Dizzy Dean, Ted Williams, and Jesus.  Somehow Carl Hall could unite their stories in a compelling way that kept seven ten-year-old Royal Ambassadors focused and engaged for a whole half hour before he would take us to the church parking lot and instruct us on the art of the curve ball.  He seemed ancient, but did not have one curmudgeonly bone in his body.  Though we were sure he could get mad. Carl Hall never let us see him angry.  And we gave him plenty of opportunities. 

Some people are like that.  With the patience of Job, they roll with whatever frustration, adversity, or disappointment comes their way with grace and peace.   Yet occasionally we see their “bridge too far.”  When the outer boundaries of their patience are breached.  Their dominion sensor tripped.  Their sacred profaned.  Or a deeply held conviction scorned.  Then you see that flash of intensity.  A moment of light and heat.  A righteous indignation that commands attention by its rarity.

No man ever exhibited patience like the Lord Jesus.  Indeed, he is gentle and meek.  The helplessness of the crowds, the dullness of the disciples, the despair of Pilate and the ignorance of his executioners all reveal his remarkable tenderness and compassion.  But it is always an error to confuse meekness for weakness.  After all, it is the meek who will inherit the earth!  Moses was described as the meekest man on the face of the earth.  And he was no pushover.  

The earthly life of Jesus, as described by the gospels, reveals clearly what the author of Hebrews summarizes, that “he had to be made like [us] in every respect.”  And our catechism notes.

Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin. -Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 22.

‘A true body and a reasonable soul’ speaks of true humanity.  Jesus was no apparition.  No mere theophany in human form.  He was a real man.  He ate, slept, got tired, and was tempted in every way as we are.  And he got angry.  So angry that the Gospel of John tells us that he made “a whip of cords and drove [all the merchants] out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen.  And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.”  

He was indignant with the disciples when they kept children from coming to him.  He sharply rebuked James and John when they asked to call down fire on an unfriendly village.  At the grave of Lazarus he wept, but he was also “deeply moved in his spirit and troubled” at the unbelief of the people. 

And in chapter 3 of Mark’s Gospel Jesus is angry with those who prefer Sabbath rigor over compassionate care for a disabled man.   So angry that the word Mark uses to describe it is found only here in the New Testament.  And while Mark shows more of Jesus’ emotions than other gospel writers, the intensity of Jesus’ response to the scribe’s hard-heartedness is found elsewhere only during Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.  

Jesus’ anger that Sabbath in the synagogue exposed much more than a lack of compassion.  It revealed a preference for the words of men over the word of God.  And a love of self above every other love.  Graceless religion is the most insidious expression of man in his fallenness.   It despises the love of God and the person of His Son.  And it made Jesus angry.    

Join us this week as we examine Mark 3:1-6 and consider what makes Jesus angry. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.