Moods of Advent: Anger

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, after noting how many people in the 19^th century had invented all sorts of labor-saving devices, making human life easier in developing countries,

said that he would dedicate himself to a life of making people's lives more difficult – he would become a preacher!

As such he stands in the line of such persons who intend to speak the truth, whether it be convenient or not.

Today, on the Second Sunday in Advent each year, we run into several of these persons, including John the Baptizer and Jesus.

And one of the difficulties that arise because of them is anger.

We are right to be suspicious of anger.

In resentful anger, Cain killed Abel.

The first time that the Bible mentions the emotion of rage is followed quickly by the first fratricide.

In anger, Jonah refused to follow God's call to go to Nineveh, and fled in the opposite direction to Tarshish.

In Jesus' first sermon in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, ended with the town-folk so angry with him that they tried to kill him, and would have tossed him off the cliff if he had not eluded them.

Many terrible tragedies occur through anger.

And yet great good can come through the application of anger.

Jeremiah was angry enough to be persistent in giving his message to Israel, not giving up when it became difficult to continue.

The prophets did that sort of thing all the time, didn't they?

They had to give tough messages, tough but true words.

They were either angry themselves, or elicited an angry response from their those who heard them, sometimes at the cost of their lives.

And Jesus, too.

Here's a hymn we'll not be singing today:

O Jesus so sweet, O Jesus so mild!

For sinners You became a child.

Joy fills the world which sin defiled. [HS98#858]

In order to make the rhyme, the poet landed on mild; how unfortunate!

We can hardly paint a picture of Jesus in weak, mild pastels!

When he took children in his arms, it was to keep them from being shoved out of the way or trampled underfoot by the crowds who could not see or did not understand.

He indignantly snatched up the children in order to rescue them!

And this Jesus is the one who, when he came to the Temple was not over-awed by the spectacle of the place, but was angered, incensed by the injustices being performed there:

false weights and measures,

cheating,

ostentatious display, etc.

and so in anger he made a whip of cords and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and drove them all out of the temple precincts.

So much for a “meek and mild” Jesus.

Why would a nice person like Jesus do something like that?

“Zeal for thy house will consume me,” reads Psalm 69, which the disciples remembered in light of Jesus' actions in the Temple.

Jesus was acting like an Old Testament prophet, someone who loves the truth of God more than anything else, and who becomes angry when the truth is not honored.

He could have said...”Oh well, that's the way it has always been around here.

Some things never change.”

But he cleans it up one day.

It is a signal of the complete overturning needed in our usual pattern of trying to manipulate God.

The old-style manipulation will not work.

It was not Jesus who said “moderation in all things”, but rather pagan philosophers who claimed that point of view.

Jesus is not “moderate.”

He wept for the fate of his beloved city: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! [Lk.13:34],

and his loud voice in the Temple appealed to the memory of the zeal of the prophets in all of their robust anger.

We do believe that God loves us, but today's scriptures are a great reminder that God loves us enough to be angry with us.

God expects more out of us than we expect out of ourselves: repentance.

God holds us to a higher standard of righteousness than that whereby we are often willing to judge ourselves.

And the process of change may involve considerable pain.

The First Lesson today uses the image of the refiner's fire, and it is a violent one.

Recently I was reading about the archeological remains of a smelting operation that was found southeast of the Dead Sea.

The scholars are guessing that it was a truly horrible and dangerous place to work; it might be a death-sentence for slaves sent there.

Now hear the prophet again: ...he will refine them like gold and silver until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. [Mal. 3]

The ore, the fuel, and the catalyst are brought together in the fire and air is forced through the mixture until the impurities are driven off.

It is a violent process, with nothing sweet and gentle about it.

The slag with impurities is thrown away and the molten metal is drawn off into molds to begin to serve useful purposes.

[Bud Doebler could tell us from painful experience what happens when something molten falls in a place where it shouldn't, such as down inside a boot.]

Is there a refining process going on in our lives?

What is the junk that is being thrown away?

Several families have moved in recent months and know that painful process of sorting and deciding what to give, throw, sell, and the much smaller amount that one can keep.

That is one kind of refining.

A difficult medical diagnosis can bring about a refining, an examination of what is important in life, what needs attention and what does not.

When a young person and family deals with the ins and outs of college life,... or when broken relationships or a financial crisis throws people together, including some of the folks involved in Family Promise....

these, too, can be hot times of refining.

Sometimes we may choose to wallow in anger and resentment and try to hold onto the slag, the junk in our lives.

That is a disaster, for everyone.

But when we allow the sorting to happen,

when we cling to what is of true value, then a different future may open for us.

Those passing through the Family Promise program who have been most successful are those who have caught onto that insight,

and yes, a few have been willing to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and have made an active connection with one of the hosting congregations.

God loves us enough to be angry with us, or to provoke the kind of discontent and anger within us that can cause us to be changed.

We may think that we want a God in pastel tones, but that is not what the preacher is bringing today.

Strong words and God's major ideas to trouble us:

repentance, forgiveness of sins;

a refiner's fire, righteous offerings;

the crooked made straight;

toward the end that all shall see the salvation of God.

Let all who rejoice in all these things say...Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.