(Jonah 4:1-11; Psalms 86:3-4, 5-6, 9-10; Luke 11:1-4)
What is the purpose of anger? Is it good or bad? Should we strive to tamp down that emotion, or is it okay if we experience it? And what other options do we have? These were questions I found myself reflecting on as I considered today’s readings.
To try to unpack the essence of anger, it’s worthwhile to place it in a larger context. What is the purpose of emotions? Let’s start with an easy one: What is the purpose of pain?
You touch a hot stove. You jerk your hand away reflexively; seconds later, you feel the first pangs of a serious burn. For the next several days, you have to treat that hand gingerly . . . perhaps wrapped in bandages, perhaps refraining from using those fingers as they heal.
So, what purpose did pain serve there?
In this case, pain served as a call to action. “STOP TOUCHING THAT STOVE!” the pain informs you in the short term, while “Please don’t use those fingers for a while” is what the pain suggests you do in the following days as your body heals.
More broadly, pain often serves as a call to action for your body: “Be careful when lifting that much weight” (back strain), “don’t stare at a computer screen so long” (headache), or “you need to see a doctor now” are all actions that pain can impel you to take.
Sometimes there isn’t anything that can be directly done about pain . . . in which case the Church reminds us that offering up our suffering up to God is always an option.
What about a less-urgent feeling, such as happiness? What purpose does it serve? I believe it also serves as a call to action. “Being with this person brings me happiness” will hopefully inspire you to treat that person with love and respect. “My pet rabbit makes me happy” probably will get you to feed, water, and take care of it. “Living in this city makes me happy” hopefully will inspire in you civic-mindedness, so that you work to keep your neighborhood as wonderful a place as it makes you feel, or even compel you to make it better.
I would suggest, then, that emotions ideally work to compel some kind of action in us. And when there isn’t any action that can at least navigate or mitigate an emotion, that’s a sign of a potentially serious problem. For example, one of the things that differentiates ordinary sadness from actual depression is that the former can inspire action; “I can talk to a friend or watch a movie to cheer myself up” works for being a bit under the weather, but true depression requires more active help and care to relieve.
This leads me to anger. I would argue that – as an emotion – anger is neither good nor bad; it just is. It’s how the emotion of anger compels us to act that determines its character.
The Old Testament depicts many times the Lord got angry with humanity . . . and He did something about it. And the Gospels tell of the time Jesus was driven to cleanse the temple, overturning the tables of money-changers and whipping them all until they fled the area.
But the Bible is also clear that we shouldn’t cling to our anger for its own sake. Paul famously says in the Letter to the Ephesians, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26)
Anger that you don’t do anything about can be a prison. For example, if a former friend of yours was unscrupulous, and you lost a lot of money because of that, you’re probably angry! But the fury in your stomach doesn’t affect him. The sleepless nights you spend chewing on your cheeks don’t hurt him. He doesn’t care; the only one affected by your anger is you.
Fortunately, God has shown us a better way: the power of forgiveness. The first reading from the Book of Jonah tells about the aftermath of Jonah doing the Lord’s will and telling the people of Nineveh. Perhaps amazingly, they do . . . and God forgives them. However, this makes Jonah furious. He wanted fire! He wanted brimstone! He wanted God to smite the people of Nineveh, regardless of the change in their hearts!
But, no, today’s Psalm makes clear our theme in its refrain: Lord, you are merciful and gracious. God wants to show mercy toward us when we stray and return to the fold. And he wants us to show mercy toward others, too. This is evident from the Gospel selection today, from Luke, which provides Jesus instructing his disciples how to pray: “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”
Anger is good if it spurs us to action, but forgiveness is always Christlike. Anger does nothing on its own for us, and can even lead us away from godliness if we’re not careful, while forgiveness always forges our hearts.
One last thought about today’s reading from Jonah. Look again at the whole section, especially the last part. Jonah was still fuming and angry. The Lord showed mercy and gave him a plant to shelter him (which Jonah appreciated it). The next day the plant dies, and Jonah again returns to anger. The Lord replies, “You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor and which you did not raise; it came up in one night and in one night it perished. And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, not to mention the many cattle?”
That’s not just the end of today’s reading; it’s the end of the Book of Jonah.
There is no conclusion. There is no epilogue. There is no resolution of “What happens next?” From a literary point of view, I think the reason is clear; the Lord is leaving the ending of this story in our hands. Jonah’s fate is in our imagination and contemplation. Did he give in to his anger, or understand the power of the path of mercy God laid out?
This same unresolved question stands in front of so many of us. Do we give in to anger, bitterness, and resentment, or do we accept the ways of mercy and forgiveness that Christ revealed? These questions, like the end of Jonah, are for us to answer for ourselves. Hopefully Christ has lit our way sufficiently to discern the best path.
