled over the altar.

But the vendors outside of the temple would essentially sell forgiveness of sin by selling sacrificial animals. The money changers were kind of like banks where you could trade your currency for the one accepted by your preferred vendor.

Jesus obviously found this offensive because how can a purchased animal be a true sacrifice? It's like a kid I knew in high school who gave up Brussel sprouts for Lent; he never ate them, so how was that giving up something you love for God?

Not only that, but these vendors were misleading people into thinking that you could purchase salvation. In those days, it was common for people to be unable to read and so they relied on religious leaders to relay God's word to them.

The vendors would assure them that such a sacrifice was acceptable to God and the Pharisees sanctioned this behavior because it brought more money into the church.

So given the why of His anger, was Jesus justified in how He reacted? Think of it this way: if you were having a gathering at your house and you saw people in your front lawn selling admission to your home, what would you do? You'd probably flip out, right?

That's exactly how Jesus felt. These people were sitting in front of His house and charging admission to enter. He was completely justified in His anger and His reaction was actually pretty mild if you think about it. I know a lot of people who would take out a shotgun in that same situation.

But the main point is that His anger was based in His love for His people. He didn't want His children being taken advantage of and led astray by what were basically snake oil salesmen.

His problem with the Pharisees, who likely took a cut of this practice, was that they cared more about riches and status than they did about God's love and they taught His children to fear damnation rather than to seek a relationship with God.

You can compare Jesus's feelings to a parent whose child believes someone they look up to when they say lying is good even though that's the opposite of what the parent said. The child doesn't know any better, they are just following the lead of their idol.

You would be justified in getting angry at that person and wanting to seek vengeance because you just want to protect your child from a harmful influence. That's what Jesus wanted too, to protect His children from the harmful influence of the Pharisees and their slimy associates.

So Jesus showed His immense love for us by letting out His explosive anger on the people that were hurting His children and leading them astray.

This very human emotion was in full display in the form of God on Earth not allowing treacherous men to take advantage of His precious children, thereby showing us that God would do anything to keep us safe and help us find the way to a relationship with Him.