The Bible in Mark 3:5 records that Jesus was angry and agonized (grieved) when the people whom he had questioned refused to answer him. Did you ever wonder as to what angered and grieved Jesus? The question that he had asked was “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?” as He encountered a man with a withered hand who was in the synagogue. This question was in no way rhetorical and warranted an answer, one way or the other, but the people who plotted to accuse Jesus, hiding behind laws and legalism, kept silent. It was the apathy of those with hardened hearts that angered and agonized Jesus, but before we pass judgment on those who plotted to accuse Jesus, let us examine ourselves as well.
Many a times we are no different. We are indifferent to those around us that need to be restored whole; that need to be saved. Our hearts are calloused and hard and compassion has no room in it for those who are hurting around us. The withered hand of the man was made whole by Jesus irrespective of whether the people answered him or not and so God’s saving work by His Son will continue irrespective of whether we respond to his question of whether it is good to save life or not. Let us however not be apathetic and remain silent, for being so is what angers and agonizes Jesus. An apathetic person is a pathetic person.
Point(s) to ponder:
- Who are some of the people around you that need to be saved or restored?
- What is the condition of your heart toward them?
- If Jesus was to ask you/me, is it lawful for you to save life or to kill, what would your/mine answer be?
Mark 3:1-5 (KJV)
1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
Mano Paul
Hey Shirisha, was wondering as to what had happened to you. Glad to see that you are back with comments and thank you for your kind words.
Your analysis on whether it is okay to be angry is insightful and thanks for sharing. I concur with you on your premise.
On your question, “Is it ok to be angry?”
Short answer: Yes
Reason: Jesus got angry and so it is a God given emotion that is to be expressed, but as you aptly and rightly expressed, it is the motive that matters not the expression of emotion.
Do I get angry? Well we will leave that for you, my dear friends to guess 🙂
Shirisha
Very Good thought process Mano. Keep up the good work.
From the above Passage , I have another thought (totally different than yours)
Jesus was angry? Is it ok to be angry?
We (People) focus on the emotion rather than the motive behind it. I think we need to concentrate on the motive behind it rather than the emotion itself. I think it is ok to be angered for good things or for God’s work. Its not that God hates anger or people having this emotion.
When we are having this emotion we need to retrospect the motive behind it (Is it selfish? Or Ego driven? Or for God). If we can distinguish the motive then we would be able to have right emotion for that situation.
We can follow Jesus’s example on how to react to certain situations to fulfill God’s will.