| Monday's observance of the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. stands in sharp, sad contrast to the senseless violence in Tuscon last Saturday, which saw 6 persons murdered and a Member of Congress gravely wounded. It's a sad indicator of the ‘notching up' of anger in our nation. Fed by polarizing media pundits, it's reached the point where violence erupts. And the misperception that violence can solve anything, or be an appropriate response to political or ideological disagreements should cause us all more than a little anxiety!
Rooted in the Gospel of Jesus, Dr. King sought a non-violent response to injustice and hoped-for social change. The ‘love of enemy and prayer for persecutors' (Matthew 5:43) is perhaps the most challenging aspect of Jesus' teaching; it is also the most important if we are to stop the age-old tide of bloodshed committed in the Name of God!
That doesn't mean that we can't be passionate about our views and values. And it doesn't mean we will never get angry. Passion and anger are parts of the human emotional palette – gifts from God! We speak of Jesus' "passion and death" (see Matthew 26, 27). Yes indeed! He was passionate – willing to ‘give up everything' – for the sake of the Gospel and the Father's Will.
And yes indeed! Jesus got angry on a regular basis – with religious hypocrites (Matthew 23:27), with ‘thick-skulled' Peter, His ‘main man' (Matthew 16:23); with vendors in the Temple (John 2:15), with Pontius Pilate (John 19:11). But He knew how to direct and vent that anger in honest ways which were not violent or cruel, ways which had the best chance of communicating His truth!
So many times I hear people feeling guilty for being angry. But anger isn't a sin. It's an indicator of where our values, our passions lie. Like taking a pulse or blood pressure (which both go up with anger) it instructs us about what's most important to us, what we cherish and hope for the most!
But angry feelings aren't a ‘free pass' to become sinfully abusive, violent or cruel. Quite the opposite! The awareness of our own anger should first instruct us, and then challenge us to find a way to express it creatively, honestly and carefully. Anger held inward becomes depression – even suicide; anger unchecked does violence such as Tucson saw this week. But, if we can find that creative middle ground, anger's potential for good, for reconciliation and unity can be experienced.
St Paul counsels us "to speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). That's what Jesus did; then he let the chips fall where they may. And they knew "a prophet had been in their midst". (Ezekiel 33:33)
Many times we get angry because we sense at some level, the truth of another's words – a ‘truth' we don't like. But talking it through rather raising voices and trying to win through loud intimidation will give us better, mutual results!
Working on the high school newspaper decades ago, I came across a wise insight from an anonymous 17-year old writer: "The world will not be changed by angry voices, or more meaningless laws or senseless acts of violence. The world will be changed people, one at a time, whose hearts have been converted to peace."
Taking our cue from Jesus, may Christians – indeed all persons – learn to reverence our anger, to let it inform us, and to creatively and carefully communicate it, so that we can walk together in God's Peace – which the world cannot give, (John 14:27) and which the world cannot take away!
|
