When was the last time you were angry; really angry?

For many of us, anger may be a customary daily occurrence. Others may have to dig deep into the personal archives to recall a point of extreme anger.

A surprise to many, Jesus experienced intense anger. And, not surprisingly, when he did, there was always a reason for his anger.

John 11:17 reads, “On his arrival [in Bethany], Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.”

It is incredibly significant that Jesus arrives on the fourth day. According to Jewish thinking, the soul of the deceased hung around the body for three days. Jesus purposely waited until the fourth day to show up. In other words, the situation was utterly hopeless by the time Jesus arrived.

At PastorServe we routinely deal with situations which may appear hopeless. Yet, our great comfort and confidence comes from knowing that Jesus specializes in dealing with hopeless situations. We serve pastors and ministry leaders with great hope knowing that our God is the God of all hope!

John 11:33 reads, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

Verse 38 contains the same Greek verb which is translated by the New International Version as “Jesus, once more deeply moved came to the tomb.”

While I commonly shy away from stating that the NIV has poorly translated a word (the NIV is highly reliable) I do believe that the translators have missed the essence of the passage. The verb in question ‘embrimaomai’ is literally translated, ‘to snort like a horse or bellow with anger’. It carries the idea of a primordial rage.

The Message by Eugene Peterson nails the meaning of the word in question when they translate verses 33 and 38 as follows:

When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him.”

Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb.

What was Jesus anger at or about? First and foremost, he was not mad at the people who were weeping.

Jesus is mad at death. There is righteous anger and outrage at monstrosity of death in God’s world. Even though he knows that the resurrection of Lazarus is only minutes away, he is angry because he sees death from the inside – the devastation and the brokenness it inflicts upon people – and there is anger.

Jesus’ anger communicates that death is not God’s original plan. In I Cor 15, Paul tells us that death is not a friend but is in fact the last enemy.

What makes you burn inside with righteous anger? What causes a deep anger to well up within your soul? What makes you burn with anger when you realize that something is not as god originally intended it to be?

As believers, we should be angry at suffering, at poverty, at disease, at social injustice, racism, at divorce, at the sexualization of America.

And, as believers, we should also be angry when pastors are unfairly attacked. We should be angry when a pastor is in need of help in his personal life and a church abandons him in the hour of his greatest need. We should be angry when grace is extended to a church body but a church body cannot extend grace to a pastor. We should be angry when the weaknesses of a pastor are magnified and his strengths are minimized.

I pray that I will be in alignment with the things which create anger within the heart of God.

May we never, NEVER shrink back from the calling of the Lord Jesus, even when that means displaying a righteous anger.