Making Jesus Angry

Mark tells a story about Jesus being angry.

If you are like me, your mind raced ahead to the cleansing of the temple. I have a vivid mental picture of Jesus (that may have originated in one of those colorful illustrations found in my childhood Bible), whip in hand, driving animals out as moneychangers fled.

But that was not the occasion of Jesus' anger as recorded in the second gospel. In fact, when I turned to read the several accounts of Jesus clearing the temple, I discovered that the text does not say that Jesus was angry.

In Mark 3:5, however, "Jesus looked around at them in anger." He had asked the people in the synagogue which was lawful on the sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill. This should have been an easy one for them, but they remained silent. That's when Jesus became angry.

He was "deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts."

In Nehemiah (9:29) we are told that the Israelites had stubbornly turned their backs on God, became stiff-necked and refused to listen to God.

The writer of Psalm 78 described his forefathers as a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. (v.8)

Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Zechariah describe the Israelites as stubborn. And we are told that God was angered by their behavior (Deut 31:16-18, Judges 20:20; Ps 78:21; Ps 95:10).

I decided to explore the meaning of the word so I grabbed a handy American Heritage Dictionary, where I learned that the first definition of stubborn is "unduly determined to exert one's will."

What made Jesus angry? What has made God mad throughout all history?

People who choose their own will over God's will for us.