Several years ago I ran across the phrase “The stormy north side of Jesus.” It stuck in my mind because this is a side of Jesus we so seldom see and so often forget.
We have so long thought of him as “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” that we’ve overlooked the fact that he was capable of anger (Mark 3:5). Jesus has a stormy north side. How could he be otherwise? He was angered at wrong in his day and he is angered at wrong in our day.
People often hesitate to attribute anger to Jesus but there is no reason why they should. His wrath is but the other side of his love and mercy. There is a sense in which true love is a fire. Genuine love can never be complacent and passive. In order to preserve some things, love must destroy others. Love is never, never, never neutral.
When Abraham Lincoln was 21 years of age, he visited New Orleans and saw a slave girl being pinched, prodded, and trotted back and forth like a horse to show what good merchandise she was. Lincoln’s heart bled. It was on this trip that he formed his opinion of slavery. According to his cousin John Hanks who accompanied him, “the iron entered his soul” and he swore that, if ever he got a chance, he would “hit this thing and hit it hard.”
Lincoln loved people, whatever their color, with a deep love. Because he loved human beings, his soul blazed against the slave trade with an intense and relentless hatred. He fought against it with a passion that finally burned it out of existence in this country.
So Christ’s love for others caused him to be angry at injustice, indifference, and exploitation. Such anger is not sinful but divine. It is not a sign of weakness but strength. A person who cannot be touched with righteous indignation probably lacks the fire of emotion altogether. The one who cannot be angered at evil will also lack enthusiasm for good. We can be too tolerant. Tolerance is often a disguise for laziness and indifference.