Jesus On Anger and Contempt
Part 4 in series Hearing Jesus Again
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
May 24, 2008
When is the last time you were doing something fun and thought to yourself, “I haven’t had a good chewing out in a while – I really miss that.” Or when is the last time you intentionally made someone angry because it’s fun to be on the receiving end of someone’s temper tantrum? Or when is the last time somebody called you some terrible name and you went, “Ahhh – it’s like a breath of fresh air.”
Those are three things that don’t happen, aren’t they? Why is that? The answer is found in last week’s message. People live from their hearts. And from the depth of our hearts, we do not like being chewed out, bawled out, and cussed out. I have never met a single person who is an exception to this. Nobody enjoys this. It’s universal. You will never meet a single soul who truly likes being the victim of someone else’s anger and/or contempt.
Today we’re into part 4 of our series Hearing Jesus Again, walking through the Sermon on the Mount step by step and trying to hear and understand what Jesus really meant. In week one we looked at how the Sermon on the Mount is commonly misunderstood and talked about how it fits perfectly into the framework of the single message Jesus preached most often – the Kingdom of Heaven is here! In week 2 we looked closely at the Beatitudes, again considering how the Beatitudes have commonly been misinterpreted and then reexamining them in light of the single message Jesus preached most often – the Kingdom of Heaven is here! Last week we spent a while talking about the human heart – how people live from their hearts and how that poses a huge problem for human beings because our hearts often do not lead us to do good things we actually want to do. We find that our desire to be righteous doesn’t lead to right actions in many cases and so we’re flying upside down – not knowing right from wrong or how to really live rightly. Jesus said that in order to enter God’s kingdom, our righteousness (dikaiosune) must go way beyond rule-keeping and the letter of the law.
Today we will look at the first of five (maybe six, depending on how the messages divide up as they get written) contrasts between the old rightness and the rightness of the kingdom heart. Let’s dig into our text:
Matthew 5:21-22 (NIV)
21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ’Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ’Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ’You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“You’ve heard it was said do not murder…” Where would people have heard this? The 10 Commandments! It was said in the 10 Commandments “Thou shalt not kill.” The 10 Commandments are part of the old dikaiosune – the old standard of righteousness. The people had somehow gotten the impression that this commandment meant it was okay to WANT to kill somebody, as long as you didn’t actually do it. And what Jesus says here is, “Look, murder isn’t the only issue here – what about the anger and contempt that give rise to murder before it ever happens, and even if it never happens?” The old rightness (dikaiosune) stopped at the action of killing a person. If you killed somebody, you had gone too far. Jesus says lays out a new standard – “anybody who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” Jesus got way past the behavior right to the “heart of the matter.” The kingdom heart does not entertain anger and contempt, does not allow them to find a home. Let’s look at anger and contempt for a moment and see why they are at odds with the kingdom heart.
If you trace wrongdoing back to its roots in the human heart, you will find that in most cases it involves some kind of anger and/or contempt. Adultery often involves anger and contempt toward the spouse on whom one is cheating. Robbery involves contempt for the rights of others and maybe even anger at them for having what you do not have. Greed often drives people to do things that could not be done if they did not stand in contempt of their boss, or the company they work for. Certainly crimes like rape and assault involve anger and contempt. You can go on and on and find roots of anger and contempt in most of the wrongdoing in the world. And so it is here that Jesus begins.
And he sets up this simple contrast. You’ve always thought it makes you righteous if you simply refrain from killing a person you hate. But see, the hatred itself renders you unrighteous. Now let’s make something clear. Anger itself is not always wrong. Anger is just an automatic response that alerts you to an obstruction of your will – that something or someone is keeping you from doing what you want to do. That’s why many of us get mad at inanimate things. Guys, let’s say you’re working on a plumbing job and you can’t get your garbage disposal to break loose. What do you probably do? Hit the garbage disposal. You want to get it out and it won’t come out, so you hit it. Or ladies, you’re working on a project for work that’s giving you trouble and at some point you get really upset and slam a stack of papers down on your desk because you’re struggling to make sense of them. They are not allowing you to get through the project. On the level of animate things, you get mad at people who don’t give you what you want. You get mad when your boss won’t give you that promotion, or when your colleagues will not give you the respect you deserve, or when your spouse will not give you their attention. Remember, people live from their hearts. Jesus knew this. Accordingly, Jesus was deeply interested in the heart. He knew that what is in the heart is what motivates and drives people to do what they do.
