Justified Week 2- How to Respond to Our Anger

Kyle Miller

Justified • Sermon • Submitted 2 months ago • Presented 2 months ago

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When we’re angry, Jesus shows us how to respond.

Notes

Transcript

WHAT? What are we talking about today?

Welcome back to the second week of our series, Justified, where we are looking at what to do when we get angry through a few comic book heroes.

QUESTION | "If you could have any superpower, what would it be?"

Last week we learned that it is normal to feel angry. When we get angry, we can pause and ask God why we feel that way. When we do this, God teaches us about ourselves, our feelings, and what we care about. We also allow God to show us why we're mad and the pain our anger is trying to protect. We may see injustice in our community, at school, or on the news and want to do something about it. It would be awesome to have superpowers so we could help in big ways.

If you could have any superpower to help confront evil and stop people from being hurt, what would it be?

INSTRUCTIONS: Ask the previous questions. Have students turn to the person next to them and share what superpower they would have and why. After a few moments, give students opportunities to respond out loud.

I imagine many of us have thought about this because we all see things we want to make right in the world. Thinking about superpowers enables us to get creative about solutions.

VIDEO | A Clip from X-Men: First Class

Superpowers don't automatically rid the world of pain and evil, though. Sometimes our help ends up hurting more people. This is what happens to Magneto. He is a powerful mutant and one of the main villains in the X-Men comics and movies. Magneto was in the Holocaust when millions of Jewish people were killed in the 1940s. Although Magneto is made up, the Holocaust really happened. These traumatic horrors led Magneto to want to destroy people who create evil and protect mutants with powers like his.

INSTRUCTIONS: As a teaching tool, play a short clip (0:00–0:58) like this one from X-Men: First Class, where we are introduced to Magneto and the pain he experienced. Content Advisory: This clip is from a movie that is rated PG-13 and has some violence

As you can see, Magneto has a lot of anger. And, honestly, a lot of it is justified, meaning we understand the reason behind it. As a child, he lost his family to the fear and hatred of the Nazis, which led to the Holocaust. Even though his anger is justified, what he does is not. His anger twists and morphs more into hatred. What starts as a desire to help protect others creates the same forms of pain and evil he wanted to eradicate. Most likely, you haven't gone through anything like Magneto does. But we can all understand seeing evil and pain in the world and wanting to act. When we are angry, it is natural to react. But instead of just reacting, perhaps we can respond in ways that will address the issues better. How can our actions help rather than perpetuate a problem?

SO WHAT? Why does it matter to God and to us?

SCRIPTURE | John 2:13–22

You may not believe me, but Jesus got angry. There is a story in the New Testament when thousands of people arrive in Jerusalem to celebrate the most important religious holiday for Israelites, Passover. Crowds came to the temple, where the people of Israel believed God's presence lived. They were there to thank God for liberating their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. Worshiping at the temple was part of the holiday. Unfortunately, travelers were exploited by the religious elite of their time. The church leaders created barriers to worshiping God and even made money from people wanting to go into the temple to worship God. When Jesus sees this, look at what he does.

INSTRUCTIONS: John 2:13–22

John 2:13–22 NIV

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

That is a strong response! Here is some context to help you understand why Jesus did what he did.

The people of Israel in Jesus' day typically brought an animal sacrifice when they came to the temple in Jerusalem. The temple leaders created a business selling animals to people at the front doors. To purchase these animals, people from afar needed to exchange their local money for the type used in Jerusalem. Money changers around the temple would charge extra for this service. Like many things in our world today, the people who this hurt the most were the poor. They could barely afford to pay for their sacrifice, much less the extra amount it cost to have their money exchanged. Jesus saw that a place built to worship God was used to make money off needy people. There were monetary barriers between God's people and God. We see that this type of exploitation, meaning being taken advantage of, really upset Jesus. We learn that it's important to take care of the weak and poor. Jesus wanted to break down the barriers between worshippers and God. He did this by turning over the tables being used to exchange money. Jesus' anger was about standing up for people being harmed.

QUESTION | "What would you do?"

Jesus wasn't just reacting, he was responding. He saw something truly unjust and acted swiftly.

INSTRUCTIONS: The following questions are intended to help students begin to align with Jesus' anger. Ask students the following questions and give a few a chance to respond out loud.

