Creative Anger
- davidwperk
- Jul 20, 2023
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Thursday, July 20, 2023
Proper 10, the week of the seventh Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection in today’s Gospel reading:
5He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
(You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.)
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 974)
AM Psalm 37:1-18; PM Psalm 37:19-42
1 Samuel 20:24-42; Acts 13:1-12; Mark 2:23-3:6
Today we celebrate the Feast of Elizabeth C Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, and Sojourner Truth. (See below.)
David's Reflections
Julia Cameron says about anger, "Anger is meant to be listened to. Anger is a voice, a shout, a demand. Anger is meant to be respected. Why? Because anger is a map. Anger shows us what our boundaries are. Anger shows us where we want to go." *
I would agree and would add that anger serves as a map to our values as well as our boundaries. In today's Gospel, Jesus feels anger because of the stubborn and insensitive hearts of his critics in the synagogue. He posed the question whether it was right on the Sabbath to do good or evil, to save life or to kill. Does it surprise you that Jesus experienced anger? Mark reports most vividly of the Gospels on Jesus’ emotions, so those nuggets sometimes get lost in the Gospel tradition heap.
Lurking behind that question was Jesus understanding of his ministry as the fulfillment of the reign of God. To save a life on the Sabbath was not illegal in the Jewish understanding. His contemporaries in the synagogue resented the Sabbath healing because Jesus was doing the work of a physician on the Sabbath with someone whose life was not at risk. Jesus was saving this man's life by healing his crippled hand, not in the literal sense of saving his bodily existence from death but, because he was bringing this man into a vital relationship with himself and God's earthly reign. The healing of the hand spoke of a larger healing of the entire person.
God's intent in creation would be realized when this man was whole physically and spiritually. Jesus' action of healing brought the new creation, the ultimate perfect sabbath rest of the future reign of God, into that synagogue on that Sabbath day; therefore, the healing fulfilled rather than violated the Sabbath.
Jesus' anger had to do with the silence of those to whom he posed the question. They were not simply quibbling with him over a Sabbath rule. Rather, the issues of his identity, mission, and purpose were before them. Jesus felt grief that they would not celebrate the restoration of wholeness, that their vision had become so blunted and their spirits so insensitive that they responded to such an act of compassion with hardness and emotional violence. Their distance from the kingdom could not be any more graphically demonstrated.
When we are feeling anger, we need to listen. What boundaries are being violated? What core values are being trampled? Can we channel the energy of our anger into a creative response? Can we act on anger creatively rather than acting it out destructively? Jesus expressed his anger creatively and positively by healing the man. His experience of anger, honestly reported by the author of Mark’s Gospel, validates our own similar moments. We don’t have t0 deny those feelings.
Jesus' full, genuine humanity certainly shows in this passage. When we are in stressful moments, his wisdom can guide us. He will be there feeling with us. He certainly understands the experience of anger. If we pay close attention to our inner weather and our body’s signals, we will feel the anger and we will hear a divine whisper of wisdom about how to act on it in creative and nondestructive ways.
* The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1992), p. 61
Collect of the Day, Proper 10, the seventh Sunday after Pentecost
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 231)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Elizabeth C Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, and Sojourner Truth, social reformers.
Collect of the Feast of Elizabeth C Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, and Sojourner Truth
O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servants Elizabeth, Amelia, and Sojourner. Give us vision and courage to stand against oppression and injustice and all that works against the glorious liberty to which you call all your children; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Guidance
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP 100)
For Quiet Confidence
O God of peace, you have taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 832)
A Prayer for Light
Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord; and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, Jesus Christ, Amen. (BCP, 111)
A Collect for Mission
O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)
Daily Office Gospel, Mark 2:23-3:6
23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ 25And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ 27Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’
3:1Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3And he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come forward.’ 4Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. 5He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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