The Anatomy of Anger

January 21, 2001

TEXT: MATTHEW 5:21-26

LISTENING TO THE TEXT
In the New Testament there are two primary Greek words for anger. The first word for anger is thumos. Thumos anger is quick to rise up and just as quick to die down. It might even be referred to as a bad temper.

The second word for anger is orga. Where thumos anger is quickly up and quickly down, orga anger simmers. It is long-lived anger. It is chronic, habitual anger. It is like a volcano that simmers and boils until finally it has to explode. We often describe people's angry reactions as "blowing their stack." Interestingly, orga is the word Jesus uses in this passage.

This particular word for anger is a present passive participle, which means that this kind of anger is one that we are continually keeping alive. A good way to describe what Jesus is saying here is that His disciples must not nurse grudges.

And, because of the grammar, it is not translated as a single moment of anger as in "anyone who gets angry." But rather as "anyone who is being angry, carrying anger, bearing anger-anyone who NURSES a grudge."

Jesus is talking about a kind of portable anger that is carried around and nurtured. It is any resentment that is constantly with you, eating away at your heart. Jesus calls His disciples to a higher righteousness that deals with the heart. Quick and decisive reconciliation is the way of the kingdom of heaven.

ENGAGING THE TEXT
The Need
All of us deal with issues of anger and the difficulty of forgiveness. Resentment is the cancer of the soul. It eats out our heart. And when we nurse a grudge, we become rage-aholics, using anger to feed our hurt. We may not be responsible for what brought the anger in the first place, but we are accountable for our response.

How do we forgive someone who has hurt us? How do we keep resentment from eating away at our heart until bitterness begins to set in? What proactive steps can we take to lean into God's grace? These are questions at the very heart of what it means to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

God's Answer
We are called to be reconciled-to God and to each other. The New Testament is clear: there is no reconciliation with God if we refuse reconciliation with each other. God's answer for our anger is twofold: (1) we are given the conviction to remember (v. 23) what needs to be forgiven, and (2) we are given the grace to reconcile to our brother or sister (v. 24).

God's answer lies in conviction and grace. But the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives is always a call for rejoicing, because where there is conviction there is also grace. There is grace to release, grace to forgive, grace to mend our broken hearts, and grace to begin again.

Our Response
Jesus does not leave us in despair. He offers grace! But the offer of His grace is always accompanied by a call to action. The call in this passage is reconciliation. And reconciliation goes something like this: "If you are offering your gift at the altar . . ." (v. 23a).

Jesus is referring here to corporate worship. For Jesus' first disciples the altar meant the Temple. They would bring their sacrifice into the Temple area and offer it to God as an act of worship. Jesus is saying: "[When you are worshiping] and there remember that your brother [or sister] has something against you . . ." In other words, when we come to worship with an honest heart, we will remember if there is any kind of separation between us and another person.

And when we remember, we are called to "leave . . . the altar . . . and be reconciled to your brother [or sister]" (v. 24) To the first disciples hearing these words, it must have sounded unbelievably extreme. This was outrageous! Especially if you were from Galilee and had to travel several days to get to the Temple.

Once again, it appears that Jesus is rather serious about right relationships. One might even hear Jesus saying that God is not interested in listening to anyone who is not interested in listening to a brother or sister. All holiness is a social holiness! Holiness is always relational.

Jesus' language is decisive. We are to act now! Quickly! Immediately! Urgency is Jesus' tone in the passage because speed is of the essence in Jesus' teaching on anger. When personal relationships go bad, immediate redemptive action will usually mend them.

PREACHING THE TEXT
It has been said that good preaching should never explain what can be evoked. That is to say, what a congregation experiences in the preaching moment is more powerful than simply giving more information. This text on anger meets the people where they live. Therefore, the first move of the sermon might be to give an illustration of a situation that requires great grace and forgiveness.

This would lead the preacher into the different uses of "anger" in the New Testament, differentiating between thumos anger and orga anger. The sermon may then clarify the difference between momentary frustration and long-term grudges.

Following this, it might be helpful for the preacher to list particular examples where people seem to have the right to be hurt (e.g., betrayed by a friend; treated unfairly; abused as a child). However, unless that hurt is dealt with by the love of God it becomes a downward spiral of anger, bitterness, and hatred.

The preacher should carefully guard against offering easy answers to complex questions. Do not diminish or devalue the hurt in people's lives with pious, yet careless solutions. Carefully walk through the steps that Jesus offers as the way to reconciliation and proclaim grace. This is pastoral preaching at its best.

The Eucharist would be an excellent way to bring closure to the sermon, not only as a tangible sign of God's offer of forgiveness to them but also as a symbol of the grace we can now offer to others.