Righteous Anger and the Deceitful Heart

Last Saturday I had a very stimulating discussion with a friend about righteous anger. The discussion arose out of the question I'd been pondering since the previous Thursday's Peacemaker class: is there such a thing as justified or righteous anger? Sitting around a table at Keith and Ava's wedding reception, I, of course, brought the question up as light table conversation (she says, tongue firmly planted in cheek).

My husband, Brian, and our table companion, Hal, obliged my curiosity and engaged in the topic. The immediate answer was "yes!" We went the well-trodden path to Jesus overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple. I think it was Debbie, Hal's wife, who brought up the question of why Jesus chose that time to overturn the tables. Surely Jesus had passed by them hundreds of times in his life. What made him do that then? Hal and Brian both immediately said they thought Jesus was trying to provoke a response. I thought "That can't be--why would Jesus provoke confrontation like that?" We went down the path of Jesus wanting to defend his Father's honor, but I kept thinking that the Father is well able to defend his own honor and, if that were the case, why would Jesus have waited to do that instead of doing it earlier when he first encountered the issue?

So we followed the rabbit trail that this was a strategic move by Jesus--not an impetuous move. He specifically chose that time to draw fire, knowing it would move him toward an inexorable outcome: his death. As I started to think about that, my perspective shifted. Maybe Jesus' angry response wasn't motivated by some kind of frustration. Maybe it came from his strategic choice to accomplish the purpose that would only happen through his death and resurrection: the reconciliation of those moneychangers and, indeed, all of humanity to God. His ultimate motivation in that "righteous anger" was love for the people he was confronting.


Wow! What a standard for determining whether or not our anger is "righteous!" It requires a sincere search of our hearts to see if there is something other than love at our core.

This week's lesson in the Peacemaker class is about conflict starting in our hearts. The premise is that unhealthy and unholy responses to conflict arise from our having "idols" in our heart that we are trying to appease. The study encourages us to work back from our angry response to where its root is in our heart. Sometimes an angry response is appropriate and rightly motivated. Often, however, when we trace a reaction back, we find that there is something at the core of our reaction that is not consistent with the character of God. It's coming from a place that isn't conformed to the image of Christ--so it's probably not righteous anger.


So, how do we deal with anger that we think might be righteous? Well, I think we do what we do with any conflict we encounter:

1. Glorify God.

I need to slow my angry response down enough to acknowledge that I want to bring glory to God in what I am thinking, feeling and doing. I need to take an honest look at whether my response will do that.

2. Get the Log Out.

The question that comes up here is: "Is there always a log?" At least in my experience, I would say "yes." It's just the nature of man. We are loggy creatures. But that's OK--God knows that about us already. I need to ask God to show me what's really in my heart.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 says: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

We can't search our own hearts honestly. We need to ask God to show us what's there. My experience is that the Holy Spirit is a loving and gentle examiner. When I come to him with a true and humble heart, he is faithful to lovingly tell me the truth. Not in condemnation, but with the desire to be closer to me.

Starting with this step changes my motivation and perhaps will change the way I approach the issue that I feel angry about. Most likely, it will clean out my ears so I can hear the Holy Spirit's direction about how to approach the conflict in a more constructive way.

Chapter 5 in the Peacemaker book offers some practical steps in how to work with the Lord in examining your heart.

3. Gently restore.

One thought I had when during our weekend discussion was "I wonder if Jesus had talked with the Moneychangers before." Had he tried to engage them in a more gentle way? I don't know, but it would seem to be consistent with his character to have done so. Were any of them there when Jesus, as a 12-year-old boy, had engaged the teachers of the law in discussion? Perhaps even some of them were among the crowds that were following him and listening to his teachings. Maybe some of them shared the loaves and fishes with the rest of the 5,000.

4. Go and be reconciled.

Jesus provided the ultimate means of reconciliation--he laid down his life to do it. His angry actions were part of that process, but he was well aware that those actions would draw fire that was designed to bring about his death--not the death of the moneychangers. Is that the motivation I have as I engage in "righteous anger?" Am I willing to draw fire to save my perceived enemy? Am I seeing who the enemy really is? Will my actions result in the other person receiving life even if I have to die? Or am I just spewing invectives and condemning my "adversary" in the name of righteousness? Is what I'm spitting out really judgement rather than love? Is it sowing seeds of discord and hatred? Or seeds of reconciliation and restoration?

Sometimes we think of peacemaking as mamby-pamby (at least I do), but when I think of what it took for Jesus to make peace between God and man, I have to reconsider that concept. What Jesus did took real guts. He wasn't a mamby-pamby-nancyboy. He refused to let others control his agenda. He controlled his responses and used angry responses as a tool to move toward reconciliation, not as a means of intimidation to hurt or get revenge. If we are motivated by true righteous anger, our actions should be the same--not a hotheaded reaction to something that thwarts our goals or desires, but as a considered response motivated by and designed to promote reconciliation.