The Scriptures remind us over and over again that God gets angry – angry at sin and disobedience and acts of injustice. The same is true about Jesus, God’s own Son. 

Jesus was saddened and angered by injustice. When he saw the temple turned into a place of exploitation, he became very angry.

Jesus went into the temple and chased out everyone who was selling or buying. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of the ones who were selling doves. He told them, “The Scriptures say, “My house should be called a place of worship.” But you have turned it into a place where robbers can hide.”

Blind and lame people came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. But the chief priests and teachers of the Law of Moses were angry when they saw his miracles and heard the children shouting praises to the Son of David. The men said to Jesus, “Don’t you heart what those children are saying?”

“Yes I do!” Jesus answered. “Don’t you know that the Scriptures say, ‘Children and infants will sing praises’?” Then Jesus left the city and went out to the village of Bethany, where he spent the night (Matthew 21:12-17).

Think About It

It doesn’t specifically say so, but it sure sounds like Jesus was angry here. How do you think Jesus was feeling? Which of his actions suggest this emotion?

Jesus was angry enough to cause a scene…and to disrupt business as usual. Is it possible that he was also angry at the priests and teachers for not “seeing” what the children saw? When have you been angry that others don’t see things the way you see them? 
Another time, Jesus became angry when religious leaders disapproved of his healing someone on the Sabbath. Read Mark 3:1-5.

Think About It

Jesus got angry. Had you ever thought about this before? Does being a person of peace mean you can’t get angry? Describe the things that made Jesus angry.

Name things in the world you feel it’s okay to be angry about.

Do you think these are the things God also gets angry about?

Anger is not automatically destructive. Neither does anger always lead to acts of violence. Anger in the service of God and in response to injustice can become a tremendous resource, a great source of energy.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, sang a revolutionary song that demonstrates God’s concern for justice. Read this song in Luke 1:46-55.

Think About It

You may not have ever associated this Bible passage with anger.  It doesn’t mention anger or wrath. People over the centuries have heard it as a song of hope. It is.

Mary sings about a world where the whole order of things has been turned upside-down. But the world we see is so often a world where unjust rulers oppress the weak