What Does a Christian Look Like (2) in Anger

John 2:13 and following tells us of a time when Jesus took action to restore honesty and dignity to the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was filled with righteous anger because of how some people in the temple grounds were behaving in His Father's house. He sat down and fashioned a whip to drive the animals from the area. He turned over tables and insisted that these dishonest practices stop. Unfortunately, most illustrations and pictures of this event show what looks like Jesus out of control. But he was not out of control as he did this--he used his emotion to forcefully make his point. He was slow to anger (sat down and prepared his flail). Luke 19:45 contains this point: Jesus said that some have made the courtyard a den of thieves. 

For us today, we can realize that Jesus was never a raging, mindless mad man. He was righteous in his anger at sinful practices visited on a holy place. This is a picture of how we can be controlled in our behaviors even when anger is the emotion we are feeling.