Was Jesus ever Angry?

[Old_Scholar]

We all believe Jesus was the only “perfect” human. Does that mean that He was never angry? Is anger a sin? If Jesus was angry, did He commit a sin?

 

[LilyM]

Well, there’s no passage that specifically SAYS He was angry, but it’s hard to imagine someone calling another names like ‘hypocrite’, ‘brood of vipers’ or ‘whited sepulchres’ and NOT being at least a little angry.

Let alone WHIPPING people and overturning tables as He did in the Temple. But all of this is more in the sense of the quoted OT passage ‘zeal for Your house has overcome me’, so it didn’t cross the line into sinful anger. As if Jesus could ever sin in anything He did!

 

[Old_Scholar]

Well, there’s no passage that specifically SAYS He was angry, but it’s hard to imagine someone calling another names like ‘hypocrite’, ‘brood of vipers’ or ‘whited sepulchres’ and NOT being at least a little angry.

Let alone WHIPPING people and overturning tables as He did in the Temple. But all of this is more in the sense of the quoted OT passage ‘zeal for Your house has overcome me’, so it didn’t cross the line into sinful anger. As if Jesus could ever sin in anything He did!

Are you sure there aren’t any Scriptures saying Jesus was angry?

 

[PrayHarder]

The one story from the Bible where I picture Jesus being angry is when He chased the money changers from the temple. While my visions of this event come from scenes from “Jesus of Nazareth” and not actual biblical text, I think it is safe to say that He was angry.

But I do not think chasing the money changers out of the temple was a sin. Jesus didn’t physically harm anyone by upending tables and releasing cattle. It was basically a more forceful lesson (aka, tough love) as He stressed the importance of keeping God’s house sacred.

I liken this to if I saw one of my siblings selling drugs on the street. I would probably rush over, grab him, throw him in the car, and drive off telling him to get his act together. Would I be angry? Yes. Did I sin by trying my best to get a loved one off a sinful path? I don’t think so. Some things are just too important to just sit by passively and hope that people see the errors of their ways. I’m sure Jesus saw the money changers as something he just could not ignore.

 

[rocketrob]

We all believe Jesus was the only “perfect” human. Does that mean that He was never angry? Is anger a sin? If Jesus was angry, did He commit a sin?

The answer to all of these questions is ‘no.’ There are obviously accounts in scripture of Jesus displaying righteous anger, such as during the cleansing of the temple (Mk 11:15).

The point is that anger, in and of itself, is not sinful.

Catechism References

Passions and Moral Life

Article 1767
In themselves passions are neither good nor evil. They are morally qualified only to the extent that they effectively engage reason and will. Passions are said to be voluntary, “either because they are commanded by the will or because the will does not place obstacles in their way.” It belongs to the perfection of the moral or human good that the passions be governed by reason.

Article 1768
Strong feelings are not decisive for the morality or the holiness of persons; they are simply the inexhaustible reservoir of images and affections in which the moral life is expressed. Passions are morally good when they contribute to a good action, evil in the opposite case. The upright will orders the movements of the senses it appropriates to the good and to beatitude; an evil will succumbs to disordered passions and exacerbates them. Emotions and feelings can be taken up into the virtues or perverted by the vices.

Article 1772
The principal passions are love and hatred, desire and fear, joy, sadness, and anger.

rocketrob

 

[AmbroseSJ]

We all believe Jesus was the only “perfect” human. Does that mean that He was never angry? Is anger a sin? If Jesus was angry, did He commit a sin?

Check out Mark 3:5
In the Catholic Bible it says:
“And looking round about on them with anger, being grieved for the blindness of their hearts…”

Funny you should ask this question now, as it is in the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass.

It’s a very interesting picture we get from St. Mark’s Gospel, as we so often do get from him. Mark, being Peter’s disciple had the most interesting human slant on the actions of Jesus, as relayed by Peter, and as the story above mentions.

I think it does more to show the humanity of Jesus. Anger is a reflexive human emotion. As the Gospel shows, Jesus was in full command of this emotion, even though there was a visible agitation, perhaps in the way the eyes of Jesus flashed, or the set of his jaw. Some little hint, that was picked up by Peter I would think.

 

[Old_Scholar]

The one story from the Bible where I picture Jesus being angry is when He chased the money changers from the temple. While my visions of this event come from scenes from “Jesus of Nazareth” and not actual biblical text, I think it is safe to say that He was angry.

But I do not think chasing the money changers out of the temple was a sin. Jesus didn’t physically harm anyone by upending tables and releasing cattle. It was basically a more forceful lesson (aka, tough love) as He stressed the importance of keeping God’s house sacred.

