Anger is a very common human experience. Situations make us angry; people make us angry; we get angry with ourselves. Sometimes we know we are wrong to be angry. Much more often, we think we are right. We think the fault lies with others — they have made us angry. Or else certain situations provoke us to anger – and because these are bad situations we feel that we have the right to express our anger.
Jesus sees anger as the root of murder. Angry feelings, if they are nursed and not dealt with, become hatred. The fruit of hatred can sometimes be actual murder. Jesus warns us to avoid the possibility of such appalling fruit of our anger by dealing ruthlessly with the initial feelings of anger.
We feel we have the right to be angry if we are exploited, let down, hurt, used or rejected. It is true that anger is a natural and even proper reaction to such things. Jesus does not say that we cannot feel anger. What he says is that we do not have the right, in normal circumstances, to hang on to it and express it. Instead we need to let it go.
Jesus asks us to let go of our anger so that we can imitate him better. There were, of course, occasions when Jesus himself knew righteous anger and expressed it – but his anger never led him to sin. When he was betrayed, insulted, ridiculed, tortured and crucified, he had full right to feel angry. However, Jesus let go of all feelings of anger and forgave his oppressors: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.‘