It would be like if you needed to pass one test to graduate, and no one knows what the test subject is. But if you pay your teacher $150, they will let you know what to study.

How would that make you feel? What would you do about it?

That sounds ridiculous and should make you angry for a good reason. When institutions harm people in a way that obstructs what God wants for them, that leads to justified anger. Jesus tells us the reason he turned over the tables in anger. He understood the many emotions he felt that day and attempted to turn wrong into right. Instead of reacting without thinking, Jesus actually connected his logic and emotions to a response that addressed the problem. One of his values is to lessen the suffering of people without social power. His action worked to uphold that value. Jesus shows us that when we have justified anger, we are moved towards action that brings right relationship with God and others. Jesus showed us that when we respond rather than react to our justified anger, we can find a solution that helps make wrong things right and doesn't cause more harm in the process.

SCRIPTURE | Amos 5:22–24

Those who were with Jesus the day he overturned tables would have understood God's justice from when they read the Old Testament. The prophet Amos wrote about God's justice and how working for balance and equality is a way to worship God. INSTRUCTIONS: Read Amos 5:22–24

Amos 5:22–24 NIV

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Jesus showed us how to put Amos 5 into action. God is not impressed with our worship songs or big Christian conferences if no action follows that impacts the world. There is a problem when we only sing songs about helping others or only talk about peace, and do nothing to bring about that help or peace. When we do that, we can start to sound like a broken record. Jesus and the prophet Amos say that seeking peace, justice, and equality is a way that we can worship God. When we get angry at the hurt and pain we see in the world, we can partner with God and become people who see "rivers of justice" in our neighborhoods and world. Our anger is justified when we see systems that harm people. That anger can be the creative fuel we need to act. Anger lets us know when something isn't right, and we can work to bring about God's justice because

When we're angry, Jesus shows us how to respond.

NOW WHAT? What does God want us to do about it?

Christian Civil Rights activist Ben McBride says, "Maybe it not always What can I do? but Who do I need to become?"

For followers of Jesus, responding to the pain in the world means becoming more like Jesus. Here are a few ways we can start that journey.

ASK WHAT'S WRONG.

Ask questions about what you see. Talk to God about how this breaks God's heart. Who is being harmed, and is someone benefiting from the hurt I see? What about this makes me angry?

ASK WHAT I AM LEARNING.

Before you respond, spend time learning about the injustices that interest you. Jesus intricately understood the temple rules, the money changers, and the people harmed by these practices. This knowledge informed his response. Spend time learning and talking to God about the best ways to respond.

ASK THE PEOPLE AFFECTED.

Remember, your actions should help people. Jesus is on the side of the powerless. This means that God is already at work in them to repair the wrongs they are experiencing. Listen to them. Ask what God is revealing to them about restoration and peace. Allow them to be your guide.

ASK WHAT'S NEXT.

First, pray. Amos reminds us to pair our prayers with action. Feeling hopeless or powerless in the face of injustice is normal, but action can help cure discouragement. Raise awareness, write to leaders who have the power to affect positive change, or talk to local leadership in your church or school.

REFLECTION | Underneath The Anger

Jesus understood his feelings and motivations. We will need a lot of practice before we are in that place because most of our emotions are like icebergs. Icebergs are enormous, but more than 90% exist below the water. Think about your anger like the pointy top 10% of an iceberg that you can see. We can learn a lot by exploring underneath the surface.

INSTRUCTIONS: For this reflection, you'll need the printout included in Week 2 materials, markers, pencils, and permanent markers. To reflect, ask students to think about the last time they were angry. Specifically, the social wrong they see in the world, experience personally, or see others' experience. Write those instances on and around the tip of the iceberg, then guide them through the rest of the sheet.

RESPONSE | Create A Team Up. . .

Allowing our anger to motivate us toward making wrong things right is a long journey, not a short sprint. It is vital to have people around us who respond like Jesus when we are angry because we will need help along the way.

INSTRUCTIONS: For this Response, ask students to discuss the layers on their "iceberg" with their small groups.

When we see wrongs in the world, it is normal to react in anger. With Jesus' example and help, we can become people who respond to the world's injustices with love, knowledge, and hope. Because