I liken this to if I saw one of my siblings selling drugs on the street. I would probably rush over, grab him, throw him in the car, and drive off telling him to get his act together. Would I be angry? Yes. Did I sin by trying my best to get a loved one off a sinful path? I don’t think so. Some things are just too important to just sit by passively and hope that people see the errors of their ways. I’m sure Jesus saw the money changers as something he just could not ignore.

You are correct…anger isn’t a sin and Jesus was angry often, according to the Scriptures. For any of us to say we were never angry would be a sin. I certainly am not saying Jesus sinned because He was angry but the human side of Him was often angry and we also know God has shown anger as well, according to the Scriptures.

 

[Strategery]

Check out Mark 3:5
In the Catholic Bible it says:
“And looking round about on them with anger, being grieved for the blindness of their hearts…”

Funny you should ask this question now, as it is in the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass.

I wrote an email about this passage today. It really got me thinking – is Jesus ever angry at me? I know that I do some “Pharisitical” things at times.

Anyhow, here’s the email …

Mark 3:1-6 (today’s gospel)

1 Again he entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand.
2 They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him.
3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.”
4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent.
5 Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
6 The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.​

Background: At the end of Mark 2, the disciples picked a few ears of corn on the sabbath, so that they could eat. The Pharisees present objected to this, because it was their belief that this constituted work and therefore was forbidden. This is a common objection of theirs. The discussion concluded with Christ saying that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. Immediately after that, they enter into the synagogue, and clearly there is tension. The Pharisees are waiting to trap him.

Note Christ’s response to their test (v5) – he is angry, and he grieves at their hardness of heart.

I have a friend who likes to say that we continue to place veils between us and Christ, and I think that’s a great image. In the case of the Pharisees, the veil was so dark and their hearts were so hard that they couldn’t/wouldn’t see what was right in front of them. They are so focused on their interpretation of the sabbath that they fail to see that God’s work is being done before their very eyes.

But I do this too. It is so easy to get caught up in the world, on a daily or even hourly basis. Far too many times I fail to do what God wants, because I’ve got some reason or another why I can’t. When I step back and think about it, I can see that in those cases I put the world in front of God. I don’t necessarily want to, but I do. Read Romans 7 for more on that.

In reading this today, I’m struck by Christ’s response to the Pharisees. Anger. Grief at their hardness of heart. Does this apply to me when I am “Pharisitical” in my actions? I don’t want to get obsessed with the thought of Christ being angry at me, but I can definitely see him grieving at my hardness of heart at times. Anger … I don’t want to test it.

 

[ryanoneil]

This is strong wording, but I don’t think it indicates sin.

But you have this in your favor: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. (Rev 2:6)

 

[iceman]

I suspect He and the Father are pretty angry at the state of the world today! I doubt Obama will help matters.

 

[Light_Seeker]

Being 100% man, of course Jesus was angered at times. As in today’s readings. Or the moneychangers. Or at Gethsemane when the apostles kept falling asleep (well, maybe its my reading into it, he was definitely exasperated ).

Pre-incarnation, God was angered many times. And often, the offenders paid dearly for their transgressions which angered God.

 

[Old_Scholar]

I wrote an email about this passage today. It really got me thinking – is Jesus ever angry at me? I know that I do some “Pharisitical” things at times.

Anyhow, here’s the email …

I believe everyone displays anger every now and then. Jesus certainly did often but that isn’t sin. However we have to be careful about it.

MTatt5:22 “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Her Christ condemns us if we are anger without cause. That should mean there certainly can be cause for anger.

It seems Paul is warning us about anger as well:

Eph 4:26 “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:”

I have given this advice to every couple I have ever married and even those who were married by someone else but I was there and able to talk with them. Never go to bed angry with your spouse and Paul takes that farther. He includes everyone.

Eph 4:31 “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:”

We should all heed these instructions…

 

[Danno2281]

I believe everyone displays anger every now and then. Jesus certainly did often but that isn’t sin. However we have to be careful about it.

MTatt5:22 “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Her Christ condemns us if we are anger without cause. That should mean there certainly can be cause for anger.

It seems Paul is warning us about anger as well:

Eph 4:26 “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:”

I have given this advice to every couple I have ever married and even those who were married by someone else but I was there and able to talk with them. Never go to bed angry with your spouse and Paul takes that farther. He includes everyone.

Eph 4:31 “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:”

We should all heed these instructions…

Anger is both an emotion and an attitude. As an emotion it causes adrenalin to flow so that I might better protect myself from what angers me. As an attitude, it separates me from the love for another that I ought to have. Living in the attitude (because I won’t allow the emotion to subside) would be sinful, but to experience the emotion is simply human.