CHAPTER 9
Historically, Jesus has been portrayed as passive or, even
when active, meek and mild. In contrast,
Christians often refer to the “Old Testament God” as punishing and
judgmental.
Why would we deny anger in Jesus? At the end of the gospels, in the garden of
Gethsemane, is it possible Jesus is angry at God?
Bell writes: “Anger is not the opposite of love, just as
doubt is not the opposite of faith. Indifference in both instances is the real
enemy.” Do you agree?
image: C. Malcolm Powers
image: C. Malcolm Powers
I guess we would deny anger in Jesus because we would try to identify more with his divine nature rather than his humanity. I think that, like us, Jesus had many challenges in his life. Sometimes we don’t feel we are up to the challenges and it’s hard to believe that God will give us the strength only if we give up our reliance on ourselves. The road to our new identity in Spirit means we have to deny all that we thought we were. Leaving the labels we have given ourselves, the ones we are familiar with, the ones we have nurtured and nourished throughout our lives is leaving the ego to embrace the truth of our spiritual identity in God. It involves a grieving process too. I don’t think Jesus was angry with God in Gethsemane, I think he was tired and fearful, and stretched beyond his human limitations. He was faced with his humanity realizing that he wasn’t as far along in trusting God as he thought that he was. Anger takes many forms and they all relate to fear-based thinking. One can certainly be angry when one understands they have not yet reached perfect faith in God. It is a long road and one which has to undo many years and even generations of fearful thinking. We certainly are not indifferent when angry. We care.
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