In the Caldron of Anger and Contempt

God must be using this blog in his own way. What originated as a means for me to express my thoughts on this life changing piece of literature has turned into an enjoyable read for a few people. To date, 300 readers have stopped by to visit. Thank you for your readership. I hope it has impacted your life in a positive way.

And now for something completely different.

Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
                                            ~Macbeth

Recall from our previous discussion that we are looking at the Kingdom Heart or the dikaiosune of an individual. Today we begin with Jesus' first example of what that looks like in a person's life.

The first illustration of kingdom dikaiosune is drawn from cases in which we are displeased with our "brother" and may allow ourselves to treat him with anger or contempt. 

You may wonder why Jesus chooses anger as his first topic of the application of his sermon, or you may think it a perfect fit. I have often seen pride as the most corrupt version of the human heart, and perhaps anger is the result of pride, at least the anger and contempt that Jesus speaks of. Either way, it is a good beginning.

When we trace wrongdoing back to its roots in the human heart, we find that in the overwhelming number of cases it involves some form of anger. Close beside anger you will find its twin brother, contempt. Jesus' understanding of them and their role in life becomes the basis of his strategy for establishing kingdom goodness. It is the elimination of anger and contempt that he presents as the first and fundamental step toward rightness of the kingdom heart.

Eliminate anger? Is that even possible? Contempt, perhaps yes, but is not anger a natural and unchangeable response of human emotion? Is it not like asking me to stop sneezing or cease from crying? Perhaps it is. We, as a culture, or at least males as a gender, have been trained and conditioned not to shed tears. We as a Christian culture have been trained not to let anger show. This is not to say we've stopped anger in our hearts any more than it is to say we've stopped sadness because we cannot see the tears.

Pointing to the moral inadequacy of the commandment not to kill as a guide to relationships with others who anger us, Jesus goes deeper into the texture of human personality: "But what I say is that anyone who becomes intensely angry [orgizomenos] with those around them shall stand condemned before the law." (Matthew 5:22). He uses the same phrase as the old teaching applied to murder.

Jesus always looks at the inside. He always scans the heart. In his eyes, it is not enough that we hold back our anger as we might hold back tears. If we bottle it up, if we possess it for our own, then our heart is not his, and we are just as guilty against our fellow human as though we had gunned him down in cold blood.

I do not think he is referencing here the simple reaction of anger that often spawns unsummoned inside our minds.

In its simplest form, anger is a spontaneous response that has a vital function in life. As such, it is not wrong. It is a feeling that seizes us in our body and immediately impels us toward interfering with, and possibly even harming, those who have thwarted our will and interfered with our life. The primary function of anger in life is to alert me to an obstruction to my will, and immediately raise alarm and resistance, before I even have time to think about it.

That makes sense. God created us and made in us the feeling of anger. Jesus himself felt it at certain times. Of course, his anger was in resistance and obstruction to God's will, something we are far too likely not to notice trapped as we are in our own little bubbles of life.

If that were all there was to anger, all would be well. Anger in this sense is no sin, even though it is still better avoided where possible. Headaches are no sin, but do we really need them? But the anger that is among us is much more than this and quickly turns into something that is inherently evil.

This is the bubbling cauldron to which the title of this post references. This is the intense anger, the purposeful anger, to which Jesus references. This is anger at its deadliest and most sinful. This is anger dwelt upon and anger unleashed.

It spontaneously arises in us when our will is obstructed, but as a response toward those who interfere with us, it includes a will to harm them, or the beginnings thereof. Some degree of malice is contained in every degree of anger. That is why it always hurts us when someone is angry at us. 

I feel I must halt here for the day, for to give this subject its proper attention would require much more writing than the average attention span has time for. I shall conclude my studies anger tomorrow. Be warned, the caldron is about to bubble.