Now if all anger did was alert us that something stood in the way of us getting what we wanted, all would be well. But in the human heart, that place of darkness and incomprehensibility, anger almost never stops there. Anger in its own right is an injury to others. Have you ever had someone come up to you and say, “I was really ticked off at you a few weeks ago but I’m okay now.” What do you think? “I’m so glad you’re okay now”? Of course not. You are hurt, and offended, and perhaps a little bit angry yourself now, as you think, “What on earth were you angry about?” The mere fact of another person’s anger expressed toward you, even if it was in the past and you don’t find out about it until after it’s gone, is upsetting. This is how anger leads to anger. There’s just something about anger itself that stirs up more of the same. Nearly always, anger is a deeply rooted active evil in the human heart that is destructive to the one angry and the one with whom he/she is angry, and probably also to any others who may end up caught in the crossfire. Here’s why anger is so explosive. Anger is an expression that our will has been obstructed – we aren’t getting what we want. But when we direct anger toward others, it nearly always carries with it some degree of malice – that is, the will to harm them, or at least the seed of it. That is why when you find out someone is angry with you, you are instantly hurt emotionally and your natural response is to “retaliate” with anger of your own directed at them. If you have a knife in your pocket and someone pulls a knife on you, how long until your own knife comes out? Not long. So it is with anger. When someone “pulls” anger on you, you will almost always “pull” it right back.
Are you with me in why anger is so destructive? Let’s keep going, keep digging, because there’s even more to it than this. Anger begins as an impression that comes from our minds and that we have no control over. But then we make a choice about whether or not to indulge it. Take the guy who cuts you off in traffic. He has obstructed your desire and your will to feel safe in your car and you instantly feel angry. But what happens next? Perhaps you begin to yell at him in your car. Perhaps you flip him some creative sign language.
See, when anger is indulged (instead of just waved off), it always has in it some element of vanity and self-righteousness. Show me a person who has completely embraced anger and I’ll show you a person with a wounded ego. “I didn’t deserve what you did.” “How could you do this to me.” “I deserve better.” “What am I, a piece of meat.” “What makes you think you’re all that.” All of these ideas we might have when we are angry indicate a wounded ego underneath – a person who has been hurt, whose pride is wounded. This is what makes anger so poisonous. Embracing anger causes us to blow our own self-importance completely out of proportion. Anger may become anything from low-burning resentment to a holy crusade to get revenge or do some other kind of harm to the one who we feel has wronged us.
Only a bull-headed self-righteousness can support us as we retain anger long after whatever occasioned it, or allow its intensity to boil over into insane rage. To rage on we have to regard ourselves as mistreated, as victims of the other person, and view revenge or doing harm as “justice” for the terrible injustice that was done to us. In the words of Dallas Willard (which so much of this series is!), “Anger embraced is inherently disintegrative of human personality and life…All our mental and emotional resources are marshaled to nurture and tend the anger, and our body throbs with it. Energy is dedicated to keeping the anger alive: we constantly remind ourselves of how wrongly we have been treated. And when it is allowed to govern our actions, of course, its evil is quickly multiplied in heart-rending consequences and in the replication of anger and rage in the hearts and bodies of everyone it touches.”
Do you see why anger is not something that can be part of the Kingdom heart? Do you see why whether we kill a person or not isn’t the point, but that a heart of anger is all it takes to drive us away from the holiness and pure love of God and keep us from thriving in his kingdom? Jesus understood that murder always begins in the heart. He also understood that anger begets anger, that the cycle is endless. Two words: 1. Israel 2. Palestinians. Case closed.
Next Jesus deals with contempt.
Matthew 5:22 (NIV)
22 …anyone who says to his brother, ’Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ’You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“Raca” was a term of contempt in Jesus’ day. The word may have come from the sound people make in their throats when they are getting ready to spit. Seriously! So the law stated that anyone who referred to others with contempt would stand before the Jewish court. Jesus says, “If you treat people with contempt, you have problems far worse than going to court – your heart is filthy and you are in danger of hell.”
What is contempt? Contempt in a way is worse than anger because it is more common and perhaps more hurtful. Contempt is a sense that someone is worthless – a complete loser. You can easily be extremely angry at someone and still not believe they are worthless. In fact you can be very angry with someone, like your children or spouse, and believe in their limitless value. Now was Hitler mad at the Jews? Sure. But it was his contempt for them that allowed him to think they did not deserve to live. Hitler did not kill the Jews because of his anger toward them, he killed them because of his deep-seated belief that they were vermin – animals, undeserving of life. He had contempt for them.
We can’t fully grasp the meaning of the term “you fool” in Jesus’ day. Today we think of a fool as someone not too bright, but basically harmless – like a court jester or something. In the Bible, a fool is a person who is willfully perverted, rebellious, and knowingly wicked, to his own harm. So the word “raca” and the word “fool” were both terms of strong contempt and Jesus is saying, again, “Feeling this way about people is simply at odds with the kingdom heart.”
Were you teased as a child? Are you frequently teased now? Teasing comes from contempt. This is that attitude that says, “You are not human. We will demean you, mistreat you, reject you, and cast you out from the fellowship of the worthy. You are undeserving of good things – of esteem, of love, of respect, of companionship, of mercy – and while we say these cruel things to you and you drop your head in shame, we will then laugh at you, enjoy your pain, and mock you for being so mock-worthy. You and your life and your concerns and your feelings – they are all garbage to us.” If you’ve been through this you know that few things in life are more painful and the pain sticks with you in some way for the rest of your life. It leaves a scar on your soul. It is not possible for people with this attitude to live in the movements of God’s kingdom because God is alive to life – he is creative and life-giving and soul-enabling. Anger and contempt are destructive and life-destroying and soul-crippling.
