Maybe you’ve heard of the Bollywood film of yesteryear, Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyoon Aata hai? (What makes Albert Pinto angry?). The film explores the angst of a young man who sees gross injustice being meted out to his father and others at the hands of a nexus of mafia goons and unscrupulous businessmen.
How do we picture Jesus of Nazareth? Sometimes we think of “the gentle Jesus, meek and mild”. If so, it will surprise us to read, sometimes, of an angry Jesus.
“You mean, Jesus really got angry?”
Definitely, Yes!
“Oh! OK, that one time – when he drove the money changers from the temple – right?”
No.
There are quite a few instances which speak of the anger of Jesus. Mark 3:1-6 records the story of Jesus healing a man with a shriveled hand. When he sees both the unbelief and the insensitivity of some Jewish leaders—who wanted to eliminate an uncomfortable preacher—Jesus “looked around them in anger and was deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.”
On another occasion he was indignant with his disciples who presumed that Jesus had no time for interruptions, especially from children—who ranked pretty low in the social order of the time. Jesus rebuked them in anger. He warned them that they would not stand a chance in the kingdom unless they too became like little children (Mark 10:13-16).
Now this next incident may surprise you. The event is narrated in Mark 1:40-45. Soon after a description of Jesus healing and delivering people from diseases and demons in Capernaum and other parts of Galilee (1:32-34, 39), we read about Jesus’ encounter with a leper. The leper, falling on his knees, begs Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” How does Jesus respond?
Jesus “looked around them in anger and was deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.”
If you are reading a translation such as an older version of the NIV, the text would read: “Jesus was filled with compassion. He reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing. Be clean’.”
However, a newer translation (such as the NIV 2011) will read: “Jesus was indignant.” The CEV uses the word “incensed.” Jesus was angry!
This may surprise us, for this seems so uncharacteristic of Jesus. And how do we account for this difference in translations? What was original word used by the Gospel writer in this case?
To understand this, do bear with a brief explanation regarding manuscripts and translations. Biblical manuscripts often have variant renderings in the original languages (Hebrew and Greek). Most times choosing between variants is not that difficult; and the variants do not change the basic sense of the sentence. But a few times, such as here in Mark 1:41, the choice is not easy. Here we have two variants: some manuscripts have the word splanchnistheis (filled with compassion) but a few others have a completely different word, orgistheis (filled with anger). So how do we decide on the original word used by Mark?
Most scribes who copied manuscripts would normally make a change, if at all, to clarify a word or use a less difficult word—and not the other way around. Thus it is more likely that Mark’s Gospel used the original word orgistheis,and a later scribe, who thought the word seemed somehow jarring (and more difficult to explain), changed it to one reflecting Jesus’ compassion.
Moreover, note the narrative also reveals Jesus dealing with the man in a stern manner—even after having touched the man (a compassionate thing to do) and having healed him. The two Greek words used in Mark 1:43 (for “a strong warning” and “sending him away”) convey a sense of sternness and force.
I agree with the translators of NIV 2011 that the proper translation in Mark 1:41 is: “Jesus was angry”.
If so, the obvious question: Why? Since Mark does not provide the reason or the object of Jesus’ anger, we are bound to make a reasoned guess. This is how I make sense of this passage.
Firstly, Jesus’ anger was not directed at the man—neither for his apparent lack of faith nor for what appears as a doubt about Jesus’ willingness to heal. (Just as in Mark 3:5: Jesus was not angry at the man who needed healing; his ire was aimed at those who resisted God’s messenger and his life-giving gospel.)
Secondly, Jesus was probably filled with divine anger at what the dreaded disease had done to this child of Abraham and what his society had made of him—a miserable creature that had to grovel before Jesus and beg for healing.
My anger was directed more at our deep-rooted caste system which demeans and exploits millions of people, robbing them of their God-given worth.
Thirdly, the way he dismissed the healed leper probably reflects Jesus’ displeasure that this healing risked attracting people who would be interested in him solely for his “magical” powers. This would confuse people and compromise his ministry (see John 6:14-15). He tells the man to go and report only to the priest—since the priest’s approval (Lev 13-14) would allow him to get back into the community.
Sin, disease, and death, and anything else in our cultures and societies that dehumanize a human being made in God’s image, would surely encounter the anger of God and the Lord Jesus. Jesus came to destroy these enemies of God. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). There is a striking image in the book of Revelation: People running to hide from “the wrath of the Lamb” (6:16).
Several years ago, I became angry in a given situation. Nagappa, the dhobi (washerman) had come home. I asked him to be seated on the sofa as I began to gather my clothes for washing. After a while, I noticed he was still standing near the door; I told him, again, to sit down. He said, “OK, swami”—but remained standing. It suddenly dawned on me why he hesitated to sit down. He could not presume to sit down in all the homes he went to. Here he was, my father’s age, yet he could not boldly sit down in my house! After all, he was a poor man from a so-called lower caste. I felt a rush of anger and shouted, “Nagappa, sit down!” He promptly did. I explained to him that I was not angry at him. He knew. My anger was directed more at our deep-rooted caste system which demeans and exploits millions of people, robbing them of their God-given worth.
A few years ago, there was an Anti-Human Trafficking vigil and march in my city in which I participated along with many hundreds of concerned citizens, mostly Christians. An estimated 50 million people—mostly women and children—are trafficked and enslaved in our world today (as per www.antislavery.org). A large section of those is in India. Hundreds of poor people are exploited as “bonded labour”. And the list goes on.
Surely, Jesus ko gussa aata hai. (Surely, Jesus is angry!)
Aur Aapko? (And what about you?)
