Anger is given us by God to help us confront true evil. We err when we use it casually, against other people, to gratify our own desire for power or control.
When I was a teenager my father would say, “As long as you have your feet under my table you will do as I say.” As soon as I heard that, my goal in life was to move my feet out from under my father’s table. Screw with Washers
I’m sure Dad heard the same pronouncement from his father. In the Sumwalt clan fathers had absolute authority – or at least were under the illusion that they did. Mothers and grandmothers often had something to say about that.
Who has authority in your life? In the Gospel of Mark we read about a day in the life of Jesus when he acted with absolute authority in a way that both astounded and frightened those who witnessed it. He showed the kind of authority that is desperately needed in our current world, and which those of us who follow Jesus have – if only we would be brave enough to use it.
Jesus is that day at home in Capernaum, where his house is, and where Peter and a few of his other disciples live on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It’s Saturday, the Sabbath. As was his custom, Jesus went to the synagogue where he was asked to teach. No-one wanted to miss a Saturday when Jesus was speaking at the synagogue. It was bound to be an event because, unlike the established religious leaders of his day, Jesus taught with authority.
Suddenly as Jesus is teaching, a man appears who is possessed by an unclean spirit – a demon, something evil, Mark writes. And the man, or the evil that is in him, interrupts Jesus. He calls him out like a gunfighter in an old western movie.
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” he yells. “Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the holy One of God.”
Jesus responds, unlike the religious authorities, without equivocation.
“Be silent!” he says. “Come out of him!”
And the evil in the man blinks. The man convulses and the evil comes out.
Does this happen in our current world? Granted, we have a different world view. We don’t often talk about people being possessed by unclean spirits. But we do know something about evil.
Sooner or later there comes into every work place, every family, every community and nation, indeed every church, a disruptive spirit that can only be described as evil, selfish and narcissistic. The spirit is against the common good; it’s destructive, crafty, treacherous and deceitful. It lies when there is no need to lie. It’s sometimes murderous, and is always against life while pretending to be for it. That’s what politicians on both the left and the right are saying these days, as each point to the lies of the other.
M. Scott Peck is the author of “People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil.”
He writes, in his experience as a therapist, that “Evil human beings are quite common and usually appear quite ordinary. … It is not their sins per se that characterize evil people; rather it is the subtlety and persistence and consistency of their sins. This is because the central defect of the evil is not the sin, but the refusal to acknowledge it. …
“(Evil people cannot be) rapidly influenced by any means other than raw power. They do not respond, at least in the short run, to either gentle kindness or any form of spiritual persuasion.”
Sometimes the only thing to do is to call the police or someone else who has real power and who can act to stop the harmful behavior. But what if the destructive person is not violent, and is not breaking any law, but is doing significant harm in a work place or organization like a church? Call in a spirit-filled person like Jesus who will name the evil and call it out.
Where do we find such a person? It may not be someone in authority; indeed almost always it will be someone who has cast out their own demons.
Kathleen Norris, author of “The Cloister Walk,” writes, “When I think of demons I need to exorcise, I have to look inward to my heart and soul. Anger is my best demon, useful whenever I have to go into Woman Warrior mode, harmful when I use it to gratify myself, either in self-justification, or to deny my fears.
“My husband, who has a much sweeter nature than I, once told me that my mean streak grieved him, not just because of the pain it caused him but because it was doing me harm. His remark, as wise as any desert Abba, felt like an exorcism. Not that my temptation to anger was magically gone, but I was called to pay closer attention to something that badly needed attention, and that was hurting our marriage. It confirmed my understanding of marriage as a holy act: one can no more hide one’s true faults from a spouse than from God, and in exorcising the demon of anger, that which could kill is converted, transformed into that which can heal.”
She quotes Evagrius Ponticus, a 4th century Christian monk, who wrote, “Anger is given us by God to help us confront true evil. We err when we use it casually, against other people, to gratify our own desire for power or control.”
If Jesus has authority in your life, do what he does. When confronted with “true evil,” summon the anger within yourself that is truly given by God and let fly. Heal like Jesus did. And if you cannot do it yourself, with God’s help, call upon someone you trust who can.
This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit AgriView.com for more information.
John Sumwalt is a retired pastor and the author of “Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives.” Email johnsumwalt@gmail.com or call 414-339-0676 to reach him.
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Anger is given us by God to help us confront true evil. We err when we use it casually, against other people, to gratify our own desire for power or control.
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