Trinity XIX

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be alway acceptable unto Thee, O Lord, our Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen.

From the Epistle: “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Anger.

Anger is certainly a timely subject.

It seems as if almost everyone either is, or perhaps is supposed to be, angry at a whole lot of people for an almost endless number of reasons.

In the movie, Network, newscaster Howard Beale gave us what might perhaps be the motto for our times when he ranted, “‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’”

He exhorts his listeners, saying, “I want you to get up right now. Sit up. Go to your windows. Open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad! …You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first, get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!”

Nowadays, sometimes it seems like everyone is telling us the only way to solve our problems is to get mad!

Clearly, Howard Beale was a whack job, but, as is so often the case, even a whack job sometimes speaks a bit of truth.

If the last century or two has taught us anything, it is nothing is ever changed by a complacent indifference to evil.

So, what is anger?

Anger is defined as "is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat.

A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, such as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and increased levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline.”

Some view anger as an emotion which triggers part of the fight or flight response.

Anger becomes the predominant feeling behaviorally, cognitively, and physiologically when a person makes the conscious choice to take action to immediately stop the threatening behavior of another outside force.” (Wikipedia)

Anger translates the Greek word, “ὀργή,” (or-gay'), which means “a movement or agitation of the soul, impulse, desire, any violent emotion, but esp. anger.”

At this point it is necessary to make a disclaimer.

The Scriptures often speak of God’s anger or wrath, but what I will be talking about is human anger.

God’s anger is clearly an entirely different order of thing from human anger; we cannot begin to fathom God’s psychology, so we do well to treat the idea of God’s anger as an analogy, a way of expressing something we cannot possibly understand in terms of something we can.

Speaking of human anger, however, not everything which displeases us should be a cause of anger.

Anger is properly directed towards a rational actor who causes, or threatens, us, or someone else, with unjustified harm.

It is absurd to be angry with a storm or an earthquake or a flood.

(Of course, unfortunately, we may perhaps sometimes be angry with God for causing or allowing the natural disaster.)

It is also absurd to be angry with someone who does something unpleasant to us for justifiable reasons.

It is absurd to be angry with the policeman who gives us a speeding ticket; we chose to speed; we deserve the ticket, maybe we will learn to slow down which might just save our life.

Also, it is absurd to be angry with the nurse who puts in an IV; it hurts, of course, but the pain is justified by the good it is hoped the IV medicine will do us.

Likewise, it is absurd to be angry with mom or dad when they give us a well-deserved swat on the gluteus maximus.

One other case is when someone has caused injury purely by accident; anger is absurd to the extent the accident was not caused by a lack of care or foresight.

In this sense, Jesus tells us, “Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” (Matthew 5:22.)

Of course, there are many situations wherein a rational actor causes or threatens to cause harm for reasons which are not justified.

This brings us to our verse for today, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27)

When someone has or threatens to do us or another person harm, without justification, St. Paul tells us indeed, to “be angry.”

It is worth noting this is not a permission, it’s in the imperative voice, which means it’s a commandment.

That is something I do not stress enough.

Hear me, beloved, when reading the Scriptures, any sentence in the imperative voice should always be treated as a commandment rather than a permission, to fail to carry out what is commanded is just as much a sin as murder or adultery or theft.

To fail to be angry when someone causes or threatens to cause hurt to someone without justification is in and of itself, evil.

There is something profoundly wrong in the disposition of the soul of one who can look upon someone causing unjustified hurt without experiencing anger.

If a person can look upon a bully terrorizing a little kid or hurting an animal without getting angry, he has a very sick soul and needs a lot of help.

The issue is not whether to be angry, but rather what to do with that anger.

Anger, as an emotion, is morally neutral.

Like all emotions, it simply is.

The moral issue is what we shall do with it.

Anger is much like fire.

Fire can warm your home, but it can also burn it down.

Like fire, anger must be used with great caution.

Hence Saint Paul tells us, “Be ye angry, and sin not.”

The misuse of anger has led to as much sin and suffering in this world as almost anything else we can imagine, starting with Cain and Abel, and God only knows how many wars and murders and cruelties, both small and large, ever since.

The challenge, of course, is who will be in control.

If we use our anger appropriately, it will motivate and empower us to both prevent and respond courageously and effectively to unjustified human suffering.

But if we allow our anger to control us, the results can be disastrous, both for others and for ourselves.

Saint Paul well warns us, “neither give place to the devil.”

The state of emotional excitement anger creates offers the Enemy a most attractive opening into our minds.

He will seek to amplify and distort our reaction with the intent of causing harm, both to us and to the object of our anger.

Always, when angry, our first resort ought to be to prayer.

It is said when we are angry, we should count to ten; my advice would be to make that ten “Hail Maries,” or ten “Our Fathers,” or perhaps, ten of that most honest of all prayers, the Foxhole prayer, “God help me.”

If possible, never do anything with anger until we have turned our anger over to God, asking Him to show us exactly how we should use it.

Perhaps a good prayer might be, “Lord, I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore! Lord, I thank you for this anger, now show me what to do about it.”

I must imagine if having so prayed, and really listened to His answer, we could not do something sinful with our anger.

I want to close with one last part of our verse, “let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”

In the moment, do what God has shown you to do with your anger.

But let that be that.

Seek to be reconciled with your brother, offer him your forgiveness and, since very few things are ever 100% one-sided, ask for his.

If he will be reconciled, the matter is over and done.

Both you and he will have learned something, and strangely enough, sometimes you and he will find a new and deeper love for each other.

But, even if he will not be reconciled, at the end of the day, turn him over to God.

God has promised, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19.)

If you hang onto your anger, or fail to deal with it, it will bury itself into your soul, bringing forth that dreadful, corrosive, and corrupting spiritual condition known as “a resentment.”

Anger is valuable, and if used appropriately, very useful, but a resentment is a hole in your soul through which Satan can and will enter.

If you have any resentments, I can only adjure you, in the Name of the Living God, to get rid of them; lay them at the foot of the Cross; if you cannot let them go without help, a good spiritual counselor can be useful.

But whatever, lay down the burden of resentment before it kills your soul; I have seen it far too many times, and it makes me weep.

As our Lord said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Amen.