But like Dave mentioned in sermon 2 of this series, neither the Beatitudes nor the rest of the Sermon on the Mount are commands. We’re sorely mistaken if we think we’re okay simply by not calling people fools. As I said earlier, the word “fool” doesn’t mean much today and is easily avoided. We might use terms today like “lame,” “tool,” “pathetic,” “loser,” “idiot,” or even “f-ing jerk.” All of these and more are ways of dismissing a person from the company of civilized humanity. We use these terms and carry these attitudes far too easily in a culture where Christ’s words are not taken seriously as the door to life in the Kingdom of the Heavens.
But these are not commands. If you stop using all terms of contempt tomorrow, that still does not mean the heart is okay. After all, you can refrain from anger, but some people win arguments that way – by not getting angry – then they gloat. Or how about people who say, “I don’t get mad, I get even.” These are not laws or commands. They are examples of how our hearts can go wrong and how merely adhering to a list of commands about what to do and not do will not ensure we have kingdom hearts. Now certainly if we get our hearts right we will NOT do these things, but first things first. When I go to Grand Blanc, I do not have to think about NOT going to Otisville or Lapeer. If I simply do what I must do to get to Grand Blanc, everything else takes care of itself! Likewise, when we come to treasure people the way God treasures them and see them as creatures designed for his eternal purposes, we do not make an additional point of not hating them or not calling them “f-ing” jerks or “tools” or “losers.” Not doing those things is a natural part of a heart that sees the world and all its creatures the way God sees them. In other words, if you have a kingdom heart, you will naturally not do these things, you won’t have to TRY to not do them! On the other hand, NOT going to Otisville is a terrible plan for going to Grand Blanc. And not being angry with people and not calling them idiots is a poor plan for loving them.
So after having shown us the emptiness of the old dikaiosune (righteousness), Jesus goes on to give us two positive examples of the Kingdom heart. What does this heart look like?
Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV)
23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
If you can think of what kind of quality of life and character would be in a person who would do this, you have a picture of the kingdom heart. What kind of thought life, what kind of habits of body and mind, what kinds of routine choices would you find in a person like that? When you answer these questions, you will have a vision of the kingdom heart of Jesus. And remember, don’t make it a commandment. Jesus isn’t saying you must ALWAYS leave church to be reconciled with someone, and he isn’t saying you can control the other person’s response. Jesus is saying cultivate a heart that seeks to not have contempt, anger, and bitterness in it and to always do right by all your relationships, as far as it depends on you.
Romans 12:18 (NIV)
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Jesus second illustration of the Kingdom Heart involves when you have an adversary that is taking you to court (translation: suing you).
Matthew 5:25-26 (NIV)
25 "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.
26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Here Jesus says to kindly try to settle matters before they go to trial. In the context of the kingdom heart, we are to do this with love, not with bitterness or anger, or contempt. We are to try, with genuine love for our adversary, to resolve the matter as best we can. Perhaps we’d meet with him/her and just ask with sincerity if there’s anything we could do to make things right. The human system of law does not deal with the heart. You can get sued if you are a criminal and sued if you are Mother Theresa. Your heart doesn’t matter. When we work within this system, we cut the heart out of human beings and what Jesus says is, “Try to avoid the human system and go to this person. Treat them like a human being. Be kind and gracious and see if there’s any way the issue can be resolved.” When you truly love your adversary, you place yourself within the Kingdom of God and his resources and it is likely that you will draw your adversary into it also. Again, no command never to go to court (as is often falsely taught), just that we are to do whatever we do without hostility, bitterness, and the merciless drive to win. We are to be prepared to sacrifice our own interests for others if that seems wise, and we are to keep a joyous confidence in God no matter what happens.
In these two illustrations, we see Kingdom goodness placed alongside the mere goodness of not killing, and when you see that, you get a sense of how dead the law really is. The law can keep us from doing some bad things, but it can never keep us from being bad people. What’s more, it will never lead us to being GOOD people. The kingdom heart is a GOOD heart, where there is no room for anger, malice, hate, resentment, bitterness, revenge, or contempt. Those things are not entertained or given a place in the Kingdom Heart.
So what do you do with this? Try it. Venture on the kingdom. This is how we seek the kingdom – by trying it out. The more we focus on loving people with this active love, the less we will ever have to be concerned with not killing them!
Romans 13:8-10 (MSG)
8 … When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along.
Are you getting this stuff? Jesus is quite literally opening to us the windows on another world. Next time we’ll look at another comparison of the Kingdom Heart with the non-kingdom heart by looking at what Jesus said about sexual attraction. Let’s pray.
God, open our eyes, help us to see things differently. Draw us into your world with the power of what you said. May we adore you for your insight and wisdom and understanding and increasingly trust that whatever you say should be the final authority in our lives. Amen.
